The Lady on the Plane

After a full decade now of writing as a self-published author with nine novels to my credit, I am still undaunted in my quest to have my work read, whether as a best-selling author as I’d once hoped, or one who merely has a regional following. My old, red-hot dreams of supporting myself through my writing have faded to glowing embers, but I always find so much gratification in connecting personally with readers. Something larger than both the reader and the writer emerges as we come to know each other through the written word. We recognize a shared passion on the pages. For me, I can liken the experience to a runner’s high, or that sense of euphoria a musician or an actor experiences at the height of a performance. It is sensational. My readers tell me they love my work, which encourages me to keep writing and that exclamation, “I can’t wait for your next book!” inspires me to continue. I knew going into the writing vocation that authors I admire like J. K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame, Twilight series author Stephanie Myer, Catherine Stockett (The Help), and Jan Karon, author of the Mitford series, all had trouble finding an agent, so I knew to expect disappointment. Some of those authors claim it took over 60 tries to get noticed. I wasn’t particularly devastated when my own efforts didn’t result in an agent contract. Although I would like to sell more books, self-publishing hasn’t been a bad gig. If self-publishing was good enough for Benjamin Franklin, then I knew I should follow suit. But in the back of my mind I always think: I am only one person away from busting this thing wide open!

Last summer, on a Denver-bound plane to visit my daughter, the lady sitting next to me eventually asked what I was doing in my retirement. I told her I was an author, we talked about my books and my publishing journey. Also retired, this lady had been a high-powered executive in a marketing firm. As an avid reader, she seemed impressed with my determination and the gumption it must have taken me to learn how to go about self-publishing, but she wondered why I hadn’t hired an agent. I explained that I hadn’t found one and that each time I wrote a book, I researched prospective agents for my particular work and then sent out about 25 queries. Her reply was simple: “You didn’t send out enough. In business you have to follow a law-of-averages model to be successful. You have to send at least 100 queries. Of those, you’ll get about ten serious replies. Three or four will then drop out, three more will say they’re not interested and of the two remaining, one of them will take you on.” She then chuckled and said, “I really want to be your agent!” (Although I’d kind of wished she were serious, that never happened.)

The end of the story is—as always—to be continued. I believe a sequel is always possible in anything in life. With my next manuscript I’ll probably send out 100 queries to see where it leads. In the meantime, I still enjoy what I do, my positive reader feedback, and meeting nice people on airplanes who appreciate my craft. I have yet to sell enough books to be self-sufficient but fame and fortune were never my goals in the first place. An aura exists around the creation of something that comes from within and for me, that process is the prize.