Is it a waste of time to try to get a literary agent?
With so many ways to get published, what's the best option?
With so many ways to get published, what's the best option?
So you have written a book, or you’re working on one. Now what do you do? How do you get your book out there and eventually get people to read and buy it?
Several months ago, when I finished Shame of Kings, my alternative history novel, I decided to try the traditional publishing model. This involves sending queries to literary agents, getting an agent to represent you, and then having the agent submit your book to publishers in the hope of getting a deal.
This is a very simplified description of the process, as it requires many steps and a lot of time with no guarantee of success. Authors often have to wait for weeks and months only to get form rejections from agents or to never get a reply. I’m not trying to complain about this process, it’s just not easy. Well, maybe I am complaining a little.
I often read that agents receive hundreds of submissions each week, which has to make it difficult to select authors to represent. How would you filter through so many queries? I do see how this must be difficult, but it also makes me more and more doubtful about the traditional model for getting published. With such low odds, it is worth the time and effort to try? I’m not being pessimistic about succeeding - just realistic.
Anyway, I have been sending queries to agents, with no success, yet, but I have made some big changes to the book and will start sending out more queries next week. I still hope this will work and that I will find an agent willing to represent me. I’m not giving up on that. However, I am considering other options.
If I decide to try another way to get published, there are different ways to do it. The most obvious is to self publish my book, and the most common way is to do it through Amazon.
The great thing about this is that anyone can do it. That may also be its biggest problem. It seems that Amazon is flooded with self-published books, which makes it extremely difficult to get noticed by readers. The same thing applies to readers. How do you sift through the many thousands of books available?
I first learned about self publishing in 2012 when I read about author Amanda Hocking. She became quite famous when she earned over $1 million by self-publishing her novels, and only charged 99 cents for the first book in her series. She may have changed publishing and given authors hope, but her success may have made it more difficult to get published as everyone suddenly thought they could achieve quick success by writing something and sticking on Amazon. I’m really not trying to sound bitter here, just realistic.
There are some great things about self publishing, as authors have complete control over the process from designing the cover, to editing, and to marketing. This is appealing to some and then authors earn a higher percentage of profit from their sales. Amazon takes a small fee, and this is typically much less than traditional publishing, where authors give up part of their profits to agents, and publishing companies take a bigger percentage than Amazon.
Another option is to go with a small-press publisher. The advantage of using this method is that you are guaranteed to have your book published with support for production, marketing, and distribution. This sounds good at first, but many of these companies make authors pay a fee for all of these services, and you have to wonder if their profits come from the fees authors pay instead of through book sales. Many of them offer a sliding scale where you have to pay for more services. That has never been the way to get published, but I am starting to wonder if it’s worth a look. Still, something seems wrong about paying people to publish my book. It feels a little like paying for reviews.
So that’s it. I’m sure I am not listing all the ways to get published. What do you think is the best way to become a published author? Do you agree with me about the current state of the traditional route? Is there an important new option that I am missing?
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Have a great weekend and thanks for reading.
Best of luck to you with your writing.
Will Granger