- Joined
- Nov 7, 2011
- Messages
- 282
- Reaction score
- 10
So I started querying a couple months ago and I completely knew I was in for a torrid time of rejection letters. As the first ones started to come in I was fine with them but as I got more and more I think I've started to lose a belief that someone will pick up my MS. I am very familiar with a gatekeeper system from working in the games industry and I know that it's very difficult for any one product to stand out from the crowd. Certainly in games this leads to a lot (and I mean a LOT) of potentially fantastic games not being made and I do wonder if it's the same in the book industry?
I think you need someone to read your query and instantly think 'yeh, I really like the sound of that'. Then they need to read your first few chapters and think 'This is really good'. Then they need to show it to others and discuss it, then discuss it some more, maybe get your full MS, read that all the while continuing to love what they see/read and also believe that they can sell it.
And that I think is where the big problem comes in. I think to find someone else other than yourself to really, truly believe in your story as much as, if not more than you do is a really, really difficult thing to achieve. I know it happens but I think it's quite rare and I feel as though the numbers are not on my side.
So I've started to think in the last week or two that maybe I need to bite the bullet and self publish this thing. I genuinely do believe in my MS. I may not be great at clearly conveying why, but I do think it's a story that people will enjoy (although I also think prospective readers will need to put a bit of effort into reading it which is maybe what's holding it back but I digress....)
Ok. So I'll self publish. I'll put it up on Amazon, tweet about it to my 1000 followers, post status' on Facebook to my couple hundred friends on there.... But then what? That will lead to about 10 to 20 sales I reckon. So then what? I've been doing a bit of looking into self publishing and. Well, wow. It looks like a world of pain about a lot of stuff I haven't really got a clue about.
This is sounding like a pointless post and maybe it is. I guess I'm just trying to get my thoughts down in the hopes it will clear my head a bit but also.... The people on here have never let me down to tell me what's what and why I'm being a twat and that I should grow some balls and do what I know is the right thing anyway...
Thanks for taking the time to read.
Much love.
I think you need someone to read your query and instantly think 'yeh, I really like the sound of that'. Then they need to read your first few chapters and think 'This is really good'. Then they need to show it to others and discuss it, then discuss it some more, maybe get your full MS, read that all the while continuing to love what they see/read and also believe that they can sell it.
And that I think is where the big problem comes in. I think to find someone else other than yourself to really, truly believe in your story as much as, if not more than you do is a really, really difficult thing to achieve. I know it happens but I think it's quite rare and I feel as though the numbers are not on my side.
So I've started to think in the last week or two that maybe I need to bite the bullet and self publish this thing. I genuinely do believe in my MS. I may not be great at clearly conveying why, but I do think it's a story that people will enjoy (although I also think prospective readers will need to put a bit of effort into reading it which is maybe what's holding it back but I digress....)
Ok. So I'll self publish. I'll put it up on Amazon, tweet about it to my 1000 followers, post status' on Facebook to my couple hundred friends on there.... But then what? That will lead to about 10 to 20 sales I reckon. So then what? I've been doing a bit of looking into self publishing and. Well, wow. It looks like a world of pain about a lot of stuff I haven't really got a clue about.
This is sounding like a pointless post and maybe it is. I guess I'm just trying to get my thoughts down in the hopes it will clear my head a bit but also.... The people on here have never let me down to tell me what's what and why I'm being a twat and that I should grow some balls and do what I know is the right thing anyway...
Thanks for taking the time to read.
Much love.