Today's a good day to talk about sadness. ("Oh no!" you're saying. "There's enough freaking sadness in the newspaper.") But yes, sadness has been a guest in my house, blowing her sweet breath over my desk, entwining herself with the flowers in my yard. When I am in this mood, the rhododendra are sad, the bright little roses are sad, even the pansies are sad.
Of course it's good enough! We know how precisely and beautifully you write, and that's good enough. Saleable? Well, that's a fickle thing. Good? You know it's good.
This is so beautifully written! Hope you feel happier soon. As for your book? Self publishing is always a route. Or release a chapter or two (on substack?) and see what the reaction is. Or, tuck it away for some different climate. Who knows. That it exists is a measure of hope all by itself.
One agent turning down your book is not enough. Keep faith in your book and look at other options, agents, hybrid small presses! But I'm not saying give up your saddness, which is a vital human emotion. I have the same fears about my book in process, that it may not be good enough.
If you know your book is meaningful and believe in it you will find a way. The system, the market sucks. Knowing publishing as we do it has almost nothing to do with your subject or your writing. It is about the judgment of others and commerce. My memoir was acknowledged to be important, a significant contribution to the genre of the anti-conversion therapy. Yet despite this I had to withdraw it from my publisher because they did not like my fourteen year old voice. I shopped it around and was told it was too small a book to make money for agents, memoirs weren’t selling, etc. in the end I thought the book and it’s message for girls and young sexually fluid individuals important enough to take the very little hard earned money I had and self-publish the book myself. If you believe in the book you should do the same.
I love this. And I love weird books.
Of course it's good enough! We know how precisely and beautifully you write, and that's good enough. Saleable? Well, that's a fickle thing. Good? You know it's good.
This is so beautifully written! Hope you feel happier soon. As for your book? Self publishing is always a route. Or release a chapter or two (on substack?) and see what the reaction is. Or, tuck it away for some different climate. Who knows. That it exists is a measure of hope all by itself.
One agent turning down your book is not enough. Keep faith in your book and look at other options, agents, hybrid small presses! But I'm not saying give up your saddness, which is a vital human emotion. I have the same fears about my book in process, that it may not be good enough.
If you know your book is meaningful and believe in it you will find a way. The system, the market sucks. Knowing publishing as we do it has almost nothing to do with your subject or your writing. It is about the judgment of others and commerce. My memoir was acknowledged to be important, a significant contribution to the genre of the anti-conversion therapy. Yet despite this I had to withdraw it from my publisher because they did not like my fourteen year old voice. I shopped it around and was told it was too small a book to make money for agents, memoirs weren’t selling, etc. in the end I thought the book and it’s message for girls and young sexually fluid individuals important enough to take the very little hard earned money I had and self-publish the book myself. If you believe in the book you should do the same.