Publishing with Morgan James, Pt. 2

I know. I'm kind of cheating here since I haven't written a Part 1 yet, but this the part I feel like writing about right now, so here we are. When I was considering publishing with Morgan James, I found it difficult to find good information. There were lots of complaints about them, primarily because they require that the author invest in their product, but nothing from authors and their experience. I'm hoping I can give a truthful view of Morgan James and that'll be helpful to someone someday.

After signing my contract, I was given an "Author Questionnaire" and a sample endorsement request letter (that wasn't written correctly, which was a bit off-putting.) I also felt a little adrift with the questionnaire because it asked for a lot of tough stuff! I've been self-publishing for ten years, but even I struggled to find the right comparative titles, or to write the best back cover copy. I think the part that I really fell short on was keywords. Oy, the keywords! I struggle with them all the time, but it seemed especially difficult with Dragon Protocol.

But time—weeks!—was ticking by and I hadn't heard anything from Morgan James and I was keenly aware of every passing day that I didn't turn in the questionnaire. No one had told me when it should be in by, but still...surely I couldn't keep it forever!

Finally, I returned it to the appropriate people at Morgan James with a note saying that it still needed help. And that was that. Easy peasy. It was like they expected this. That no one was expected to nail all the parts on their own, the first time. Gah! I wish I'd known that. Then again, had I known that I might have given up sooner, and now I'll have more ground to stand on when we begin discussing plans and details.

The next thing I hadn't realized, was that the Welcome Call I'd heard a lot about, but didn't know when it would happen, could now be scheduled. They were waiting on the questionnaire to be completed in order to schedule the call. Well, sheesh! I didn't know that! I'm sure I would have moved a lot faster had I known because the Welcome Call (as I understand it) kicks off all the fun stuff.

Fun stuff like discussions with the marketing department about position, release, and—best of all!—the cover design.

My editor emailed me today in response to some questions I had on seeking endorsements and he suggested to wait until I have the cover, so I can show it to prospective readers. I'm excited to think that a cover may happen even while the manuscript is being edited. I know that's how things are normally done, so it shouldn't feel so revolutionary to me, but I think it's just because while I have a lot of control over this process, I don't have as much as I would if I were self-publishing this book. So it's only natural that I feel a bit anxious about how it'll all come together.

The Morgan James Publishing process so far...

1. Submit query (I pitched my book at a live pitch event, so my process was a little different)

2. Upon request for full, submit full

3. Submit synopsis

4. Phone call with acquisitions editor to discuss the Morgan James publishing model

5. Receive sample contract

6. Send in marketing plans, as well as current social reach

7. Wait for approval from the publishing board

8. Receive acceptance phone call!

9. Receive digital acceptance letter

10. Receive digital contract to be signed

11. Receive hard copies of acceptance letter and contract all signed

12. Receive the dreaded Author Questionnaire

13. Return completed questionnaire

14. Schedule Welcome Call!

Stay tuned for more on the publishing process with Morgan James Publishing!