The life of an unknown author is one of frustration. I have a novel that I worked on for 1 1/2 years. I put my heart and soul into it. I had one novel self-published a few years ago and this time I wanted to go the traditional route in getting published. I sent out query letter after query letter, sample chapters after sample chapters and I got the same replies back from agents.
It was always, "No, I'm going to pass." or "It doesn't fit into what I am looking for." or "I considered it, but then decided I wouldn't go with it." Other agents did not even bother to answer back. They would put on their websites something like, "If you don't hear back from us in three months, then we're not interested."
An unknown author is caught between a rock and a hard place. Most top publishers won't talk with an author directly. They want you to get an agent.
No one wants to give an unknown author a chance in the traditional publishing world. Agents have told me right out that they take on less than 1% of projects. With many agents they want to know if you have been previously published. So you can't get published if you don't have an agent and you can't get an agent if you
haven't been published. For first time authors, it is an uphill battle that never seems to end.
Yesterday I received two rejections from agents. In almost a year of trying to get an agent, that brings my total of rejections to 62. I have kept positive for as long as I can and I now have to face reality. I have had friends ask me when my next novel will be published. Is it fair to them and to myself to keep my novels from them? I don't think it is any longer. I am now searching for a self publisher that doesn't charge an arm and a leg. Many of them want astronomical prices to get published. I have found a few that is within reason, if I wish to go with them.
Then I got to thinking. I read that there are about 750,000 manuscripts submitted each year and less than 3% get published the traditional way. Many of those manuscripts will never get published at all. They will sit in someone's drawer on on their computer forever. I wonder how many of those manuscripts are great stories. I bet many of them are. It is a shame that people that love to read will never get to see them.
I feel that it is not my loss that I can't get published the traditional way. I feel it is the loss of the agents, the publishers, and people who love to read. My readers will get to read my novels. If they like them I hope they tell others. If they don't like them I hope they tell me. I write from the heart and when I tell a story I want the reader to get a smile on their face, a tear in their eye, or a chill down their spine.
I know many other authors who are going through the same thing that I am. I feel their frustration just as I do.
It is a tough business, but I will not give up. I think I am meant to write stories and as long as I have people that want to read them I will keep writing. I now have two completed novels that I want to share.
Copyright Larry W. Fish 2014
