I had a busy weekend with a friend’s wedding, so I only managed to query two agents since the last posting. Which is great because I had two rejections last week. I have achieved replacement rate.
I’m not discouraged by the rejections. That’s the business. I barely have ten. Breaking in is harder than writing. That’s why it’s called breaking in, because the people on the outside need to use a crowbar to open the window.
I think it’s worth talking about why I want to be traditionally published over self-published. I don’t know that there is necessarily a bunch of bullet point reasons, but I think one big reason is that I am already self-publishing.
I put the five Quint stories on Kindle (https://rb.gy/lu1mmp) and they sold very well among friends and family, and no one outside that circle. I came too late to Kindle for when it was open.
I am also recording an audiobook of my epic fantasy epic poem (Prologue here: https://youtu.be/tRjh2oIWQW4) . This was the first book I ever finished. I am proud of it, despite the occasional clunky sentence.
These two projects took, and will continue to take, so much out of me. I know I will have more novellas that I am going to be putting out there on my own. Part of the appeal of traditional publishing is that it offers a team of people to work with to improve my work.
Another is that I want to see my work on bookshelves. Vain, I know, but I want to see my name among the writers whose works inspired me.
I think I want to be a hybrid, straddling both, releasing somethings as self-published and others, notably novels, as traditional.
Thanks for reading,
Michael
Michael Frutig 