Years ago when I first started freelancing, I sent off a story to a local magazine. The editor sent it back with a scribbled note saying: “Thanks Eve, no offence, but I’d rather die than publish this.”
Well, thanks Jim, I did take offence, but rejection is part of the job. It goes along with isolation, low paying gigs and a desperate craving for attention. It’s one of the reasons why awards are so important to writers. That and the cash.
BC Book Prizes
Awards give us recognition, access to better paying jobs, and for authors, they sell books. And, that’s just a few of the reasons that I’m thrilled to see Sheryl Salloum’s, The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton by Mother Tongue Publishing, nominated for a BC Book Prize.
Mother Tongue Publishing is a small trade publisher run by the amazing Mona Fertig from her heritage house on Salt Spring Island. While other publishers turn their backs on books that lack mass market appeal, movie options or foreign rights potential, Mona actively seeks out poets, first-time writers and unrecognized artists.