My circle of friends and acquaintances has always been small, therefore, I consider myself incredibly fortunate to be able to say that for several important things that ‘I know a guy”. I use guy colloquially because most of the ‘guys’ are in fact gals. In addition to being a scientist, my lovely wife was also the editor of her college news paper so I have an editor usually, quite literally at arm’s reach. Until last year I also had an artist living in my basement in the form of my sister-in-law who was finishing her art degree who can crank out an amazing book cover in an hour or two and can hook me up with professional pictures for social media. A lawyer friend who I’ve known since high school for legal advice and a literal lifelong friend who serves as my accountant and an endless source of knowing a guy in just about everything else, including agents.
Though it’s definitely possible to get a book deal without an agent, it’s much harder and some publishers won’t even accept submissionsfrom a writer directly. I had absolutely no idea of where to start, so my friend called in a favor and got me a meeting with his co-worker who is a publishing agent to give me some tips. I was ecstatic to get a chance to sit down with someone on that end of the business and get some questions answered.
Walking into the meeting was scary. Never one to be confident about anything, I had it in my mind that I’d walk out of the meeting ready to hang it up after being told I had no talent, my premise was insane and unsalable, and I would be better served spending my time weaving hats from the abundance of dog hair that infests every square inch of my house. Nevertheless, I went.
I learned a lot in that hour; some things I learned gave me hope and some things were discouraging. I walked out of there with a lot of great information and a ton of notes. There was one thing that I did walk out of that conference room without, the copy of my novel that I had printed the day before. My friend’s co-worker took it because he said that he was willing to send it out to publishers for me.
The gravity of what happened took a while to set in. I couldn’t believe that I actually had a shot to get my book in front of publishers.
I had a lot of work to do though. Lots of revisions. Lots and lots of revisions. Followed by more revisions after feedback from a few friends, family, and other authors from a local writer’s group. When I finally had the book in a solid shape a few months ago, it was sent out to publishers.
I’m currently playing the waiting game and wondering when the first rejection will come in. Some days I’m more optimistic than others, soI keep plugging along on website content and parts of the next twelve books inthe series. I have them started and in they’rein varying levels of completion. Waiting is not my strong suits and some days the idea of self-publishing is appealing. While that does have a lot of upside, I’m going to try and stick it out until the more traditional route plays out. Maybe it’s mainly to satisfy my ego, but my dream is to be able to walk into Barnes & Noble and see my book on the shelf, though hopefully not in the bargain bin.
If I self-publish, it’ll be a little disheartening but still exciting. Like a lot of industries, e-commerce has turned publishing on its head. In the past, self-publishing was usually looked down upon and it was generally a losing proposition. Today however, there are a lot of good authors who not only successfully self-publish, but make a living doing it.
No matter how it turns out, as I look back to June of 2016 when I first sat down at my laptop and started typing away, it really is mind boggling where I’m at now. I never thought I’d get be able finish writing a novel, much less move it forward to where it sits today. It wasn’t done on my own though. There are a ton of people whom I’m eternally indebted to for the help and encouragement over the last two and half years and it seems fitting to say thanks. So, in alphabetical order (although my editrix objects to not coming first), to Adam, Afton, Alex, Kimberly, Moli, Mom, Nikkilina, and Shreve,thanks so much for the editing, art, introductions, proofreading, feedback, technical consultations, and encouragement over the last two and half years. Literally, I would not be where I am right now without your help.
Note: I hope I didn’t leave anyone out, if I did I apologize.
© 2018 Robert Crouse All Rights Reserved
