Just thought I’d update my readers on the status of my persistent drive to land an agent and a traditional publisher.

It’s not looking great.

I’m now up to 32 rejections of 85 queries sent. I have 3 partial manuscripts out there and 1 full manuscript. Both could take into mid to late January to respond. I also sent two queries out to publishers who accept unagented and unsolicited work. They take up to 3 months to reply.

So the waiting game continues, and I’m starting to think about contingency plans.

I spoke this week with an author whose first two novels were published by large, traditional publishers. She chose to self-publish her third one, and is so pleased she not only doesn’t have any second thoughts, she’s not going back.

She says:
“I took the opportunity to explore the new world of self-publishing. It’s been a lot of fun and tremendously rewarding, both creatively and financially. My third book is self-published, and it’s sold more copies than my last Harlequin! In self-publishing, you’re connecting directly with readers, and you have control over the cover, pricing, marketing and distribution.

“I did everything myself, from formatting to cover design. I didn’t go through a company for the very reasons you state–I didn’t want anyone else telling me how to price my book. I’ve priced my self-published title at .99, and I’ve sold more copies and earned more money than I did through Harlequin!

“I know the “stigma” against self-publishing that you’re talking about, but as more and more authors (including some big names) are going that route, that stigma is fast disappearing. The link below is to an article in USA Today about self-publishing that speaks to this issue:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/story/2011-12-14/self-published-authors-ebooks/51851058/1.”

And so, my friends, I am actually considering going this route if my Christmas Wish doesn’t come true by mid-January. Then it may be time to move from the Christmas Wish stage to my New Year’s Resolution: In Her Mother’s Shoes will be out there in 2012.

Persistence can be defined more than one way!