The Heartbreaks and Joys of Publishing

This week I reach the milestone of querying my book for a year. I thought it might be useful to share with you what exactly that means and why you haven’t yet had the opportunity to read The Voyage of the Pleiades.

I didn’t pick a great time to be following the traditional route to publishing which means: query agents and rely on the agent to sell your book to a publisher. There are several significant factors conspiring against me. While I took four years to write my book, and a year working with a developmental editor and making significant edits before querying, my book is landing in front of agents at the same time as a wave of books written by people stuck at home during Covid. Excellent for everyone chasing their dream to write a book. Not so great for me. Or for the agents who’s inboxes are flooded with queries. Despite the odds, I have had a few requests for full manuscripts and serious consideration from some truly fantastic agents, but still no takers.

Another issue that is important for readers to know, is how publishing is becoming increasingly centralized. There is a trial underway right now where the U.S. Department of Justice is trying to block the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. The Big Five will soon be the Big Four and publishing options will become even more limited.

In addition, as older editors retire and the assistant editors take their place, there have been a number of articles published recently that reveal the difficulty faced by the next generation. The situation is very reminiscent of what we witnessed with the music industry. And there are many, excellent indie publishers out there. I hope that we continue to see a trend of more of these indie publishers because it is clear that publishing as we know it is facing serious issues.

So, why not pull my queries and try to go direct to an indie publisher or self-publish? There are a number of reasons why I haven’t gone either route, but I haven’t discounted them. Before I started querying, I did an immense amount of research into the various pathways to publication. I also sought the advice of my developmental editor (the fabulous Larissa Melo Pienkowski). The bottom line is: when you self-publish, you are the publishing house. All the media outreach, PR and distribution become your job. I’m a writer, not a PR person or a publisher, so I have a major disadvantage. Also, those tasks take time away from writing.

As this is not a newsletter about publishing, but one about my books, I won’t spend any more time belaboring the details of this process. However, I wanted you all to know that I am working hard to get this book out there. At the same time I am also writing the sequel and working on several other projects.

One of my fifty-word stories was selected for publication on the Fifty-Word Story website.

Another of my fifty-word stories will be published in the September issue of Blink.

I had the wonderful opportunity to work on two documentaries with Julie Speer Jackson for the Rocky Mountain PBS series, Colorado Experience.

Julie also continues to pitch our romcom pilot.

With this milestone I am considering my next options for publication and want to assure you that I am doing everything I can to get this book in your hands! Thank you for your continued support, it is very much appreciated. Onward!