I’ve worked in publishing since 2006. That seems like a goodly time, but the industry is a complex one. I started trying to publish again around 2010—losing my job at Nashotah House sent me into a tailspin in that regard, although I wrote a novel or two in the meantime. My first post-dissertation book was published in 2014. I soon learned that academic publishers each have their strengths and weaknesses. Most have trouble with marketing—people just don’t know about your books. (And can’t afford them if they do.) If the publisher won’t advertise, well, the voice of one ex-academic isn’t very loud. So I wrote on. My sixth book has existed in draft form for a few months now. I know that to get a publisher who knows how to market you often need an agent. I also know that as an unknown writer it’s difficult to get an agent’s attention. I finally found one, however.
Agents change books. Mine asked me to rewrite yet again. All of my books have been rewritten multiple times, so this was par for the course. I had to leave out a lot of the stuff I liked. Then the agent changed his mind. Hey, I get it. Agents live off the advances their authors get so if they don’t see enough zeroes they shy away. That’s just how it works. I’ve found what looks like a good publisher (not an academic press) but I couldn’t simply go back to the version I really liked—I’d made improvements for the agent—so I had to blend the two versions together. The problem is, that’s difficult to do on a computer. I know from working in publishing that side-by-side comparative screens in word processing programs are difficult to find. Of course, if you just print both versions out all you need is a table and a red pen.
I wasn’t born into the computer era. Flipping between two screens doesn’t come easily but printing out two three-hundred-page manuscripts is time and resource consuming. So I’m flipping screens. I hope to finish this book soon because the next one is already brewing and I really can’t wait to start getting the ideas out. And I even have a publisher in mind—one that doesn’t require an agent. I don’t think agents really get me. Or maybe I’m just not a “commercial” enough thinker. There are plenty of presses out there, however, and if you do your research you can find a home for this project that’s taken years of your life. It’s just difficult to do the screen flipping. But then, I’ve only been doing this for about a decade. I’ll get the hang of it soon.
