The Undiscovered Country

To Be Fair

With all my bluster and frustration with finding an agent, you may be wondering why I even bother.

One of my co-workers even asked why I don't simply self-publish. Going traditional seems so unfair, and as I stated in my previous entry, I'm running into agencies that seem to be more interested in affirmative action than good writers.

There are two main reasons I want to go traditional:

1. Money. I don't have the funds to self-publish. Sure, you can do it rather cheaply with e-books and the like, but I want to see my book on actual, physical book shelves. I could get my self-published book at my local Barnes and Noble; they have one shelf dedicated to local authors. But I want to see my book all over the nation, not just in one bookstore in Bismarck, North Dakota.

2. That leads me to promotion. Yes, publishers expect their authors to self-promote, but publishing houses have a lot more national and international resources that will reach by far more people than I can by myself. Plus, they can help me find better ways of promotion other than Twitter, my website (which had a whopping 34 visitors last month. Go me!) and author page on Facebook.

My co-worker also asked why bother with an agent if they're so picky about the writers they'll represent.

Can anyone successfully sell a product they don't believe in or enjoy? I know I can't. That's all it boils down to, really, because literary agents, at their basic, are salespeople.

Part of my search isn't just for any agent who takes books in my chosen genre; it's about personality. For instance, here's what one agent is looking for, in part:

Wish list for every genre and category: feminism, diversity (in all forms),

My main character in this particular novel I want published is male. Sure, there are plenty of strong female characters, but that's really not the point anyway.

I'm not a feminist. Therefore, I'm not interested in this particular agent. It's not that feminism is bad, per se, but any agent I choose has to have a similar outlook on certain things. It's a partnership after all, and we have to be compatible. If not, we're both wasting our time. I would be wasting my time with that agent, and believe me, if she knew me, she'd be glad I didn't waste hers.

Agents and publishers have to be extremely picky about the novels they publish, especially when it comes to unpublished authors.

The main reason is economic. The book has to sell, otherwise no one makes money; not the publisher, not the agent, and not the author. People will happily spend money on authors they've heard of or read before. It takes a lot for them to plop down $7-$30 on someone they've never heard of.

A typical investment for the first printing of a traditionally published novel (5000 copies, usually), is upwards of $30,000-40,000. That's more than a lot of people make in a year. Knowing that, I can understand their reluctance to invest in someone who has no track-record of publishing success.

But I'm an optimist by nature. Sure I'll moan and complain about all this torture of finding an agent and publisher, but I believe in my stories. I believe they can find an audience. I don't expect a best-seller, but I do think my books can be successful. The only way to discover the possibilities is to get them out there, and find an agent who'll believe in them as much as I do.