July Q&A: What’s Taking So Long?

This post is a preview of the post on my PATREON PAGE.

Good morning, friends! I know I’ve been MIA this month, and I’m sorry to have gone such a long time without posting. Things have been busy here in Los Angeles, and I haven’t found much time to write this month. However, I have a few updates re: the novel I’ve been trying to get published. First off, my agent and I decided to change the title from What If I Did? to King of Brave. I’m really happy with this change, because I think it is much more hopeful and positive. I am on my last round of edits, and in September, my agent wants to resend the updated draft to editors at publishing houses for consideration.It has been exactly one year since I signed with my agent. In the world of publishing, that’s not very long at all. But naturally, friends have been asking:

Q: What’s taking so long?

It takes forever to be published. First off, even if you get an agent, you may never end up attracting an editor at a publishing house. A lot of my writer friends have been on submission like me for a year or more. That doesn’t mean they won’t get published. But realistically, most of us won’t get a book deal after such a long time on submission.

Then there’s the fact that editors are acquiring material for 2023 right now. So even if an editor gives me a book deal tomorrow, you won’t see my book on sale for another two years at minimum.

It takes a long time. Publishing houses have to build a compelling “list” or catalog of titles that can be marketed strategically to rake in sales. At the end of the day, publishing is a cut-throat business intent on making big bucks. So there are a lot of invisible factors that go into deciding whether or not to offer an author a book deal…

READ THE REST OF THIS POST ON MY PATREON PAGE. Even see the query letter that landed me an agent!