On Realizing One’s Britches Are Too Tight

I’ve been avoiding submitting The Book to small presses.  I was thinking about it, and I realized my reasons are dumb.

I’ve been holding out on the small presses because “I want a Big 5 deal.”  Well, look who’s a little big for his britches!  Yep, that’s me.

I still think it’s possible to get that deal. But to get a Big 5 deal, you must first have an agent.  And that hasn’t been working out so well.  I’m sure there’s one out there for me, but I’m not there yet.

I know my book is good.  More than one person whose opinion I trust has read it and said it’s good.  But “good” doesn’t mean a large publisher will be willing to take a chance.  A smaller publisher might.  Still no guarantees, but you never know.

Thinking on all this, I recalled that an author I admire made her first sale to a small press, and has now published more than 20 books, most of them with my dream publisher.

So I’m going to sub to agents, until I get one.  And I’m going to sub to the relatively few Big Houses that take unagented subs for SFF.  But I’m also going to add the small presses, because who knows?  Maybe they’ll take a chance on it.

Published by Michael R. Johnston

Father of an eighth grader, high school English teacher, writer. Fifty years old and feeling almost every bit of it on some days, and not a bit of it on others. Based in Sacramento, California, USA

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