Kelsey: Natalie, you teach an online class called “The Pirate’s Guide to a Successful Publishing Career.” What prompted that title?
Natalie: Captain Barbossa did!
Those who’ve seen the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie might remember the scene when Elizabeth asks to be put ashore, pursuant to the pirates’ code, and he tells her she’s not a pirate and anyway, “They’re more like guidelines than actual rules.” The idea of “rules” comes about in a lot of ways. Some authors—erroneously and even damagingly, in my opinion—will teach that something must be done a certain way. Others offer their opinion, but listeners miss the “opinion” part, or combine similar advice from different sources and take it as absolute.
Kelsey: Can you give an example of writing career advice that shouldn’t be considered a “rule?”
Natalie: I would love to! Erroneous “Rule” – Only send to one agent or editor at a time.
Submission guidelines are important, but until you’re represented, no one has your interests at heart but you. So you want to find a balance between ticking off the people whose attention you’re trying to get (in a good way) and ensuring you’re not languishing in limbo forever. The guideline I follow is: a. query as many people as you want to b. send partials to whomever requests them c. be judicious in sending multiple full manuscripts, and be honest about it.
Kelsey: As writers we’re often told to concentrate on our craft because we can’t control the path to publication. Can you comment on this piece of advice?
Natalie: I wholeheartedly believe in it, but only to a point. (I’m all about balance!) I think we should write what we love, what makes us happy, because this business is hard enough without trying to write something we don’t like writing—BUT, sometimes we don’t know what kind of story is our kind without trying it. And the thing that will be most likely to get us to publication is excellent craft, so we must always strive to improve it.
As for being unable to control the path to publication—I think that’s mostly, but not completely true. I mean, for example, we can’t sell if we don’t submit, and we need to submit smartly, to know what we’re doing and why. Nothing we do will help if we write a bad book, but just posting it on eBay and saying “come and get it” isn’t going to work, either!
Kelsey: Are there proactive steps a writer can take on the publication front? Would you share a little about your personal path to publication?
Natalie: Definitely, there are steps a writer can take. I don’t think there is any one thing that’s a guarantee, so I’ve done it all: entered contests (got me nowhere, but finaling can get your book in front of an agent-only editor), written the book of my heart (languishing on my hard drive), gone to conferences, taken charge of one-sentence-pitch honing on an agent’s blog (which did get me noticed!), volunteered in ways that put me in contact with editors and agents…everything possible to get noticed in a good way, and recognized as a professional serious about my craft and easy to work with.
My first book targeted Harlequin/Silhouette. That was during the advent of micropublishing (e-publishers and other very tiny press). I submitted and sold the second book I wrote to Avid Press in 1999, which did e-books and mass market paperbacks and folded just a couple of years later. I submitted to Echelon Press with the encouragement of a friend. They published two of my contemporary romances and several short stories, and are still going strong despite the struggles inherent in limited distribution. I’m part of the problem, since I consider myself a writer, not a bookseller, and I’m not putting a lot of energy into hand selling copies of books that came out 6 or 8 years ago. I’m also published with Amber Quill Press, who used to have a contest for short erotic romance. I didn’t win, but they liked my story enough to have me expand it and offered me a contract. I love AQP—their business style, editors, covers, etc.—but we’re still talking limited distribution and tons of effort. So even though I’ve been happy with the four novels and various novellas and short stories I’ve published with them, I haven’t been satisfied. I’m still looking for more.
Kelsey: Could you provide us with any insight on your strategy for approaching publishers—from New York to the micro-presses?
Natalie: I’ve always taken a top-down approach: Submit to the “best” and biggest publishers that are, as far as I can tell, a good fit. If they decline, my second tier is smaller publishers with maybe a few more cons—demanding editorial, lower advances or royalty rates, less room to grow, whatever, but still national distribution and decent earning potential. Once those avenues are exhausted, I recommend looking at the micropublishers with the best reputations for sales and support, and if that fails, then maybe some smaller micropublishers who are stable and have long-term, happy authors and no rumbles of scandal. 
Kelsey: Would you care to comment on any other key strategies for the pirate’s successful publishing career?
Natalie: Two things: Educate yourself. The more you know, the more you can understand how to pick and choose the advice or information that works for you and discard the rest. Don’t ever lose your joy in the writing itself. It may get buried deep from time to time, but find ways to uncover it, because it’s the best and maybe only reason to be in this career. Thank you so much for inviting me to blog at Romance University! I’m excited about RU and can’t wait to see what’s up next!
Natalie J. Damschroder
Natalie J. Damschroder became a writer the hard way—by avoiding it. Though she wrote her first book at age five (My Very Own Reading Book) and received accolades for her academic writing (Ruth Davies Award for Excellence in Writing for a paper on deforestation her senior year in college), she hated doing it. Colonial food and the habits of the European Starling just weren’t her thing. Shortly after graduating from college, however, she found her niche—romantic fiction. Four books and six years after starting, she finally sold. Now she struggles to balance her frenetic writing life with her family, the most supportive husband in the world and two beautiful, intelligent, stubborn, independent daughters (who have also decided to be writers). She somehow also fits in a day job and various volunteer positions in and out of the writing industry. Natalie’s published works include 7 contemporary romance novels, 7 novellas, and 14 short stories.
Kelsey's serving up bite-sized morsels for your noggin on her new 
Welcome to RU, Natalie! Thank you so much for blogging with us. You mention a key strategy is to educate yourself.
Do you have any tips on how to find information on agents or editors who do not have an internet presence?
Thanks! Tracey
Posted by Tracey Devlyn | May 26, 2009, 5:40 amLove the Pirates analogy. This trilogy is among my boys’ favorite movies, so I’ve seen it many tmes.
Posted by Walt M | May 26, 2009, 6:52 amThanks, Walt! The same is true in our house. My daughter was a bit obsessed for a while. LOL
Thanks for having me, Tracey, and congratulations on such a great launch! I’m loving RU and have it bookmarked to read every post.
Do you have any tips on how to find information on agents or editors who do not have an internet presence?
Ah, very good question. That’s always tough. There are a few things an author can do, though.
Networking becomes even more important when this is the case, because the best source of information is going to be authors who have worked with those editors and agents. A general query on an author e-mail list can yield much insight.
If you can track down what books they’ve represented or edited, you can send an e-mail to the author to ask about their experience. A few won’t be comfortable sharing, but most will be delighted to, especially, of course, if their experience was positive.
Another way to learn about them is to see if they’ve done workshops for RWA National or regional conferences. That would take some digging, first to browse the archives of RWA workshop recordings, then to try to track down other places they might have done workshops. Most of the time, when workshops are recorded, the recordings are available for purchase after the fact. You can learn a lot by listening to a presentation.
And, of course, attending conferences or workshops or retreats that they attend is possibly the best way to learn about them firsthand.
Posted by Natalie J. Damschroder | May 26, 2009, 7:56 amThanks, Natalie! These are great suggestions.
Posted by Tracey Devlyn | May 26, 2009, 4:44 pmGreat topic – especially for a newbie like me! Thank you!
D.
Posted by December | May 26, 2009, 10:23 amThanks, December!
Posted by Natalie J. Damschroder | May 26, 2009, 10:25 amHi, Natalie. Thanks for the interview! You’ve given us a lot of information. I love the pirates line.
Posted by Greta | May 26, 2009, 11:08 amThanks, Greta!
Posted by Natalie J. Damschroder | May 26, 2009, 11:12 amWonderful, Natalie and Kelsey–several things caught my eye, especially about the “rule” of sending only to one editor or publisher at a time. That’s always confused me, so I made my own rule–it’s my manuscript and maybe I will send it to more than one. I have done that, but…I’ve followed the rule, too. It all depends on the circumstances. I took note of each point you made. Thank you–Celia
Posted by Celia Yeary | May 26, 2009, 11:18 amHi, Natalie. Thanks for being with us today. I’m curious what your thought is on giving an agent/editor an exclusive on a full manuscript. My personal rule of thumb is to give the agent/editor an exclusive for one month, but then after the month, I would be free to send it to others.
Posted by Adrienne Giordano | May 26, 2009, 11:45 amCelia, it sounds like you have a good handle on things.
We don’t want to blatantly ignore submission guidelines, but we do have to keep our own needs paramount, and submitting to one person, waiting a year, and submitting to another won’t get us anywhere fast. 
Thanks for having me, Adrienne! Like most people, if the full manuscript isn’t under consideration anywhere yet, I agree that an exclusive is appropriate for a limited amount of time. Depending on the agent’s request and my desire to sign with them, I might go up to 8 weeks as an extreme, but 4 to 6 is reasonable. And, as always honesty is important. They’ll appreciate your position.
Posted by Natalie J. Damschroder | May 26, 2009, 12:25 pmWhich section in your Pirate’s Guide class addresses the three “arrrrrrrs”?
Posted by Jody Wallace | May 26, 2009, 5:45 pmOMG. LOL Thank you, Jody, for topping off the day with a big laugh! *guffaw*
I’ll just say you’ll have to take the class to learn the 3 arrrrrrrs. LOL
Posted by Natalie J. Damschroder | May 26, 2009, 5:55 pmNatalie – I have to apologize for chiming in so incredibly late. Thank you so much for joining us at RU! I learned so much from your class and really appreciate that you took the time to share your knowledge with our readers.
Posted by KelseyBrowning | May 26, 2009, 10:31 pmThanks for having me, Kelsey! It’s been great!
Posted by Natalie J. Damschroder | May 27, 2009, 9:06 amGreat lesson, I learned a lot especially about being careful in submitting to multiple agents at the same time. Thanks for the pirate quote sometimes as aspiring writers we get snagged/handcuffed/stiffled by the “rule”.
Looking forward to being a regular student at RU.
Posted by Regena Bryant | May 31, 2009, 11:25 pmThanks, Regena! That’s exactly why I started doing my workshop.
It’s a good reminder for all of us, no matter how long we’ve been writing.
Posted by Natalie J. Damschroder | June 1, 2009, 6:48 amThanks, Jimmy!
Posted by Natalie J. Damschroder | July 22, 2009, 8:54 pm