When I started pursuing writing as more than just a hobby (off and on) over the past 15 years, my knowledge of the business side of the profession was equal to my knowledge of rocket science. The writing course I enrolled in many years back enlightened me to several aspects of a writing career. Back then, everything involved the good old USPS. Two or three of my articles/short stories were near submission-ready. I sent off one article and one story to different magazines which both ended in rejection. The rejections didn’t stop me, but at that time, the postage required to send off to multiple places was more than my fledgling family could budget. There was also postage required to request sample copies of the magazine I intended to submit to. Researching the market for a writer is as necessary as astrophysics is to a rocket scientist. Short on cash, I read through as many children’s periodicals as my local library carried, jotting notes about each one that seemed a good fit for my then current projects. As technology progressed, publishing websites included their submission guidelines, and sometimes even featured sample copies of their magazine for writers to peruse. This helped my budget somewhat. At least I could be well versed in the publications I was planning to submit to (if ever I had the funds).

Fast forward three children (they seem to have grown in a flash) and this writing pursuit slowed to a jog. Like the old game “Kick the Can”, I had periods of lightning strike velocities, and then periods of slow skips to a halt. Flashes of ideas that I might start on, but never finish. Weeks where I would sit and write, and then I didn’t. The novel I am currently writing started at the end of this phase. And though in the years afterward, I still did not schedule a writing time for myself each day, I still dreamed that it might come to fruition.

Now I have an almost complete first draft, and am working on editing that monster. I felt it was time to resume market research so I know who to submit to. Have I mentioned that it has been a while since I have started this writing journey? Something I should mention right away is that is has always been my hope to publish traditionally I am in no way knocking indie or self published authors and their works. I just know that they have to work very hard and probably spend a lot of money for a cover, for formatting, for editing and critiques, for an ISBN, and for marketing their own work. I haven’t even delved into researching self pub, because in my mind, that path is not for me. I’m too timid to even share my facebook writing page, let alone herald to the world that I have a book I want to sell. Self-promotion is not my strong point. I cringe thinking about it. Authors who publish traditionally still have promotion responsibilities, but the publishing house helps a lot.

Here is what I have discovered in my most recent foray into market research. First, everything is electronic now. Hallelujah! No postage woes. Second, and here’s the humdinger, traditional publishing houses do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. And they do not accept queries for manuscripts. All of this is now done through an agent (who may or may not) be accepting manuscripts. When querying an agent, many things are requested in your presentation. One of those things is a list of your previously published works. Another thing they want to know is how your manuscript is like or unlike anything else already being sold, citing specific examples. I have already been reading books in my genre, but I figured it was mostly for me. I thought it was schooling me in story structure, in character arcs, and in the expectations of a genre. I didn’t realize that it also is to help the agent know that I’ve done my research.

Another alternative is to go through a publisher partner (like an editing service) who acts sort of like an agency with some differences. An editing service will require a fee. The fee will depend on what service I choose. The more complete the service, the higher the fee. And they want much of the same information that an agent wants. Publishing credits. Marketing and social media platforms. Research knowledge.

Do not think that I am complaining or disgruntled at the process. This is a business after all. And in any business, you have to learn the rules. Surprised, and a bit daunted, yes. But one of the purposes for this blog is to share the writing process. The whole process. And there may be, at a future time, others who will want to pursue this path and will appreciate the information for their own journey. I did falsely assume that a tight, well-written manuscript could be sent to a publisher directly. This, of course, is not the case. I’m not giving up. But my hopes of signing a writing contract this year may be premature. I am going to need to read even more books in my genre. And I am probably going to need to dust off some of those old writing projects I started years ago, and see if I can get some publishing credits to my name. What did God write through Solomon in Ecclesiastes? “The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.” (Ecclesiastes 1:6) We all come full circle.

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Thanks for reading to the end. If you have any comments or suggestions, let me know down below, or feel free to comment on my social media sites.