Straight From the Mouth of Gabriella Zielke

 

Getting Published During Covid

By Gabriella Zielke

 

Finding a publisher is no easy feat. Add a little global pandemic to the mix and you get fewer opportunities to meet agents and publishers face to face. You also find more people

at home returning to their dreams of being published, dusting off those manuscripts and keyboards to fill inboxes with pitches.

This is where I found myself in 2020 when I began the submission process for my debut scifi thriller The Sound of Creation. Without the ability to hone my pitch in person, I went straight into the cold agent emails. And I completely sucked at it. Failure was not an option so I coached myself to persist and to iterate.

But…I still sucked at the email pitch. I’ve raised a lot of capital and I know I’m better in person where I can get feedback in the moment and “feel out” what works. So, I looked far and wide for an in person conference.

I found Writercon in Oklahoma City. It was a hybrid event in a large hotel with windows that opened and strict protocols in place. (spoiler: no one got Covid)

I signed up for five agent pitches, and got some great feedback. One of the speakers, an editor for an established publisher with thousands of titles, did a first page critique for everyone who submitted beforehand. The session was so helpful that I approached her after. She said I should sign up to pitch her, but I told her I was unagented. Luckily, her publisher didn’t care!

I sent off four fulls in total from my pitches. The three agents sent personalized rejections.

Ally Robertson, editor for The Wild Rose Press sent a different kind of note. She loved it! *swoon* She was sending it to committee for approval and they would send a contract if it passed.

The great thing about TWRP is that they guarantee publication within one year from galley approval. I signed the contract in December 2020, worked my tail off with Ally, and The Sound of Creation was born 2-2-22!

There are many ways to go about publication, so explore until you find the right one for you and don’t be discouraged if the “experts” way doesn’t work. 

Gabriella Zielke founded one of the world’s first tech accelerators where she was fortunate to mentor and fund hundreds of founders whose ideas previously only existed as science fiction. Fast Company named Zielke one of its Most Creative People, among other accolades from her business career. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Creative Writing at Harvard University Extension while living on St. Croix with her husband and their zealous Great Dane. When she’s not writing, you can find her dancing with fire.

Her latest book is the scifi novel, The Sound of Creation.

Visit her website at www.gabriellazielke.com or connect with her at Twitter and Facebook.