Leap in the Dark
"We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success." -- Henry David Thoreau
I began my walk 17 years ago after I retired from teaching. My original purpose was to write a semi-fictional account of the Battles of Lexington and Concord for eighth grade students to enjoy. Later, I decided to expand the manuscript, develop the characters, and create a story that I hoped would appeal to adults. I wanted my story to be expressive, reflective, character driven, and historically accurate. I wanted it published to provide my children and grandchildren a unique remembrance.
Being a retired English teacher, I began the project with specific notions of what constitues "good writing." I discovered that writing well over many pages is damn difficult! Eliminating badly phrased passages was like pulling weeds. Each time I returned to a revised passage, I'd find weeds overlooked and new ones sprouting. "Crossing the River" is the end product of layers and layers of revised writing.
Writing well was difficult. Finding a publisher was exasperating.
Mainline publishing firms print almost exclusively the works of established writers. Why? Because readers buy books written by authors they recognize. Unpublished writers have virtually no change of breaking through. Publishers don't want to read their manuscripts. Unsolicited manuscripts get tossed. A mainline publishing house will take a look at such a manuscript only if it is recommended by a literary agent whose opinion the firm respects.
To have any chance of being published by a main-line firm, somebody like me has to entice a reputable agent to take an objective look at his work. Many agents will accept your query letter and sometimes a sample chapter or two, but you have to present them something brilliantly written and broadly marketable. An unpublished writer has almost no chance of obtaining an agent. 55 agents emailed or wrote me back that they didn't want to look at my manuscript and 59 agents never bothered to respond.
So what does a frustrated amateur do about such rejection?
You can pay a printing company to print 100 copies of your book. Your work will not be listed on internet sites like amazon.com, you will have to publicize and sell the books yourself, and you will have a huge postage cost to pay when your books arrive from the printer.
You can try to connect with a "small" publishing company, a "niche" company; many aspiring writers do. I approached the owner of one such company and was told that I would have to do considerable rewriting to make my book attractive to "average" readers. The hell with that! I thought. I don't accept your judgment. What I write has to please me! The experience persuaded me to investigate a third approach, the "print on demand" (POD) publisher method.
You pay a POD publisher to convert your manuscript to a hardback and/or paperback format, design your cover and/or book jacket, convert your manuscript to electronic book form, copyright the book and assign it a registration number required for internet and bookstore sales, provide access to internet book sale sites like amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com, and print and ship your book to the customers that purchase it. I read horror stories about poorly printed books and unresponsive service representatives. I read that POD publishers print just about anything they receive, are called "vanity publishers" by mainline publishing houses, and make almost all of their profits off what writers like me are will to pay them up front.
The POD company that published my book advertises itself as being particular about what it prints and being ethical in its business practices. It rejects 90% of what unpublished writers submit. It refuses to "upsell" authors (for instance, pressuring an author to have his manuscript edited by an "editor" for an extra fee). It wants to print good-quality manuscripts because it expects to make most of its profits from the sales of its clients' books.
I was told that the company's criteria for accepting a submission is that the writing must compel the reader to want to continue reading, have few writing errors, and be saleable. I was pleased that they accepted me. I am quite satisfied with their service and support.
What then remains? A lot. How do I inform readers that my novel exists?
I began my walk 17 years ago after I retired from teaching. My original purpose was to write a semi-fictional account of the Battles of Lexington and Concord for eighth grade students to enjoy. Later, I decided to expand the manuscript, develop the characters, and create a story that I hoped would appeal to adults. I wanted my story to be expressive, reflective, character driven, and historically accurate. I wanted it published to provide my children and grandchildren a unique remembrance.
Being a retired English teacher, I began the project with specific notions of what constitues "good writing." I discovered that writing well over many pages is damn difficult! Eliminating badly phrased passages was like pulling weeds. Each time I returned to a revised passage, I'd find weeds overlooked and new ones sprouting. "Crossing the River" is the end product of layers and layers of revised writing.
Writing well was difficult. Finding a publisher was exasperating.
Mainline publishing firms print almost exclusively the works of established writers. Why? Because readers buy books written by authors they recognize. Unpublished writers have virtually no change of breaking through. Publishers don't want to read their manuscripts. Unsolicited manuscripts get tossed. A mainline publishing house will take a look at such a manuscript only if it is recommended by a literary agent whose opinion the firm respects.
To have any chance of being published by a main-line firm, somebody like me has to entice a reputable agent to take an objective look at his work. Many agents will accept your query letter and sometimes a sample chapter or two, but you have to present them something brilliantly written and broadly marketable. An unpublished writer has almost no chance of obtaining an agent. 55 agents emailed or wrote me back that they didn't want to look at my manuscript and 59 agents never bothered to respond.
So what does a frustrated amateur do about such rejection?
You can pay a printing company to print 100 copies of your book. Your work will not be listed on internet sites like amazon.com, you will have to publicize and sell the books yourself, and you will have a huge postage cost to pay when your books arrive from the printer.
You can try to connect with a "small" publishing company, a "niche" company; many aspiring writers do. I approached the owner of one such company and was told that I would have to do considerable rewriting to make my book attractive to "average" readers. The hell with that! I thought. I don't accept your judgment. What I write has to please me! The experience persuaded me to investigate a third approach, the "print on demand" (POD) publisher method.
You pay a POD publisher to convert your manuscript to a hardback and/or paperback format, design your cover and/or book jacket, convert your manuscript to electronic book form, copyright the book and assign it a registration number required for internet and bookstore sales, provide access to internet book sale sites like amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com, and print and ship your book to the customers that purchase it. I read horror stories about poorly printed books and unresponsive service representatives. I read that POD publishers print just about anything they receive, are called "vanity publishers" by mainline publishing houses, and make almost all of their profits off what writers like me are will to pay them up front.
The POD company that published my book advertises itself as being particular about what it prints and being ethical in its business practices. It rejects 90% of what unpublished writers submit. It refuses to "upsell" authors (for instance, pressuring an author to have his manuscript edited by an "editor" for an extra fee). It wants to print good-quality manuscripts because it expects to make most of its profits from the sales of its clients' books.
I was told that the company's criteria for accepting a submission is that the writing must compel the reader to want to continue reading, have few writing errors, and be saleable. I was pleased that they accepted me. I am quite satisfied with their service and support.
What then remains? A lot. How do I inform readers that my novel exists?
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