Guest Post: How to Get Your Book Published the Crazy Way
Jessica Jiji, author of How to Judge a Book By Its Lover
600-page word manuscript? Check. More rejections than you can count? Check. Family members gently hinting that you may want to give up on that dream of ever getting published? Check, check, check.
My latest novel, How to Judge a Book By Its Lover is fiction, sure, but it also serves as a primer on how to get your manuscript published the crazy way, and why that just might blow apart everything you’ve ever thought you knew about your life, your likes, and your luck at love.
Its main character, Laurel Linden, has wanted to be a writer since childhood. She finds her calling penning “Napoleon’s Hairdresser,” an epic about the great general’s stylist.
But after years of living in the same run-down apartment and exchanging critiques with the writers in her rag-tag group of wannabe authors, Laurel is still right where she started: with a dream, sure, but no power to make it come true.
Pressured by her parents to finally grow up, she’s about to take a job with The Girdle and Support Hose Quarterly trade publication when she meets a mentor who rearranges everything Laurel thought about what it takes to succeed.
With that encouragement, suddenly Laurel is singing at nightclubs, dropping more than she can afford at chic boutiques, and transforming from an ordinary kid from the suburbs into the cool girlfriend of one of the city’s hottest art critics.
Now, instead of emailing pitches to agents, Laurel gathers the nerve to take a crazy leap that lands her a six-figure book deal with a major publishing house.
That’s when she realizes that everything she ever wanted was always in reach, just not where she was looking.
It’s a story for the dreamer in all of us who nearly gives up after so much loss but opens their heart to the chance for glory. And it’s a tale for anyone who ever had an insane idea that just might work.
Take it from me: before my first novel was published, I went to some wild lengths to draw attention to my manuscripts. A friend and I who co-wrote a screenplay together once even handed a copy to the mother of our dream star.
And while that daring move didn’t pay off, we had a great laugh before moving onto the next attempt to turn dreams into reality.
When it came to finally getting published, I found myself on the traditional road, but I never would have had enough fuel in my tank if it weren’t for the many leaps of faith I took along the way. And even if I fell after most of them, each one carried me forward.
In the end, Laurel proves more than the power of betting on long odds when you are short of hope; her story shows that when you cash out the winnings, you may just find the biggest payout is one you never expected.
Title: How to Judge a Book By Its Lover
Author: Jessica Jiji
Release Date: September 9, 2020
Publisher: Stone Tiger Books
Blurb:A big dream, wrapped in a comedy, inside an unexpected romance…
Lucien Brosseau: those blue eyes, that thick hair, his messy shirts – Laurel Linden dreams of the chance to kiss a guy as sophisticated as he’s sexy. But while Lucien is a Belgian art critic raised in Nicaragua, Laurel barely escaped the suburbs of Long Island with dreams of publishing her hilariously messy, 600-page historical novel about Napoleon Bonaparte’s hairdresser. At least she loves her day job walking adorable puppies, and when she finds Vanessa – a wise mentor – they’re off on a wild ride through New York City’s hottest clubs and coolest boutiques. Along the way, Laurel’s dreams start to come true but she’s shocked by just how. That’s when she gets an even bigger prize: the one truth that always brings happiness in life, but only if you earn it.
About the Author
About Jessica Jiji
I. Love. Readers! You are part of an awesome tribe. And I am one of you. My mother always told me we could travel far with books. Long before there were virtual tours and Google Earth, she introduced me to books that transported me across seas and centuries. One of my favorites is “The Alexandria Quartet,” a set of four linked novels set in Egypt. If you haven’t read them, that’s at least one recommendation I can offer by way of thanks for visiting this website.
Like parents everywhere, my father used to tell me bedtime stories. Being Iraqi, he made up tales about a brave girl named Cassima. Instead of starting with “Once Upon a Time…” he would open with the line, “I was a cook for the Queen of Iraq…” The cook was never much good at fighting off bandits or protecting the palace but Cassima would swoop in and save the day. I was mesmerized.
Somewhere between being raised on the power of reading and those imaginative tales, I started writing. As a die-hard fan of rom-coms, I try to capture the heartache and the happiness, the meaning and the madness of life. Sometimes, I cross continents and decades to write about the Arabic culture I was raised to revere. Other times, I stick with here and now, where contemporary love meets timeless desire. Either way, it’s a journey we’re on together.
To readers everywhere, I offer my gratitude, solidarity and allegiance. You rock.
