Well, here I am, ready to start the process of getting my first novel published. I received the contract from Twilight Times a week and a half ago and I returned it yesterday, after making sure that it was a good contract.
I did not hire an agent for this novel. In the end, this was because I did not need someone to help me negotiate a perfectly good contract and it is not yet time to try to go after secondary rights (such as foreign rights).
Twilight Times is a small press that does both e-books and print books. I chose to submit my novel to them because I liked the fact that they did both print and e-books. (An eye to the future with a firm grasp on the realities of the present.) I did not want to get lost in an ocean of impersonal editors who had far bigger clients to deal with. Also, I felt that my manuscript had a reasonable chance of being taken seriously at a small press. I chose Twilight Times in particular because they are new, growing, and recommended by “Predators and Editors.”
I will continue to make updates as the process continues. The next step: editing. I’m curious as to what kinds of changes an editor will want me to make at this point.