So, I’ve been looking heavily into the politics and inner workings of getting officially published or picked up by an agent. I have queried agents hundreds of times before, but my books typically fall between 60k and 80k words, so I’m still wading into new waters with this one. With that being said, I discovered a harsh and bitter truth: it’s unlikely that I will get my next book traditionally published.
The Destruction of the Shroud is sitting at 162k words before I do a round of editing. Typically, my editing changes the final word count by up to 2k words (higher or lower), so my final number is still highly likely to be over 150k. After some serious research, I’ve learned that agents almost exclusively auto-reject books longer than 140k words, and are highly likely to reject books over 110k words.
So, as it stands, my next round of queries is likely to be yet another round of rejections. I’m no stranger to this, I’ve queried almost 400 times in total with a 100% failure rate. I only attempted to traditionally publish my four most recent books, but each of them were a unanimous failure. Now, that’s not to say I think my stories are bad, because I absolutely don’t. I just think my stories don’t fall into the rigid framework agents look for that are more likely to make them money. I can’t say I blame them, but I also don’t plan on changing my stories to fit the mold. I will always write the stories I want, even if it never makes me a single dollar.
My next book will be the 17th book I’ve written, and in my opinion, will be my most grand and detailed adventure to date. I have been typing away for nearly my entire life, and I have never even come close to breaking even, but I love the process. Seeing the physical copies of my stories in hand brings me a joy I can barely put into words, overshadowed only by the joy my family brings me. Talking with my wife after she reads the books, conversing with my friends after they finish a chapter, or even speaking with the occasional stranger after they stumble upon my page makes EVERY bit of the work worth it.
Despite this, I will still put together the chapter outline, I will still write up a query letter to the best of my ability, I will still pitch the book to anyone and everyone I can, and I will still self-publish if all else fails. I’m definitely disappointed, and learning about the hard word limit felt like a blow to my soul, but I’m going to keep going either way. I’ve been looking into editing, but the price point is much to high for me to reasonably afford.
I’m not saying all this for any pity or sympathy, in fact, I’m pretty sure no one will read this as well, lol. But it feels good to get it down somewhere, just to say I’ve vented. I’m disappointed at what I’m sure will be a unanimous rejection yet again, but I’ve enjoyed every step along the way. Before my time us up, there will be an 18th book, then a 19th, and so on and so forth until I have no more stories to tell. It is a passion of mine, and I feel a deep connection with the characters between the pages, which is reward enough for me.
I feel like I may have veered a little of course in this. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure what to write here, I just wanted to do it. If somehow anyone has found this and read this far, thank you, truly. I will release this book and I will vouch for its greatness until I draw my last breath. You may never see me on a best seller list. Maybe I’m just not what the industry is looking for, or maybe I’m not what an author should be. But you’ll damn sure find me in the depths of an ocean of authors, still shining my light in an oppressive darkness that has crushed the hopes and dreams of more souls than I could count. I may never be popular, but I’ll never stop either.
That’s all.
But to end on a good note, meet the main characters from my next books. Some of them are returning heroes, but most are new. Liriel and Talion are on the left, Colette is in the back by the tree, Joliann is in the middle with Laylah just behind her, and Balasar is the one hanging on Varic’s shoulder on the right. A cast for the ages, just wait and see.
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