Who’ll Start the Rain?

I was pretty comfortable with where I was going with my novel, so I began to wonder how to go about getting it published. I purchased a couple of self-help books on the subject of publishing - and it was grim reading indeed. It appeared that the odds against finding a publisher directly appeared to be 10,000 to 1. The better news, but not appreciably better, was for the budding writer to locate and engage literary agency representation. These agents were in business to screen out all but the “sure things’ – to wit - the previously published author and other hopefuls in the top percentile of currently popular genre submissions. Agents, then, culled and redirected writer’s works from the desks of beleaguered publishers, channeling them to the desks of beleaguered agencies. It was here that I learned that literally thousands of ‘submissions’ (a term for an introductory letter, accompanied by a short synopsis of the writer's story, with perhaps, depending on the agency, a chapter or two from the story) were received every month by literary agents, generally located in New York City. Thousands!!! What in the name of all that is holy had I taken on?

I decided to re-read the first thirty chapters of my novel to see if I thought I may be wasting my time considering my new-found statistics. No, this was a good story – I genuinely liked it. The real unasked question was - what was the breadth of the demographic of which I was a part? I certainly knew my book wasn’t anywhere near the mainstream of popular genres, but just how far out of that mainstream was yet to be determined. This book will eventually sell because it is well-researched and well written (says I). After all, as I used to tell my son (who now refuses to take any advice from me whatsoever), study hard, it isn’t who you know, it’s what you know. I actually believed that as part of my country bumpkinesque philosophy. I was about to enter the sphere of the publishing world where both philosophies resided.

My self-help publishing books suggested that I attend conventions of like-story writers and engage in writing workshops. While I was sure this would be helpful to a point, the prospect of this ‘extra’ activity did not appeal to me. After all, I wasn’t interested in becoming a professional writer, nor did the costs associated with these activities appeal to me. Could I have used the writing help of a writers’ workshop or the exposure attending a convention might have gotten me? The answer was yes, but I wasn’t convinced of its ultimate importance. My current and perhaps only book was an interesting exercise for me. I was not about to make it a ‘federal case,’ and besides, isn’t that what agents were for – to polish up the prose and do the necessary marketing? I thought so. I was already somewhat overwhelmed at what I had taken on, but I loved the story and the associated research. So no matter what would happen commercially, I was engaged fully and happily. At this point, I estimated that I would have more than nine months of writing and research ahead of me, so I would begin to assemble a data base of appropriate literary agents. There was plenty of time for this activity since literary agents for fictional novels will not even entertain a submission unless your book is complete.

In future blogs, I will get more into the weeds of publishing – editing, identifying appropriate agents for a given work, and, the exercise of the submission. Still later I will discuss the world of self-publishing.