The Book

I quickly learned that one cannot go out and simply "get published". Most publishing houses no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts from writers without agents, self-publishing through a vanity publishing house is frowned upon by the industry, and so the best option is obtaining the agent. And that's where the real fun begins.

I could probably go on for pages about my query letter stress. For most agents a one - to - two hundred word letter is the only audition you're afforded. Forget audition, because you can't share your actual writing, but only a quick paragraph synopsis, word count, and the dreaded relevant bio. Oh, relevant bio, how I loathe thee.

The problem is: previous publication would lend me more credit in the eyes of agents. But if I can't publish a manuscript because I have no publishing credits to my name, how then am I supposed to publish anything so that I'll be more impressive on paper? I'm confused just writing it! So my relevant bio isn't so relevant at all, because I'm not published, therefore un-publishable.

Since printing a handful of copies of one of my novels on my own dime would be both expensive and a big no-no, I'm going to publish here, on the web, so it doesn't really count as self-publishing. And because I do worry about plagiarism, I'm writing a short novel just for the blog so my heart won't be broken if theft occurs.

The first chapter or two should be up before the end of the week! The working title is Just Like Lightning.