Curving Road Ahead
A sign to embrace new directions.
I’ll be honest, I felt like self-publishing would be a last resort for me. I mean, I know plenty of people who have self-published some excellent and well-written books. But somewhere along the way, I was told that my book had commercial potential. That meant it had the potential to reach a broad audience if I followed the traditional publishing route of finding an agent who would sell my book to a publisher. That’s the path I believed was right for me.
So, what changed?
Over seven years (or was it 70?) I set these goals in this order:
1. Write (and finish) a novel.
2. Hire a developmental editor for expert advice and solicit feedback from a few early readers.
3. Rewrite the novel multiple times (in my case, 12 times).
4. Create a website and start blogging about topics related to my novel.
5. Query agents until I get a “yes.”
6. Sign a deal with an agent and a publisher and get Wednesday Club into the world.
I achieved the first four goals with a lot of effort (and a lot of joy) — and I kept reminding myself that my determined (or stubborn) personality was paying off for me.
The hard part
Then I got to the querying part. I got some responses like “it breaks my heart to have to say no” or “I loved this story, but I don’t know a publisher that is looking for a story like this right now” or “maybe if it had a little more drugs, sex, and rock-n-roll”. I attended writers’ conferences where I pitched to agents who were initially thrilled about my book but later declined to represent it or ghosted me. I received a fair number of “sorry, this is not for me, but I’m sure you’ll find success with another agent”. And then there were the no-answer-means-no answers. Silence. Those were the worst.
For me, querying took all the joy out of my writing experience. I suppose no one likes rejection, but when I heard the querying process described as “soul crushing,” I had to agree. After a while, I just couldn’t do it anymore. It felt like the most challenging task in my life, and I would procrastinate big time. Sometimes I would bribe myself with new clothes or shoes if I sent out 10 more queries. You should see my closet!
The glass half empty
One day, I sat down and did some Google research, and here are some of the statistics I uncovered:
Only 1-2% of first-time authors get published. About 1 in 6,000.
The best book agents can get as many as 1500 queries per month, and sometimes only offer representation to approximately six new clients per year.
The average book deal for a first-time author varies widely, but generally falls between $1,000 and $50,000. It is estimated that fewer than 1,000 fiction writers in North America make a living from their writing. In other words, don’t quit your day job.
The glass half full
But then I found some stats that made me feel great:
Out of all the people who begin writing a novel, only 30 out of 1,000 go on to finish it. And only six of those 30 see their book published.
What that meant to me was that I had done it! I wrote a novel and had a great deal of fun in the process. The writing was the thing. And though I never harbored any hopes of being a best-selling author, once I felt that I had the book in the best shape possible, I really wanted to share it with people. I loved these women in my story!
Suddenly, I felt at peace. It was time to revise my goal — to start learning about self-publishing a book. A new goal — one that would challenge and inspire me and make me happy to complete. And maybe then I could stop buying shoes.
Curves create possibility
I hope you love the story of Wednesday Club. But even more, I hope you will know the joy and satisfaction that come from setting a goal and achieving it. Whatever your goal might be. And I hope you find the peace that comes with revising your goal along the way, so that it works for where you are now! There’s no shame in changing your mind and changing direction. Just stay true to you.