DIY

I don't personally consider self-publishing as a viable response to rejection. Then again, I'm not only trying to get published, I'm actually trying to start what will (hopefully) be a lifelong career in writing and publishing. Self-publishing, unfortunately, is generally a terrible way to go about starting a long-term career in writing. There are so many people out there who are publishing things through kindle and so forth that a new work is just a drop in the bucket. This is just my take on the matter, though--no offense to you folks who are happily self-published.

Ten rejections really doesn't sound like a lot. Honestly, if I were you I'd keep querying and just start on something new. Once you get enough posts here you can run your query letter through Query Letter Hell and see if it might be what's holding you back. Otherwise, just keep sending 'em out as fast as you get the rejections in, and somewhere in there a few personal rejections will pop up, and a few partial and full requests. And if it turns out that it just gets rejected 'til the cows come home, then trunk it and finish that new thing you're working on. And then come back to it later and see if it's revisable. Or, if you get an agent with your second or third work, you can bring up older novels and say, "hey, would you be interested in my other novels somewhere down the road?"

I'm about to query. I know there are three reasons my query might get no responses:

1) it's a tough time in publishing, in particular for this genre/length
2) the query stinks
3) the novel stinks--the idea itself sounds silly or the stakes aren't high enough or it's illogical or the scientific premise is ridiculous

I've done 2) already once in my writing life. Now that I understand what Q's are supposed to look like, I see that clearly. You can't post to Share Your Work yet, but you can go into Query Letter Hell and read all the stickies, all the links from the stickies, and learn a lot more about querying. You can read the last 100 threads by members in QLH and watch how people tried to help make those Q's better. By that point, you'll have learned enough to improve your own query a lot.

Also, writing well enough to sell is a long process. Then it can take a year or more to find one's first agent. I'm starting my sixth novel, I'm about to market the third of those six, and though I have good short publications to mention in my query letter, I still might not sell this one or even get a single request for a full. I'm not fooling myself. It's hard to break in.

Very few novels are all of these: 1) good enough to be published 2) not published and then 3) succeed as self-published novels. You also have to learn how to design a cover, market your book, pay for proofreading/editing at a dollar per page, and learn the ins and outs of kindle and smashwords. It will take as much time to learn that as to write another novel.

But if that's the way you go, I sincerely wish you all the luck in the world. I hope your novel is the next On The Island.

Crash11 said:

I'm sure this isn't a topic that is new to this community but I'm new here and was hoping for some honest advice. I've put some stuff out in the past and received about 10 or more rejection letters, and faced even more agents that didn't even respond. I have researched other conversations of those that would strongly advise against self publishing, but it would be nice to get some advice from those of you here who actually know what they are talking about. So is self publishing the absolute worst way to go? Should I just keep sending query letters out to agents forever and ever? Any advice for an unknown author like myself would be greatly appreciated.

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Welcome to AW, Crash11.

I am going to guess you haven't yet spent much time looking around AW - it's a big place, I get it. But might I suggest you do spend some time looking around...

There is a Forum Jump pull down menu at the bottom of the screen. You can use it to jump around to different forums. For example:

Start in with the New to AW Threads - they will help you figure out how to navigate around AW.

Then, there is a whole forum on Self-Publishing, full of knowledgeable people engaging in self-publishing.

There are also resources about publishing, and forums where people talk about looking for agents, etc.

And there are lots and lots of other threads on why other people are looking for agents, or subbing to trade publishers.

And there is a whole forum called Query Letter Hell (in Share Your Work) where you can learn about queries and maybe get some critique on yours (you need 50 posts here on AW before you can post for critique).

What I'm try to say is there are threads and threads and threads on all aspects of whether to self-publish. Spend some time looking around and reading some of those threads. Educate yoruself. Check out the query resources.

Welcome!

~suki

Crash, please don't think the responses here were meant to shut you down. They weren't. Too often we new writers become dejected over those first rejections, and we begin to believe the only publishing avenue still open is self-publishing. The road to publication is a long one that, most often, we weren't prepared for.

In answer to your original question: No, self-publishing is not the absolute worst way to go. The absolute worst way is to be badly published. That can happen by being caught in the net of a scammer, or it can happen by self-publishing too soon and not giving your story the attention it deserves in order to be appreciated.

Do look at the marvelous Publishing category on the first page of the forums. Familiarize yourself with publishing terminology via the lovely Publishing FAQs and stickies. And, do look at the Self-publishing and POD forum. Those forums will answer many of your questions and will help guide you through the reasons and processes for choosing self-publishing. There are good reasons. Sometimes self-publishing is the best option for a particular story or book. That doesn't mean everything you publish must be self-published. In fact, many authors here are trade published AND self-published.

If you read the advice in those forums, you'll learn how to choose the best option for you and your story; and, definitely do polish your query.

All the best,

Ari

Welcome aboard, Crash. I second browsing through the Share Your Work and Publishing sections of AW: they are invaluable resources. Self-publishing can be a useful tool, if you are prepared to do the work necessary to make the most of it. Impatience is often the bane of newer writers, because we want shortcuts and magic formulas to streamline the process. As you learn more, you'll figure out what is right for you and your book.

Take your time at this. The single best thing you can do is to make certain your mms is the best it can be - all else follows that. You're not alone here.
I'd been writing for longer than I really like to admit, but I was in your shoes in July of 2010 as far as agent, query, and publisher research.

10 rejections is not many at all. There are some (even famous published authors) who have reported a lot more than that in their time. I would keep plugging at it.

The self publishing forum is useful to get to know more about the method. At the moment I think the issue is controversial - there are many who are vehemently opposed to it, others who are staunch defenders of it to the death and never the twain shall meet. Personally, I think there is a middle ground but then I think that about most issues.

Posters above are right about it being difficult to get yourself heard over the clamour, however. While there are a lot of excellent books being self published there is also a lot of dross because there is no quality control other than 'how many readers like your book'. Even a well written book is unlikely to get noticed unless you are really good at the old marketing business. There are exceptions to this but they are rare exceptions.

One area where self publishing is of use, I think, is niche and fringe markets. Books about obscure local history or things which may only appeal to a small subset of the population. A publisher may not consider it worthwhile because of the small potential market but in self publishing the profit/loss calculations for such an endeavour become a lot more favourable.

I would advise to keep plugging at agents and publishers, keep revising your manuscript (get more beta readers onboard and listen to their comments), keep working on the synopsis and query letter and, most importantly of all, start work on your next project while waiting for the current one to sell...

Oh, and be aware of Yog's law - money moves towards the author. Do not trust any publisher or agent who asks YOU for money...

Crash11 said:

I had an instructor in my last Creative Writing class that had told us that self publishing was not as taboo as it use to be, but after doing a bit of research it looked like the internet was ablaze with writers who strongly suggested against it. I just wanted some first-hand advice, that's all. I appreciate all the feedback, I suppose I'll just to brush up on my query and try again. Thanks everyone.

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My only question for you is this: Would you be comfortable as the absolute final editor of your own stuff? Are you 100% confident in your ability to proof and copy edit your book to professional standards?

If not, I would suggest that you're not quite ready for self-publishing. I'm not even self-published, but being published by a smaller press meant that the ultimate galley proof of my book was all on my shoulders. I had to find all the mistakes and correct them. I had to be sure that my book was as good as it could be. A lot of pressure.

As for rejections ... don't give up after 10. Let me tell you a funny little story. I queried my first novel almost 12 years ago. I got 8 very kind and encouraging rejections from agents. 8 whole rejections!!! I felt crushed. I trunked the novel and tried again. And again. And again.

Guess what book I sold last year? That same first novel that I thought must be garbage since I got 8 whole rejections. I can't help but wonder what would have happened if I hadn't given up after 8 rejections... Would I have sold that first book a decade sooner?

The big problem with self-publishing is that it does not improve the quality of your work. With rare exception, good writing gets published. If you have no takers, there's a reason.

And, honestly, you haven't given writing a chance. First novels are almost always lousy. So are most second, third, and fourth novels. They remain lousy when self-published, and this is why self-publishing has a bad name.

Despite all claims to the contrary, pretty much all self-publishing is still, and always will be, vanity publishing.

Which does not mean every self-published novel is bad. Some are wonderful. Some few self-published writers will make a fortune, those most who do will have a solid track record with commercial publishers first. Not all but most.

But the tiny bit of wonderful self-published fiction is often buried under the stigma of the mountains of complete garbage shoved out there yearly. If you really are good, and can break free of this, self-publishing can make a career.

But jump into it before you're ready, with bad writing, and you're doing yourself great harm.

Too many want to be professional with a first work. In what other career would you expect to be as good as professional with a first work? It often takes years, it often takes great effort, it often takes numerous novels, and it often takes hundreds or even thousands of rejections before a writer reaches the top level.