Hey all.

After many a review, edit...critique, redraft...re-post, POV, counter-opinion, piece of advice, revision, more reviews, discussions, resistance, concessions and more re-drafts... Kicking and Screaming you've dragged me and my novel to publication. My first draft had incorrect use of perspective, a slow start and belated hook, copious head-hopping, grammar issues, unnecessary back-story and an excessive word-count.

7 redrafts, 20 conversations and 6 heated debates with Jay, dozens of reviews, many new friends and about 227 modifications later... and you've done it.

Demiurge; Blood of the innocent (formerly SEER) is now published by Bookkus Publishing; paperbacks available on Amazon now, and ebooks of many formats following with the official launch date of 1st Dec this year.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone on this site (especially Jay, Michee, Carl and DocTom) who helped, supported, debated, reviewed, commented, fought, joked and advised on how to improve each draft. (Jay, I'll apologise in advance...with my comments within the acknowledgements about your advice, you may get many a stranger harassing you here on Bookcountry and on your website, for the same.)

Guess what buddies,the system works, after all...Stick with it.

As many have said before, If it can happen for me (especially with all the newbie errors I made,) it can sure as heck happen for anyone here.

Have a blast, best of luck, and catch you round the site,

Mike

www.michaelrhagan.com

Perseverance, Michael.  You can't beat it. 

Congratulations from me to you. 

Hey, Mike! That is fabulous news! Well done to you!

For those of us who haven't read your book yet, tell us more about it. What's your "elevator pitch" for readers?

Lucy

Thanks guys... Oh and thanks also for what I'll take as an invite to plug away...

The renowned archaeologist, James McKenzie, has uncovered many prophecies, each with a mysterious symbol accompanying their inscription. Now, edifices of this symbol are reappearing, not engraved in aged rock, but painted in blood above the victims of a serial killer, and the fanatical cult he serves. Detective Hassom is charged with the task of making sense of this slaughter and capturing the perpetrators.

Corruption, collusion and the discovery that Lucas, a strangely gifted eight year old orphan, is the primary target of the murderous cult force Detective Hassom and Professor McKenzie to work together to solve the murders. In their efforts to protect Lucas and reveal the ultimate goal of the cult leader and how this relates to the final, revelatory prophecy discovered in Iran, they unearth a truth, more terrible than anything they could have feared.                             

Much like the novel, this elevator pitch/synop became much shorter with each successive redraft.   If anyone has any suggestions on improving the pitch, I am, of course, all ears!                             

Wow--I think you are doing an awesome job on this synopsis. The book sounds terrifying and compelling.

So many congrats to you. Tell us more about your submission process and what is coming next.

Thanks indeedy!;

Re: the submission process... I'm afraid I made every rookie mistake in the book. I thought, while writing it, my first draft was 'gold,' sent it off to a bunch of literary agents without giving myself a cooling off period, and got the inevitable response...or lack thereof.

Revisiting my draft about a month later, I wondered what illiterate buffoon had mauled the story...it was bad. I 'improved' it, without really understanding fully what was needed... cycle repeated. Taking into account what Einstein said about insanity, and the critique garnered right here on BC, I read some books on creative writing...more than once, exchange more in-depth reviews both here and on Critters, set the book aside whilst doing so, and then started over using a different perspective and style, altered some personality types, ensured action scenes had snappier sentences and took less time to read than enact, cut 20,000 words...and resubmitted.

I had one literary agent enjoy the sent partial and request the full manuscript...only to forget who I was, what I'd written, or indeed ever having requested the manu. (I guess some days are better than others.)

I exchanged some more reviews, made some more alterations and entered the book into the Bookkus community of reviewers selection process. I was honoured and delighted to have 'Demiurge; Blood of the Innocent' pass through each stage until finally accepted for publication... Yahoo!

Then the editors tore me a new @$$h0l£... excuse me... recommended some further modifications.

On their behest, I cut another 15,000 words, clarified the personal journey of the lead characters, ensured there existed conflict in some form within each episode of dialogue... would you believe, even cut 80% of the occurrences of the word 'that' and 50% of the word 'had'? (In hindsight, obvious and basic stuff completely missed by me in my independent revisions.)

Then after some small toing and froing, we were there, discussing cover art, marketing and launch dates (Dec 1st,) and before I knew it, I'd a copy dropping through the letterbox.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, and I know I've said this before, but I was actually surprised when it looked and felt like a 'real book.'

If it's of use, I'm more than happy to email a pre-editor reviewed... or even a pre-reviewer edited draft (in fact, the very first awful version is hidden in the depths of Bookcountry's memory banks, under the working title of 'The Desolate') to anyone who contacts me, to compare with the finished work...showing the difference between what I saw as finished and yet would be automatically rejected by a publisher; and what the pros saw as publishable and marketable material.

Anyway, if anyone reading this recognises any part of the journey; remember it is just that, a journey, full of moments of elation, despair and everything in between...but ultimately a journey, and we can but enjoy the ride.

Oh, yeah... and I'll mention again; you could do a lot worse than listen to and accept what Jay Greenstein (again, right here on BC) has to say about what agents demand from submissions... If I'd taken everything he said to me on-board first time round instead of rattling sabres with him (fun though that undoubtedly is) I'd have saved myself about a years work.... Aargh!