[Forward]

I know had unrealistic expectations of what it would be liked to break the publishing barrier. It would have been easy for those expectations to give way to discouragement when I got my first, unwelcome dose of reality.

The consensus was, you’d better love writing or find something else to do. This isn’t a business for the faint of heart.

You’ll quickly learn that the “product suppliers,” (authors) are more plentiful than the “product producers,” (publishers). Even small press publishers are buried in submissions from hopeful authors. Competition for every publishing slot is keen.

Writing a wonderful book just isn’t enough. A book must also be marketable to survive the submission process.

It didn’t take me long to realize that most of us don’t go into publishing because it was a wise business decision. We’re in this because we can’t stop.

But just because this is a crazy, random, flawed business doesn’t mean you can’t proceed in a business-like, professional way. I find it helps to control what is under my power to control, because there is much that is out of my control.

• You can’t make an agent take you on as a client.
• You can’t make a publisher offer you a contract for a book.
• You can’t control how long the submission process takes.
• You can’t change the way publishers do business.
• You can’t make readers or reviewers like your books.

You can control yourself, your product, and how you manage the business aspects of your writing. It took me a while to figure this out, but when I did, it was a big step forward in learning how to enjoy the wild ride that is publishing.