I have to admit that I was surprised by some of the responses to last week’s discussion about queries. There’s so much angst out there as authors struggle to find agents that some writers adopt an ends-justify-the-means mindset and think there’s something wrong the entire process if their queries don’t work.
But as I said in the comments section of Thursday’s post, every successful debut book should be viewed on the order of a minor miracle. It’s like throwing a manuscript across a river of paper-eating snakes and crocodiles and hoping that all the pages reach the other side. Success is hard and rare, and there is an incredible array of obstacles along the way.
Success is not the default, and success does not come easily.
And yet so many aspiring authors don’t approach the business in this fashion. They expect success. They feel that they’ve earned success simply by completing a novel they think is good. And they feel that if they are not easily finding success something is wrong.
Then you start hearing things like agents don’t know what they’re doing, the query process is stupid, the publishing industry is going down the tubes because they won’t publish MY book, etc. etc.
The system is not perfect, but it’s also not broken. In fact it’s working precisely as it should: It’s winnowing tens of thousands of projects down to the few that are published. There are far more novels out there than can realistically be sold to publishers. Far, far, far, far more. To paraphrase Sean Lindsay, there are too many writers and not enough readers. Getting published is not supposed to be easy.
If there were a more effective system of winnowing down thousands of submissions than referrals and query letters I’d love love love nothing more than to find it and use it (and Jennifer Jackson agrees). But in order to decide if I’m interested in taking a look at a manuscript I need to know two things: what the book is about and whether the author can write well. And I need to know those things as quickly as possible because I have a million other things to do. That’s precisely the point and function of a query letter. If the query did not exist, God would have to invent it.
It’s not fun to be winnowed. But don’t blame the winnowers. Just keep at it. And while you’re at it, try and enjoy the process. Life’s too short.
Please respect the system. It’s there for a reason.
Bill Womack says
It’s hard not to go through bouts of bitterness from time to time as a writer. Sadly, agents tend to be the object of our angst by virtue of occupying the next rung up in the literary food chain.
A few years into the writing process, I’ve finally begun to relax a little and enjoy the process itself rather than obsessing on publication. It might not have improved my writing, but it’s certainly made it more fun to do. Keep up the great work, Nathan.
Marsha says
In the UK, agents usually ask you to send your cover letter (query), synopsis, and first three chapters — all by post. The whole thing usually costs at least £3, double that if you include an SAE. It is a big cost for any writer if you query even ten agents.
Often my submissions have been returned back to me, unopened, since the agent isn’t accepting new clients. (And yes, I did check the website before sending).
So to me, the US system seems far more expedient and writer friendly. Hope the UK follows suit!
Anita says
Is it just me or does The Bachelor offer a fabulous analogy to the whole finding-a-debut-writer proces…particularly when writers who get dumped at the query complain, “But he didn’t get a chance to know me!”
BJ says
Very good post, Nathan.
Lee says
Here’s the flipside:
Be a bookseller with a major chain. You read books every day not just because you love to read, but also to have recommendations ready.
Enter the author who wrote the next big thing. They brag how they’ve passed up the publishing world and gone with a small, independent “subsidized” (i.e. self) publisher who recognizes the power of their story. They claim their independence, but probably the publishing world said “no” for a reason.
This author ends up with me because I read the most in the store and he’s not taking “no” from other booksellers. He hands me a copy of his book (not to keep and preview, but just to look at – he can’t afford to lose money on a single copy). I ask if he wants objective feedback, since he’s so certain he’s going to outsell Stephen King, he adamantly agrees.
It doesn’t matter if the story is great: the cover most likely looks awful and the blurb on the back reads like a bad movie trailer (“In a world…”). The author does not want to hear that and pushes to have me take a chance on him. To appease him, I look the book up in the system.
The book is most likely listed as a POD, the publisher does not take returns so we can’t order it into the store even if I wanted to take a chance on it : any unsold copies become trash when we do book pulls.
However, the author does not understand that and becomes abusive claiming that big chains are ruining the creative world. When I finally give in and read the first chapter on the spot, he becomes even more indignant because I point out that he needs an editor to tighten up his opening pages: pages that make or break a book regardless on how good it is. Most likely, his sentence structure makes me wince and I’m confused by a logic error or two.
In the end, he leaves in a huff – especially if I give him the name and number of a writer’s group that could assist him through the publishing process.
In a few weeks, a caller special orders 5 copies of this book (most likely leaving a wrong number) and an unknowing bookseller orders them. After 20 days, the unclaimed books make it to the bookshelf where they sit for 90 days before being pulled and marked down. They sit on the mark down table for 20 days before being trashed.
The publishing process is there for a reason. If the query letter doesn’t grab, then the book isn’t going to either. The process isn’t perfect, but it does weed out the writer’s who can’t tell a story – no matter how compelling.
Aspiring authors need to get into a writers group where they’re told the truth: if they have a story to tell the group will support them through the process. If they don’t have a story to tell, they can stop and think before trying again.
I left the bookselling world to teach, but plan to go back in a year or so and I don’t expect it to have changed in the time I’ve been gone.
Nathan Bransford says
Thanks for that breakdown, Lee. Very interesting to hear things from the other side.
nonich says
Your twitter entry says “Getting published is not supposed to be easy.”
That’s an interesting way of looking at it, and not surprising since you’re on the publishing end of it. It’s different from my perspective. To me, getting a great idea is not supposed to be easy. Developing it in interesting and unique ways is not supposed to be easy. Writing in clear, clean, interesting, arresting language is not supposed to be easy. Once we’ve managed all that, finding a publisher is supposed to be easy. To me, this whole rigmarole is like spending three years in law school only to find that you have to cross an obstacle course to get to the bar exam.
Nathan Bransford says
nonich-
It is hard coming up with a good idea, it’s hard writing a novel, it’s hard to find an agent, it’s hard to find a publisher, it’s hard for the publisher to convince booksellers to take on the book in the numbers they want, it’s hard for the bookseller to sell the book, it’s hard for a book to become a bestseller.
It’s one big obstacle course in which you have to beat out other books every step of the way. To use a sports metaphor, it’s March Madness with a 1,000,000 book field. Make it to the next round and there are 500,000. Make it to the next round and there are 250,000. And you have to win every game.
freddie says
I find thinking about statistics of success too worrying, since it’s impossible for me to control, anyway. So I try to concentrate on writing the best story I can.
Lee says
Nathan said:
“To use a sports metaphor, it’s March Madness with a 1,000,000 book field. Make it to the next round and there are 500,000. Make it to the next round and there are 250,000. And you have to win every game.”
You forgot to mention that all the while your first book is playing the game, you MUST be working on your second book to have ready should your first book makes it to a bookseller’s hand.
At least in the mystery genre (my favorite) where series are the norm, it helps tremendously if the bookseller can say: “And book 2 is due out in 8 months!” Unknown authors are tough to sell – even by hand – and very few readers will take chances on them. If the book is in hardback, it’s near-impossible to sell…unless the bookseller knows that another one is on the way. For some reason, readers will take chances if they believe the publisher is also willing to take chances.
Years ago, I heard a well-known romance writer (Jayne Ann Krentz, I think?) say how she always had one book in editing, one book in the process of writing, two or three query letters out for various books, and several more ideas perking in her inspiration folder.
I would add to that, you should also be reading in the genre that you’re writing for.
Dara says
Great post! I do understand the bouts of bitterness that all writers go through, but the process does work, even if it doesn’t work for all of us.
I think some writers need to realize that the process is long and hard and that success is not a guarantee.
And I’m saying all of this as an unpublished, unagented writer. 😛
Crimogenic says
I’ve not had success with the query yet, but I do understand the need for some type of system to narrow down the playing field. All books written won’t be published, that’s a fact. Writers will just have to deal with that. It’s okay to be frustrated at times, but take that energy and use it to write the next novel.
Kristan says
Or DON’T keep at it, after a point, no? Find something else you love and can actually succeed at?
Heather Wardell says
In reading through a list of new books on fictionwise.com (my favourite eBook seller), I recognized another part of the frustration.
SO many of the books listed sound just like everything else. “Her boyfriend broke up with her so she hired a guy to pretend to be him but now she’s in love with him.” “He’s a normal guy until the criminals assume he has something they want.”
It’s frustrating, I must admit, to read through these blurbs. We’re told as writers that the industry wants something new and exciting, and yet from what I see in this new books list, that’s not what they’re publishing.
Now, is that because:
– these are short blurbs and the books really ARE different? (Perhaps, but I’m not wasting my money to find out.)
– the industry picks the best of what is submitted, and these are the best?
– something else is going on?
I don’t know, and it won’t stop me writing my books the way I want to because, as Bill Womack said earlier, that’s the only way it’s fun for me. But it’s interesting nonetheless.
Heather
sex scenes at starbucks says
I rarely feel bitterness as a writer. I’ve been a working artist for much of my life and I get it. It’s tough out there.
But as a customer, a reader, I often get bitter. I’m sick to death of a thousand average books that all sound alike. For instance, right now it’s urban fantasy: this genre that I love to read has been hijacked by the “tough-chick-alternate-being” protagonist. Yawn. True, they sell. I realize this. But soon they won’t, and I feel like the authors, agents, and editors will be blindsided by it when it happens. Until then they throw out look-alike after look-alike.
Because the publishers can only, or will only, publish X amount of books, dumbing down of the art form, especially in genre fiction, is occurring at an astounding rate. (Ok, maybe I feel a bit defensive as a writer, too, but mostly as a reader who often has a hard time finding really great books that appeal to me. I’ve bought 0 books on my past three trips to the bookstore. Zip.)
So to me one part of the business that’s broken is the marketing angle. Other businesses have ways to figure out what’s the next thing. It’s not like Coke throws a new energy drink out there without market research. Even film makers, probably the closest art form to books marketing-wise, do market research before investing millions on a movie. But what’s the market research process for books?
Also true: it’s hampered by excessive go-to-market times.
So publishing isn’t broken–especially on the agent end, no. But I think certain aspects of publishing need updating, especially product marketing and placement, and the technology/processes to cut lead times.
Mark Terry says
A while back agent Peter Rubie (or is it Rubin?) had a lengthy blog post about writers and writing and he said something brutal that struck me as important and true. He said, basically: no one deserves to be published.
What he was suggesting was that writing a novel that’s good or very good, or, I suppose, even great, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be published or even going to be successful if it does get published.
As someone who finally fought onto the novel-publishing wagon then got rather abruptly kicked off it 2 or 3 books later, I can attest that there are an awful lot of factors involved in getting published that have little or nothing to do with having written a “good book.” You can, as I was, get great blurbs and fairly good reviews (I say fairly good because there just weren’t that many of them, but the majority were glowing), but still not gain much traction in the marketplace.
Nathan’s absolutely right here. It’s all uphill and when you do finally get published, it gets even steeper.
So you either change your focus or work harder. Or quit. And the world won’t much give a damn if you quit.
Rose Pressey says
Excellent post.
Ugly Deaf Muslim Punk Gurl! says
Yes, we all feel bitter sometimes, but some writers take it too far.
Get over it. Maybe some writers’ writing ability really are shitty and they should find something else to turn to.
If you want to be a writer, you will NOT give up and keep going at it. Quit being so bitter, stop blaming agents, and look at your own writings more often.
Anonymous says
If I didn’t “expect” success (after doing the yes, very hard work) I wouldn’t write at all.
No writers would.
Do people that go to law school “expect” to one day have a job in law? Yes
Why is that an allowed expectation for a lawyer but is somehow not only unrealistic, but also somehow makes you ungrateful if you expect success as a writer?
Nathan Bransford says
anon-
A lawyer going to law school has approximately a 95% chance of becoming a lawyer. A novelist, even a good one, has approximately a 1 in 10,000 chance of being published, and an even smaller chance of selling well, and an even smaller chance of making a living at it. There are better ways of making money. Confidence is one thing and obviously if a writer is immensely talented their odds improve dramatically. But I think it must be accompanied with some sobriety about the odds.
ElanaJ says
Great post Nathan. I think the hardest part about publishing is the fact that you can’t succeed right away. In my “other” professional life, if I worked hard enough, I achieved what I wanted. In publishing, you can work incredibly hard and still not achieve what you want. You’re sort of at the mercy of others. It’s a humbling experience. I feel no bitterness, and I plan to persevere. Thanks!
Anonymous says
Sex Scenes at Starbucks said this:
“…So to me one part of the business that’s broken is the marketing angle. Other businesses have ways to figure out what’s the next thing. It’s not like Coke throws a new energy drink out there without market research….”
I could not agree with this more. The whole industry feels haphazard and because of that writers are tossed this way and that. The only way to succeed is to have your book win the “lottery” of becoming a lead title — no matter if the writing is worthy.
I see midlist authors tossed in the shark waters to sink or swim. I think that’s the big joke of publishing. Even if you can GET published, you’ll never make it out of the midlist.
Brian says
In a sad, masochistic sort of way, I enjoyed reading Nathan’s take on it: distilled into simple market terms, there isn’t enough demand to support the publishing of all of the “good” novels. But why do we write? Simply to be published? For the glory? If we write because we take consolation in the process or the product, if we need the creative outlet, we needn’t be discouraged by this truth. One of my resolutions is to just write, to do the best I can. If I get published, that’s great.
Prepare for disappointment and failure–isn’t that the first thing that we’re all told? We should expect it to be difficult. I empathize with writers, though. This simple bit of knowledge doesn’t mitigate the gut-wrenching pain that an uninterrupted train of rejection letters can cause.
Anonymous says
A lot of authors forget that writing is like playing basketball. Any kid can throw a ball into the hoop. Thousands of kids are superstars in their own high schools across the country. But most of them will never get a basketball scholarship, and even fewer will make it to the NBA.
-Jon
Scott (Thinking Man) says
I agree with most of what you said, Nathan. Not that I’m god’s gift to writing or even close, but you look at some books, the success they have, and you scratch your head.
That’s my reaction to the Stephanie Meyer books. Now, I like vampire books. I’ve devoured most of Anne Rice’s works. I really wanted to like Twilight. But as I listened to it, in certain sections, I wondered… how in the heck did this hit a home run? I mean, if ever a novel needed editing…
Kimber An says
If our chances are so tiny (made even tinier by the recession), why should we bother querying at all?
It’s an incredible amount of time and energy to polish a novel to Submission-Ready and then send it through the Query Process. Most of us have full time, paying jobs and families which must take priority.
There are agents who are so polite and fair and professional that I could query them a dozen times and never feel stung by their form rejection letters. Nathan Bransford is one of those agents.
And there are some agents I won’t query at all.
Anonymous says
Just to keep pushing the sports analogy a bit more, what are the odds that a high school basketball player will make it to the NBA? I wonder what the relative numbers of sports superstars are to top name writers.
Anonymous says
When I went to law school, at orientation, the dean of my school told us we’d all be making a hundred thousand dollars a year within five years of graduating. He did not mention that a third of us were going to fail out after the first year and if we even made it to graduation and were in the less than 50% that would actually pass the bar on the first shot, then only 17% of us would be earning more than $15,000 in the first year. That is exactly what happened in the case of my particular class, but had the dean told us this was our probable future instead of giving us the pep talk he did, our eager young selfs would have run screaming to another school get our MBA’s instead. Gloom and doom and a healthy dose of realism are fine, but, for God’s sake, lighten up. You’re sapping out all the fun you keep telling us we’re supposed to be having.
Anonymous says
Kimber An:
I couldn’t agree more. There are some agents that are downright nasty. I don’t mind a form rejection, but some agents rejections are nothing short of snobby. That’s sad. Sometimes it’s like authors are treated like cattle.
Nathan Bransford says
anon-
Wow, that’s the first time I’ve been told to lighten up! I must be getting grouchy in my old age.
Honestly though, this response is due to some stark negativity I’ve seen (and received) about agents and the publishing process. So consider this some pushback — we’re just trying to do our job, and we’re not stupid. What I described are the odds. If you’re not liking them and are only going to have fun if you’re Stephenie Meyer…. well, there are easier ways of making a million bucks.
Scott (Thinking Man) says
Anon:
I think being an Agent is probably akin to being a cop. You may start out being nice, but after you have dealt with enough crap, you become crass. Not saying that it’s right, but you can kind of understand.
bootsandbibles says
Since you evoked him, Nathan…
https://101reasonstostopwriting.com/2006/12/30/reason-11-addendum-you-think-you-can-fix-publishing/
Seriously – all you whining, anonymous, unpublished and angst-ridden commentors would do well to take a gander at the above linked article.
Anonymous says
I once read on an agent blog that any big books she ever had were the result of her either nuturing or going after the writer. And she also pointed out that she never had any big books from unsolicited queries. And this is a seasoned, well respected agent with plenty of big books. I’m not agreeing or disagreeing, but I thought it was an interesting (and honest) comment on a blog post.
j h woodyatt says
I find it helps to remember that not only are there far far more unpublished manuscripts than there are opportunities for them to be published, there are far far far more publishable unpublished manuscripts than there are opportunities for them to be published.
Not only does the winnowing process eliminate all the ones that aren’t good enough to sell. It also eliminates all the ones that are good enough to sell, but which didn’t hit the lucky jackpot.
You put the dollar in the slot, and you pull the lever. Most times, it eats the dollar and you put another one in. Sometimes, it gives you your dollar back. Occasionally, it gives you more than one. On very rare occasions, you get back enough to make up for almost what you’ve previously lost (though, the odds are always in favor of the house).
The crank-addict one row over is the one who hits the big jackpot, and he ends up blowing it all on hookers and dope, then losing the rest because he doesn’t file his taxes properly.
lauren says
A couple days ago, I had the chance to look at one of HarperCollins’s catalogs for spring, and doing so was quite eye-opening in terms of the publishing process. It really drove home the point that you’ve got to have an idea that can be expressed in a way that makes it seem new and fresh in the marketplace. With the debut novels and the second novels, in particular, there was something about each one that made it really different. There were a couple pitch paragraphs / back-cover blurbs that made me go, “Eh? That sounds like about a million things I’ve read before,” and then scanned down to the bottom of the page to find that the author was already a Somebody (if not in writing, than perhaps in “reality” TV. Ahem), and that HC was likely betting on the name recognition or another odd biographical detail to sell the book.
I critique and beta-read for a number of YA and MG writers, and the number one thing I see (that I try to look for in my own work, too) is a manuscript that is “good” on nearly all levels, but that just doesn’t have the sort of premise that will sell in a query letter (much less in a bookstore). It’s frustrating, I think, to get feedback from betas, contests, agents, et cetera, who are telling you that you’re writing at a publishable level, but then still not being able to sell. But they’re lacking that hook, and they’re often dragging out another “deals with” plot (dealing with death, dealing with a breakup, dealing with divorce) in a stale way.
What’s most aggravating for me is when I pick up a book with a fab premise that doesn’t have much follow-through. I’m reading a (published) YA right now that had a really interesting(-sounding) paranormal twist, but that within 50 pages had devolved into yet another “why won’t the cute boy notice me?” story. Argh.
Lady Glamis says
Great post, Nathan! Humbling and true. You do a fantastic job of letting us know how the system works, and that you must work within the confines of that system.
Marilyn Peake says
Let me begin by saying that, as a writer, I have so much angst coursing through my system, it would probably show up in my blood work if the medical community had a test for it. As an English Lit minor, however, I agree that getting published shouldn’t be easy. It should involve rigorous training and practice through which only the best books make it onto the shelves.
There are many wonderful books published these days. As with certain films in the movie industry, there are also not-so-great books published solely to attract a large audience. It’s part of the system. On January 9, Jake Seliger posted a link on this Blog to an article by Ursula K. LeGuin – a brilliant woman and successfully published author whose books not only made it onto the bookshelves but also made her a well-known genre author. She points out how the publishing industry has dramatically changed the playing field on which writers now compete:
“If there are stockholders, their holdings must increase yearly, daily, hourly. The AP article ascribed ‘listlessness’ and ‘flat’ book sales to the limited opportunity for expansion. But until the corporate takeovers, publishers did not expect expansion; they were quite happy if their supply and demand ran parallel, if their books sold steadily, flatly. How can you make book sales expand endlessly, like the American waistline?”
This business model of expansion hasn’t been adopted only by the publishing industry. It’s been adopted by most industries, leading to the highest number of billionaires ever.
So what do we do as writers? Just keep on writing. Despite the difficulties in landing huge advances and getting published by the big publishing houses, there are more small publishing houses than ever before. Even the famed poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti (I love his poetry!!) opened up his own publishing house and bookstore:
City Lights Booksellers & Publishers
There are great small publishing houses and those putting out pure drek filled with typos, bad grammar, and amateur writing. It’s up to writers to differentiate among them before submitting their work. Many of the best small publishing houses now close their doors to submissions at certain times of the year and have high standards for publication.
Many times taking the easy path leads to short-term gain and long-term failure to meet one’s real goal. There are many small press writers who decide to publish one or a few books through small publishing houses, sometimes their own publishing house, and then declare themselves experts rather than buckle down and try to push harder toward better writing. Those who are truly talented, non-mainstream authors become very helpful to others. Those who need to learn how to write better tend to lead others astray. Rather than admitting that they are teaching only what they know and that their knowledge will lead only to the same level of publication that they have achieved, they market themselves as experts who can help other authors achieve the success of well-known authors. When they charge money for those services, they do more harm than all the big publishing houses who freely admit they’re in business to make money as well as publish good books.
autumn's darkroom says
Very true; we have to remind ourselves of these things.
Lorelei Armstrong says
Excellent post! I get tired of the hostility from new writers who seem to refuse to acknowledge that writing is hard, that publishing is hard, and that the numbers are fairly against them. Try talking to someone who received 100 rejections and concluded that no one had ever read his submission, so he is going to self-publish. Argh!
Lori says
I got a rejection of my query from N.B. Friday. I took another look at my query. Guess what? It sucked! Though I’d revised it a hundred times, I suddenly saw it was bad. I started from scratch, so glad Nathan responded quickly, so glad I hadn’t yet sent it to other agents.
I’m worried I’ll discover the book sucks as well. But guess what? I’m learning, I still love to write, and if I’m not ready to take rejection, I can just quit sending out, right? It’s a choice we all have to make.
Anonymous says
Marsha, what the hell are you posting in those envelopes? My submissions cost the sum of a Large Envelope stamp (however much at this at the moment), and another for the SAE, so around £1. And you say it ‘comes back unopened’ – you’re not posting it off in a heavy folder are you? Don’t bother. Keep it simple. Keep it cheap. 2nd Class is fine.
Heidi C. Vlach says
I’ve always done my best to stay realistic, even as an ego-tastic teen writer. If twenty experienced literary agents all reject the same query letter, well, logic dictates that they’re probably right and I have work to do. It’s frustrating to work for years on a project and have no one interested in seeing it, but a talented writer who’s done enough research shouldn’t have a problem getting people interested in things.
There are always whiners who expect the world to pander to them. They’re in every field of human endeavor. I’ve waited tables with people who still expected to be cut slack after a month of training (twice as long as usual), even though they couldn’t keep orders straight and showed no real improvement since their first day. They just didn’t want to believe that they were the problem. All we can hope is that people like that eventually come to their senses.
Best of luck to you and your fellow agents, Nathan. Hope the balanced authors outnumber the entitlement princesses.
Adaora A. says
I think people expect sucess because they’ve put the (age old) ” blood, sweat, and tears” into it. But in reality, becoming a huge sucess is quite a lot like winning the lottery. It’s one in a million, and you never really should EXPECT it to happen to you. People should wish, hope, and dream of it happening, but they should leave the rest of it to chance. And never, ever quit your day job unless you win the lottery!
Right Mrs. You-know-who, sailing aboard an Orion?
Cool post.
Ann Victor says
This comment has nothing to do with queries! I’ll catch up with that interesting discussion later.
This post is more along the cheerleading lines…
I’ve been away in Cape Town and before I head off to the bush (oh, the thought is bliss!) I popped in to vote for Nathan’s blog again(see the link on Nathan’s blog) I was SHOCKED to discover that Nathan’s blog is only 3rd in the best literature blog category!!
COME ON NATHANITES!!! Where’s your voting fingers??? We’ve still got two days (USA time – I think!) and if every single blog viewer votes at least once we can do it! It only takes a second so…
Gimme an N! Gimme an A! Gimme a T and gimme an H and A and N…let’s VOTE NATHAN!! Yes, we can!!
lotusgirl says
I love your March Madness analogy. You have to win every game.
This is not the easiest business. I think the toughness of it forces writers to hone their skills and come out with the best work they can and then revise it and make it better.
It isn’t a walk in the park. If it were, there would be a whole lot more bad books on the shelves.
That 1 in 10,000 number is quite sobering. If I could make myself give up writing, I’d quit now. Alas… I am still writing and, therefore, hopeful.
Elton A.R. Alwine says
You may have a point, Nathan. And in that case, I blame the system. I.e. the Publishing Industry. If there wasn’t such a stigma attached to self-publishing, I would attempt this for the sake of having a book out there to share, something that is not attached to a retina-burning web page. (Am I the only one with this problem?)
But alas, this industry clashes with their exploits of the blessed (published writers), so why should big publishing houses support such a thing?
I do agree that, if one can keep their expecatations to exactly zero chances of being published, when and if you do actually win this lottery we call publication, it will bring you to tears with joy.
(Go Ravens!)
Anonymous says
Oh god, I’ve just had a horrible thought. Marsha, you’re not sending it by registered mail are you? They won’t sign for it – they don’t have the time nor the staff – so of course it’ll come back unopened!
Miriam S.Forster says
Ooo… good post! I’ve seen so many places where writers bitterly complain about publishing, agents, editors, etc. I even did a post on Saturday about how writers get frustrated and blame the READERS.
My take? I spend less than $50 per year on stamps, printing, etc. I can write wherever I want and I’m not dependent on anyone else to produce and practice my art. So what if it takes a while to play the odds?
My husband’s a bass player who’d love to do music full time. Now that’s frustration.
Sarah Jensen says
Anita said…
Is it just me or does The Bachelor offer a fabulous analogy to the whole finding-a-debut-writer proces…particularly when writers who get dumped at the query complain, “But he didn’t get a chance to know me!”
Oh Anita! That’s so true! The women gripe and complain. Are angry, back stabbing beauties, and then wonder why they were booted out.
I haven’t had a request yet, and I figure it’s because my query and ms aren’t good enough yet. I’m working on improving my writing skills, and have since I started. I’m sure there’s tons more to learn and I look forward to the ride.
I do appreciate agents who help us out by posting about queries and writing. They are a great help.
Jill Corcoran says
Well said, Nathan.