My Road To Publication Part 2

My first reality check was discovering that the larger publishing houses do NOT deal directly with the authors. (See, I told you I was naïve.) They deal with the author’s agent. Soooo I decided I must need one of those. I mean, how hard could it be?

Now knowing I needed an agent; I began trying to educate myself on exactly how this publishing process worked. I read many, many, books on the subject. Still trying to clarify everything in my mind, I diligently searched the Internet, looking for more answers. That’s when I stumbled on an amazing site called Query Tracker. Here I was able to learn more about the publishing process, but more importantly, I was able to connect with other aspiring authors. If you haven’t heard of QT you can check them out here http://querytracker.net/index.php to connect with other authors go here http://querytracker.net/forum/

After writing, rewriting and polishing my query, I started the long and oftentimes heart wrenching process of finding an agent. To my surprise, this ended up being more like a full time job. After receiving several, (okay a bunch) of form rejections, I reworked the query letter. I went through this process multiple times. When my query letter started producing more request than rejections, I knew it was finally doing its job.

Getting quite a few requests from agents wanting to see the MS, I knew I was close to getting an agent…then the rejections came… one after another. Using the same thought I’d had with my query, I knew the MS must need a little more work. I stopped looking for an agent and put that effort back into making my MS shine. When it was the best possible work I could do, I started once again looking for an agent. Having enough rejection letters to wallpaper my house I finally placed the book with a reputable agent and let me tell you, It. Felt. Good. My work, for the time anyway, was complete. I was sure my agent would call any day to tell me he had just received an offer.  

Check back on Monday to see how right… or wrong… I was.