Publishing, it's the topic on my mind these days. I posted a blog about the subject on the writer's vibe site. In that blog, I discussed the differences between literary agents but as I researched the topic, I began to wonder...what are the odds of producing a successful book?
If I think of all the people I know and calculate how many of them have or are writing a book, I begin to feel deflated. But if I concentrate only on the ones who have actually completed a book, I start to feel better. It takes a rare person to possess the tenacity needed to finish such a daunting task. And an even more driven person is required to face the literary agencies firing squad. I am such a person.
Before I start to pat myself on the back, however, I stumbled across a staggering statistic in my quest for an agent which has left me weak and doubting my talent. A typical agency receives close to 500 queries a month from that pool they invite perhaps 50 of those proposals for review. Out of that fifty, one or sometimes two are delivered to publishers. For this reason alone, I can't stress the importance of a well written query letter.
But it gets worse. Publishers offer top spots to already established writers. Next, celebrities steal away valuable opportunities, and believe me, it seems they are all writing books these days, even Snoop Dogg is working on a series of children's books. Publishers know their names alone sell books. This leaves very little room for first time writers to break into the industry which may make the appeal of self-publishing brighter.
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