Workshops, community groups, author advice, and every how-to
book imaginable—all the things I utilized to craft the perfect query letter.
When one wasn’t particularly effective, I modified it and kept track of the
results. I checked my inbox obsessively, and when I saw that an agent
responded, my heart would stop. “This is it!” I thought. “My book is finally
going to be published!” But, the majority of the time, it was a generic rejection
in the form of “This isn’t right for my list.” The whole process was not only
overwhelming, but very discouraging. In fact, I almost quit writing as a result.
Then, I received the crème de la crème of emails from an interested agent. She
wanted a full manuscript exclusive!
Within a week, the agent had read my book and gushed about
it. She said it was highly marketable, but I just needed to “tweak some things.”
These things turned out to be not so little. She was removing entire characters
and changing the era. I unwittingly made the changes. She read it a second time
and said the same thing. I was so close and wanted to be published so badly, so
again, I made the changes. She read it a third time and suggested even more,
and again I complied. The process took a year. The result? I absolutely hated
my book! Everything had changed and my voice was completely buried. I didn’t
know who I was writing for anymore…and it showed. I received a cold hard
rejection after everything. The worst part? The book was so mangled that I
abandoned it.
This experience was the push I needed to self-publish my
first novel, Strange Luck, a psychological YA fantasy about a world built on
stolen memories. Self-publishing not only allowed me to see my dream to
fruition, it allowed me to present the story I wanted to share with the world. Here’s
why self-publishing worked for me and why it might work for you:
Every Decision is
Yours: Self-publishing allows you complete control of your story, its
characters, and even the description readers see on the back cover. If you choose
to work with a professional editor (highly recommended), it’s still up to you
to implement the changes. You also get to decide what your book cover looks
like.
Publishing Is Quick: Since
self-publishing is relatively instantaneous, you can see your book to market
anytime you want. This is a great option if you have a particular release date
in mind.
Creative Freedom: Unless
you’re Stephen King, the majority of agented authors do all the marketing and
promotions themselves. This includes booking and putting on author events. Since
you’d most likely be doing it anyway, you can take the opportunity to be
creative with your marketing efforts. Set up giveaways with a unique catch,
create a You Tube channel and vlog about your book and what you’re reading, or
even create your own Twitter hashtag.
Full Ownership: You
own all of the rights to your book so you can do whatever you want with it,
including selling movie rights if you so choose.
More Money in Your
Pocket: Not only do you get to choose the price for your print and/or ebook
and where your book is sold, all royalties go to you. You’re also paid once a
month vs. once a year.
Springboard to
Success: Some of the best-selling, highest grossing books of all time were
self-published. The Joy of Cooking, 50 Shades of Gray, and The Tales of Peter
Rabbit are among some notable success stories. The majority of best-selling
self-published authors go on to sign with major publishing houses usually because
their books and the market they created get too big for them to handle on their
own. Self-publishing is actually a great opportunity to get published
traditionally. If these authors hadn’t self-published their books to begin with,
they might not have gained the attention needed to sign a major publishing
deal.
Whatever your journey, whatever the outcome, the important
thing to remember is to NEVER EVER give up writing. Yes, rejection is painful, but
it happens to everyone. Stephen King’s Carrie, Frank Herbert’s Dune, Madeline
L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time, and Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind were
all repeatedly rejected by publishers, but it didn’t stop them. And, it shouldn't stop you! Rejection could
actually be the driving force you need to take matters into your own hands.
Have you
checked out my other posts on writing? You might enjoy these too:
Comments? Questions? Marketing tips? Share below.
