Novel Updates

One of the problems with being a self-published author is marketing. I studied as much as I could about that while producing the Get Lost Saga, and while I am making progress overall, I also feel one thing is holding me back.

That thing is the kind of exposure a traditional publisher can provide. I had four novels published by a small press, Mundania Books, back in the early 2010s, and was about to do a fifth when they closed down. But my experience there was underwhelming and eventually led to me trying the self-publishing route.

And while there are those who have success this way, it’s very hard to get these books reviewed in places that have a lot of exposure. They’re also more likely to be reviewed by people on YouTube or BookTok.

But you generally can’t get looked at by publishers without an agent. So that’s where I’ve been focusing my attention lately.

I had an agent once, back when I lived in London. The book they took on was The Professional Tourist. Unfortunately, it never found a home, and my next book wasn’t in the direction the agent was interested in, so I was quietly dropped.

Since then, I feel I’ve only gotten stronger as a writer, something I attribute to spending the last decade or so editing other people’s books, trying to make them the best that they can be. I regularly get compliments about how clean and polished my work is, even in early drafts.

So now I figured I’d try again with a book that I was preparing to self-publish: The Bone Rat. This is a modern day treasure hunt adventure in the vein of Indiana Jones (only without the supernatural angle).

This time, in looking for an agent, I wanted to make sure I found one I gelled with. So I created a list of 30 to approach who were not only interested in adventure stories, but science fiction and fantasy as well. I expected a lot of rejections, and got exactly that.

But I also found one very positive response.

I haven’t been signed, but their comments were very encouraging. They had some issues with The Bone Rat that I fully understood. But rather than a R&R (Revise and Resubmit), they suggested providing an outline of changes to the story and offered to work with me on it if I was open to the idea.

So, that’s where I’m at, in a nutshell. I’ll revisit this topic in the future… hopefully with good news.