Dusting off the Query for 2013

In 2012, it was my goal to submit my work at least once a month. Ever This Day was held briefly by a new Catholic press beginning a young adult line, but ultimately they passed on it. That didn’t come as too much of a disappointment, as I was a little nervous an “officially” Catholic press might urge me to “straightwash” it, which I’m not willing to do. Although Ever This Day doesn’t have overt queer themes, it does deal with homophobia, and a shared, experimental kiss between two 13-year-old girls figures into the plot fairly prominently. Still, I worry I may continue to face the issue that another good friend of mine, who writes more overtly Christian fiction, might face, when she says, “It’s hard to find a home for my work because it’s too secular for the Christian market, and too Christian for the secular market.”

Sounds familiar. But luckily, I’ve read a lot of books that tackle thought-provoking issues of faith published by secular presses. So I’ll hold out. I’m also going to up the ante a bit in 2013, and send my query out once a week rather than once a month. I sent it out twice last week to make up for the fact that I didn’t get it out at all in November.

Also, speaking of submissions, Random House recently launched three new imprints for genre ebooks in the fantasy/sci-fi, mystery, and “new adult” genres, in addition to their existing ebook imprint for romance. What’s most exciting about this is that the imprints appear to accept unagented work, which is nearly unheard of with the big publishing houses. I’m keeping them in mind for future submissions as well, although not for Ever This Day.

Last week, I finally set up my author page on Amazon.com, too. Here’s hoping 2013 brings more titles to add onto it!