Image by CDD20 via Pixabay
I announced a few weeks ago that I was going to self-publish my cyberpunk novel Nytho. I’ll have more news on that soon, but for those that are exceedingly curious, you can take a look at my Books page to see more details on it.
This week, I wanted to talk about my journey attempting the traditional publishing route with Nytho, among other projects. Before I dive into the nitty gritty, I want to say that there are pros and cons to any type of publishing. I didn’t realize that until I looked into the different aspects of traditional and self-publishing. Traditional isn’t always better, although we (writers and readers) are conditioned to see it that way. It can be. It can also be worse. It depends on the author, their audience, and the specific novel in question.
The Traditional Publishing Route
Very briefly, traditional publishing involves a writer pitching their book to a publishing house in hopes of having it accepted by said publisher. The publishing house takes on the risk of investment for expenses such as formatting, marketing, and distribution. The author agrees to give up a portion of the book’s earnings in exchange for the work the publishing house does on their behalf.
A fair deal, right? Well, there are other expenses that eat into an author’s profit margins. These include the retailer (brick-and-mortar stores for print books, online distributors for ebooks) and the literary agent of the author. It’s funny that, despite writing the book, the author tends to get the smallest cut on the profits from their creation. The life of a creative is unfair on many fronts, but this is the system. Until authors band together and demand change, the status quo will remain.
Literary Agents
Let me back up a moment. I kind of breezed over the term “literary agent.” If you’re a writer, you likely know too much about literary agents, but if you’re not or you haven’t yet attempted to get your novel(s) published, you may not be familiar with this critical group of people. Literary agents are a huge part of the process in traditional publishing, so I want to take some time to discuss their role in more detail.
In short, literary agents are the first set of gatekeepers. They sift through all the thousands on thousands of novels and decide which sound the most marketable. Literary agents have relationships with publishing houses, and in today’s literary environment, an author essentially has to have a literary agent in order to have a slim chance of having their book picked up for publication.
Theoretically, literary agents find the “best” works out there and then present them to publishing houses. The reality is far murkier. Just take a gander at a few of the NY Times bestsellers, and you might be shocked at the poor quality of writing and storytelling. I know I was. This is because publishing is a business. It’s not about promoting the arts. It’s about feeding the capitalist machine. Publishing houses want to make money, so they opt to sell the books that will sell. I could bitch and moan about this flawed system, but it is what it is. Publishers aim to make money. Literary agents do too.
Don’t get me wrong. Literary agents play an important role, and they don’t have an easy job. In any given week, they received hundreds (yes, 100s) of queries, letters from hopeful authors asking for representation. That’s in addition to their job of pitching the books they’ve chosen to represent to publishing houses. When any of us are crunched for time and overloaded with work, it’s only natural that quality projects that take risks get tossed aside for safer alternatives. Just look at the content being generated by companies like Disney. Safe and predictable and mind-numbingly boring.
My Experience
Do I sound bitter? Okay, maybe I am. But in my defense, it’s been a long and hard road that hasn’t paid off…yet. Let me give you a breakdown of my struggles attempting traditional publication. If you’re a fellow author who hasn’t yet tried this route, be forewarned that it won’t look pretty. But the industry is highly subjective. Don’t let my experience turn you off. It’s good to understand the reality of the situation and mentally prepare yourself.
To date, I’ve written four novels. This means I completed a first draft, got feedback from beta readers, and revised the manuscript. Of these four, I have queried three. That is, I sent letters and samples to literary agents asking for representation. Of those three, I am only querying one at present. Why? Because the other two failed.
delta t
My first novel was delta t. I queried a total of 105 literary agents, received rejections from 52, and did not receive a response from 53. Those no-responses are typical, and I count those as rejections if it’s been at least 12 weeks since I queried the agent. A hopeful sign is if an author receives a request for a full, which is when the literary agent asks for the full manuscript. I didn’t have a request for full in the case of delta t.
Ouch, right? Still, the novel is hard sci-fi which is a tough sell given how limited the audience for that subgenre is.
Nytho
Well, I picked myself up and dusted myself off. I actually started writing my next novel, Nytho, while I was querying delta t. That’s the best way for an author to maintain their sanity. I was pumped for Nytho. It was cyberpunk and flashy with hints of cosmic horror and dealt with the super-hot topic of AI. To top it all off, I had beta readers that LOVED it. Not all of them, but there was no lukewarm about it. In my mind, that’s the sign of a decent book. Fast-forward 1.5 years to today, and here I am having done 210 queries with 96 rejections, 113 no-responses, and 2 still pending. No requests for full.
The part that drives me nuts is that I’ve had two different editors help me craft my query letter, which is solid at this point. I also did a developmental edit on the novel, and there were no glaring issues. The editor said it was a “good” novel, and with her suggestions, I could upgrade it to “great.” I did, but it didn’t seem to do much.
What’s the deal then? According to one editor, the problem might be AI. A lot of people see AI as a threat, pure and simple, especially in the publishing industry. Fair enough. A big part of my novel is that it serves as a warning on AI, but perhaps the issue is that I frame the story using gray-and-grey morality—no one is right or wrong; there are just different sides with wonderful and awful people on each.
Another potential issue is that Nytho is written in first person present with five alternating narrators. That’s pretty risky. First person is already the ugly step-child for genre fiction, and then it’s very uncommon to use so many narrators. But it works, and it’s essential to one of the major themes: “Everything that ever happens is skewed by the lens of someone’s perception.”—Nytho.
Rewilders
I moved on to the next project while I fumed about the lack of interest in Nytho. This time it was a biopunk novel called Rewilders written in third-person past. This one has environmental messages, something near and dear to my heart. It’s also about two star-crossed lovers with little hints of Romeo and Juliet. I’ve only been querying it since late July, so it’s early days still.
To date, I’ve queried 50 agents, 23 of which have rejected it and 27 of whom I’m still waiting to hear back from or for 12 weeks to pass (giving me a no-response). The one glimmer of hope is that I did manage to get a full request. The agent ended up passing on the project, which put me into a mild depressive state for a few days, but it’s progress.
Looking Ahead
That’s where things stand in my journey to traditional publication. I’ll keep querying Rewilders until I reach 200 or so agents, and if there’s no interest, I’ll opt for self-publication for that title as well. I have another completed novel called Neuen that I’ll probably not bother to query. I don’t think it would be considered “marketable,” plus it’s written in first person which the odds seemed stacked against.
In all honesty, I don’t know how many more projects I want to bother querying. I’ve found the process of self-publication with Nytho to be really enjoyable. I wasn’t crazy about having to do the marketing myself, but I’m having a great time planning out social media posts. It does take time away from my actual writing. My current WIP (work-in-progress), Blessed is the Rot, is giving me the stink eye whenever I don’t work on it for a few days in a row, but that’s how it goes. I’m happy to get to revisit Nytho while working on it for self-publication. I missed these characters and their journeys.
Who knows? I may end up opting to throw traditional publishing out the window for future projects. For now, I’m keeping all options on the table.
What about you? Have you tried the traditional publishing route? Share your experiences in a comment.
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