Yoyogod: If you knew anything about today's literary business, you'd be aware of how difficult it is to get an agent and get published. If agents do not recognize your name, or if you're not referred by one of their clients, you have little chance. Today, the literary god is profit. After retirement, I attempted, like so many others, receiving polite rejections.
I had no knowledge of PublishAmerica until their publisher contacted me--and I jumped at the chance for my first two novels. I did not agree for them to publish the third in the trilogy--so to have it published a year after the second, I opted to self-publish that one. However, 'The Franciscan Trilogy' received excellent local, regional, national, and international acclaim, including dozens of positive reviews, interviews on Public Radio and Fox-TV. In all, I had 18-book signings. Not too bad for a first-time neophyte without publicity backing from a publisher.
Winterwolf Publishing heard of my work and agreed to publish 'Overlay' and the sequel, 'The Dacian Resurgence.' Yes, they didn't live up to their promises. Again, the reviews were positive. Bestselling author Jon Land read and reviewed my international suspense novel, "Overlay', comparing it with Ludlum's best work. And bestselling author James Rollins read and reviewed 'The Dacian Resurgence', comparing it with both Clancy and Cussler's work.
I had no literary agent for the first five novels. Based on the reviews, especially those by bestselling authors, Jon Land and James Rollins--I landed a New York agent to handle all past and future work. This year he took my novels to the International Book Fair in London and emailed me: "You weren't here but you were a hit in London and the second most requested material that we handle."
Recently, he had two publishing editors review one of my manuscripts, 'Fatal Incision' (a spinoff of the Jack the Ripper mystery)--and received glowing feedback. There are another five completed manuscripts.
All five of my first novels initially took off in the beginning but sales took a nose dive without publicity. Perhaps we can improve on that in the future.
So you see, Yoyogod, one must start somewhere, have confidence in your work, and move up from there. Hopefully that's what I did.
This post was last modified: 11-21-2006, 03:08 PM by WR.PARK.