Publishing

Choosing to Begin

~ Donna Drew Sawyer ~ Leave a comment
Photo by Jon Tyson (Unsplash)

A writer becomes an author in their own way. Each route to publication is unique, and while you can read about someone else’s experience, I doubt you can duplicate it yourself. Writing is a practice—something you work at repeatedly to become proficient. The arts are a prominent theme in my books and writing, like music, visual and performing arts, to do it well you have to practice. You write, edit, and rewrite to hone your craft and simultaneously work on growing courage and conviction—dispelling the internal and external voices that tell you that you can’t and embracing those that say you can. You’ll also need the wisdom and grace of friends, family, and other writers who are willing to share their wisdom and experience so that you grow through it as you go through it.

Until my debut novel, PROVENANCE, I had never written fiction. I entered the publishing world naked and afraid—with no massive social media platform, celebrity status, or inside access to the publishing world. I also had additional hurdles—I am a woman of color writing about a nuanced black experience (passing) and, I’m over fifty.

Undeterred,  I went to writing conferences to meet agents and queried incessantly, hoping to beat the odds. Agents in their 20s and 30s looking for the next young literary breakout talent found it hard to relate to me and my manuscript. Though the odds were against me, I believed in my hard-earned skill, and if I am anything, I am determined.

After a couple of years of “I don’t understand how to find an audience for your book,” or “I don’t think I am the right agent for a book like this,” or no response at all, it became clear that landing an agent and a traditional publishing deal was highly unlikely for this first-time author with no platform. I may have been beaten, but I certainly wasn’t broken.

I wrote PROVENANCE for avid readers like me—anyone who had grown tired of reading fiction about the African American experience that focused only on our history of being enslaved. I craved stories that celebrated what it means to be a person of color – to determine our own destiny and to achieve great things.  I knew I had written a good book, and I knew there was an audience for it.

Not being able to land an agent could have ended my quest to be a published author, but, as I said before, if I am anything, I am determined. I figured out how to self-publish and promote my debut novel. I worked like hell to reach an audience that I knew was there.  

PROVENANCE took this author on an exhilarating adventure. I am grateful to the readers who helped it reach #1 in African American Fiction on Amazon, to the juries who awarded it prizes for debut and historical fiction, to the book clubs, book fairs, and libraries who invited me and my book to in-person and virtual appearances around the country.  It was a heady adventure—risky and remarkable.

Fast-forward to 2025, my next manuscript, PROMISE, is complete, and I am embarking on a new adventure. It is time to begin again. Putting fears of the dreaded sophomore slump aside, I am querying agents hoping that the literary world will offer this author an opportunity to share a story that challenges our assumptions about race, class, and identity while celebrating the enduring bonds of family. So, aware of the challenges and the rewards and armed with my hard-earned skills and my hard-headed determination—I am choosing to begin again!

The Blurb

~ Donna Drew Sawyer ~ Leave a comment

The Run Away Blurb © Thomas Guest on Flickr
The Run Away Blurb © Thomas Guest on Flickr

“So, what’s your book about?” From the moment you tell anyone you’re writing a book, that is the first question they ask. I struggled with that question. I knew what my book was about, what I had trouble with was trying to wedge my saga—three generations of a family, over five decades, with multiple characters, male and female, all integral to a story about racial discrimination, passing, coming of age, sex, love, friendship and lies; that takes place in Virginia, New York, Paris, Florence and Montego Bay—into a succinct description that will pique someone’s interest and, can be delivered in about 15 seconds. I never did learn to do that elevator speech thing well.

Now I have to deal with the ultimate “what is your book about” challenge. In the crowded world of fiction, an author gets just a couple of chances to answer that question for a reader. What can I do to get someone who doesn’t know Donna Drew Sawyer from Adam or Eve, interested enough to consider reading a book by moi?

The first hurdle, getting a prospective reader to notice, then pick up the book in a bookstore or choose it from an online bookseller’s array of literary fiction, is accomplished by the cover. Initially, we all judge a book by its cover. The second hurdle—which is higher—is the marketing blurb, those few words that grab a reader’s attention and compel them to want to read more.

Blurbs are used everywhere; book covers, dust covers, catalogues for online and brick and mortar bookstores, book reviews, items and mentions, publicity pitches, author introductions and more. The blurb, sometimes shortened to a couple of paragraphs, sometimes used in its entirety, is the way you talk about a book in almost every context—it is a key part of that extremely important first impression. If the cover and the blurb do not do sell your book, your book does not sell!

Many of you have already told me how much you love the cover for PROVENANCE, I love it too. I was fortunate to work with a couple of wildly talented designers, Francesco Di Biase and Federica Quadrelli, in Milan, who understood the book’s essence and were able to distill it into a cover that makes you want to pick it up and turn in over. Now the blurb must work its magic.

After input from some wonderful marketing people and my dear beleaguered friends who know the book from the fifty-eleven-dozen times I’ve asked them to read it, we’ve crafted the blurb for PROVENANCE that appears below.

I would love to know if we accomplished the job – would you pick this book up and take it home? Please let me know what you think.

PROVENANCE is an exciting and emotional tale about the redemptive power of love, the healing influence of the arts and the ultimate aspiration—freedom. In an expansive saga that weaves historical fact with fiction across five decades and three generations, PROVENANCE is about an American family determined to escape the barriers of race, class and gender.

By challenging a privileged society designed to make it impossible to achieve anything, PROVENANCE’s flawed and captivating characters succeed by gaining unparalleled access to everything. However, they must ultimately come to terms with who they are—evoking Shakespeare’s caution, to thine own self be true—or pay the price for living a lie.

On his death bed, Hank Whitaker confesses to his wife, Maggie, and 18-year-old son, Lance, that he is a black man—passing for white. Hank’s revelation changes everything for his family. Richmond’s racial integrity laws make Maggie a criminal and, despite his racially ambiguous appearance, Lance must now abide by the brutally restrictive laws that govern the lives of Negroes in the segregated south.

Lance and Maggie, at the insistence of her indomitable mother, Charlotte, flee the provincial south for Paris; hoping to defy racism like many African Americans did in the early 20th century. Seeking solace in the cafés, clubs, salons, galleries as well as the boudoirs of the City of Light, Lance finds purpose within the vibrant community of talented artists and wealthy expatriates who define the art world after World War I. Like his father before him, Lance’s glorious life, based on secrets and lies, eventually begins to unravel, exacting a heavy toll on him and everyone he dares to love.

The End is Just the Beginning…

~ Donna Drew Sawyer ~ 3 Comments

© Andrew Hurley on Flickr
© Andrew Hurley on Flickr

THE END – I typed the final two words and six letters of my novel PROVENANCE and burst into tears—which I now realize was the appropriate response—but not for the obvious emotional reason. I thought, after seven long years of writing and rewriting, that I had reached my goal, I had a completed manuscript, a book, better yet, a best seller! All I had to do was hand it off to my publisher and they would get it to booksellers who would then supply clamoring readers. As the author, my work, was done.

Those of you who have already published a book can stop laughing now. What I’ve since learned is that The End, is just the beginning of being a published author. When the writing ends, the next phase of being an author begins, the publishing and promotion part.

Once upon a time, in a publishing era not so long ago, authors gladly relinquished all aspects of publishing and promotion to the publisher. They did the editing, proofreading, interior design, cover design, pre-launch promotion, publicity, post-launch promotion as well as whatever hand-holding was necessary to make an author’s book a success. They planned and paid for the launch party, they scheduled interviews, book signings and appearances at book festivals. They got the author on television, radio or whatever broadcast media was available. But that was then, this is now. Today—and it doesn’t matter whether you are traditionally, self- or hybrid published—if you what an audience to discover your book, YOU, the author, have to get involved in all of those previously outsourced publisher responsibilities. That is how you make your book a book a success. Now writing a book almost seems like the easier part.

I realized I can’t do all this publishing and promotion part alone – I need you to come along with me for advice, counsel and moral support. At least a couple of times a week I’ll write about what’s going on in this process of becoming a published author. I hope you’ll read, contribute, commiserate, celebrate and support me as I blog my way to publication and beyond. You can subscribe to my blog (see info on the right) or LIKE my author page on Facebook to see my linked posts there.

Seems THE END was not the finish line, it is just the beginning of the next chapter.

UPCOMING POST: What’s Your Book About? From story, to synopsis, to elevator speech.