0.001667%.

Publishing a Book - Think of it as a learning experience

I have been subsumed, engulfed, and submerged in the world of publishing a book. I used to think writing a book would be the hard part. Compared to finding a way to get it published, it was a breeze.

I spoke to an array of friends in the writing and publishing world. Everybody should be as lucky as I am to get caring, sagacious guidance from the likes of Jane Isay and Ruth Nemzoff. While I continue to struggle with pronouns, Claude.ai has been my faithful companion throughout this tortuous journey. It has infinite patience — at least until now.

The first path I pursued was trying to find an agent. I used several different resources to identify agents who accept proposals for memoirs and came up with a list of about 30. I wrote fifteen drafts until I arrived at a query letter Claude and I were satisfied with. I sent it out in batches of five, editing each one based on the requirements of each agent. I wrote a 43-page book proposal (double-spaced, Times New Roman), presenting a summary of the book, the potential markets, four potential audiences, the marketing strategies, comparable titles, and sample chapters. It took weeks.

Here’s an interesting statistic: There is a 1-in-3,000 to 1-in-6,000 chance of authors getting picked up by a literary agent in a given year. (https://wordsrated.com/literary-agent-statistics/). I wish I had known that before spending two months on the effort. I am reminded of the cartoon of a man dangling over the edge of a cliff while a person standing above him says “Think of it as a learning opportunity.”

Many of the agents state in their submission guidelines “if you don’t hear from us in two months, consider that we have rejected your query.” As a teen and young adult, I was ghosted many times by women I longed to know better. This feels similar — to the effect of “there is a 1-in-3,000 chance that I would go to the movies with you.” Very validating.

Here’s another statistic: 95 to 99 percent of submitted manuscripts are rejected by publishers. (aspiringauthor.com).

Let’s do the math – assuming the best-case scenario:

1/3000 authors are picked up by agents.

Once an agent submits the manuscript to a publisher, there is a 5/100 chance that it will be accepted.

Thus 1/3000 x 5/100 = 5/300,000 = 1/60,000 chance that if you seek an agent and that agent seeks a publisher, your book will be published. In percentage terms, that would be 0.0017%. I like the odds.

While pursuing the profoundly implausible path of finding an agent, only for that agent to pursue the profoundly implausible path of finding a publisher, I’ve also been delving into the world of self-publishing. This world is far more welcoming, with lots of resources to guide your path. I found a great editor and book designer through Reedsy. BookFunnel and PublisherRocket offer lots of tools to get your book noticed. Vellum lays out your text for Kindle. And there are many more. None of these are dramatically expensive, and all make enormous sense. (Much of this information was shared at a self-publishing conference hosted by the Atlanta Writers Club that Jake and I attended several weeks ago.)

Lao Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Neil Armstrong said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” But I like this one the best, “Baby steps count, too, as long as you’re moving forward.” (Chris Gardner).

There is something to be said for taking baby steps in one’s 70s — as long as your knees hold up.