Always a New Challenge
I’ve been on a crusade. A long one. It’s gone up, down, sideways, and ultimately, thankfully, forward. But now it’s time for the rubber to meet the road, as the old Firestone TV commercials used to say. And this part is probably going to take as much fortitude as doing the original deed. You see, I’ve written a book, and re-written, and re-written. It’s part of the trudge.
Now the trudge turns to finding a literary agent. That is, a professional in the publishing industry who specializes in finding, vetting, and helping authors get their works published. Many people don’t realize publishing houses stopped doing the prep work for books a long time ago. So, add another couple layers to the already convoluted task of getting a book out there in print. Then, pile on other options to the traditional method of printing with self-publishing and hybrid models. See, this is gonna’ take awhile.
It’s not unusual for books to take a couple years to get into print after you find an agent. And there are thousands of manuscripts being submitted every month begging for the attentions of an agent. Being a writer and successfully creating a sales pitch for your book are two different skills. Then there are the potential marketing commitments not all writers are cut out to handle.
I’ve taken on-line how-to courses, participated in seminars, submitted samples for critiquing and feedback, subjected friends to read various drafts, scoured the internet looking for good agent matches. I’ve honed my Query Letter countless times but have no idea if I’ll manage to hit pay dirt with an agent willing to take the dive with me. Ultimately, it’s a crapshoot into unknown territory.
I don’t like unknown territory. I like knowing what’s expected. I like taking a straightforward business approach, being as concise as possible and seeing if someone is willing to have a conversation. I’m used to finding a way to tilt the odds in my favor. I’m not used to being anonymously dumped into the pond with thousands of other tadpoles hoping someone will like my total-cast-my-fate-to-the-wind guess of what will appeal to them.
I’m used to doing business built on relationships, in-person meetings and mutual good taste that tells you there’s something here to build on. This is so much like cold-call sales. I never liked that much. I like having a foundation under me, one I know will attract other’s attention. As a complete newcomer to authorship, there’s no knowing how good my current footing is. It’s that old question, “Am I good enough?”
So, what about the book? I’ve hinted at this before in other posts. Tango Tango Foxtrot is a memoir of my time founding and running TTF Aerospace; how it came about, it’s unfortunate demise twenty years later, and what happened along the way. It’s a how-to and a how-not-to; a tale of successfully fighting long odds and, ultimately, one of deceit and betrayal.
After several years of writing, letting it ferment on it’s own, coming back to it with fresh eyes, following advice, and endless revising, I’m to a point where I need to see if it will fly. The original version is far different than the latest. Paired down from over 100,000 words to 79,000 (that’s about 275 pages published), there is a whole other book of humorous stories in the deleted pages waiting to form the core of a second book. There are the seeds of two other books also lingering now. One thing just leads to another. But first, I need to get off the snide and prove any future effort will be worth the investment. I need to get this first one under my belt.
Wish me luck. I think it’s going to be a trudge.
