Yesterday I reviewed Andrew Lawler’s new book The Secret Token, and to be entirely honest, it was a bit of a depressing experience. That’s because the book’s first half is set up much like a book I’ve been working on writing for several years now, though on a different topic. My book is a narrative history of the “white” mound builder myth, starting with the Spanish explorations and proceeding down to the famous Bureau of Ethnology report that closed the subject as a legitimate scientific question. The structure and approach are remarkably close, though, in my obviously biased opinion, I feel that I have done a much better job mining my subject for the kind of rich, novelistic detail that helps to bring the past to life. I wrote it basically as a nonfiction novel. My cast of characters is also richer and more compelling, including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Constantine Rafinesque, all of whom left elaborate paper trails that help to tell a fascinating story in an engaging way. So why was reading Lawler’s book depressing? It’s depressing because Lawler was able to shepherd into print a book that skims across the surface of its story, while I have been unable to find even a single literary agent who will reply to a query. Over the past few years, I have sent queries to dozens, maybe even a hundred literary agents, and no one has had a moment’s interest in my work. And it is not for want of trying, or of talent, or of topic.
Clearly, racism and white nationalism are hot topics now, and a book about historical white racism that ties in with pop culture, cable TV, and political kooks ought to be a slam dunk. Lawler’s own book about how an American myth feeds into political racism proves that the topic is hardly off-putting to major publishers. My detractors will immediately object that agents recognize in me a lack of literary talent. Anyone who has read this blog knows that I can write, and write well. The reviews of my earlier books ought to relieve any lingering doubt, but if not, the fact that I have ghostwritten, revised, or edited books and manuscripts for others that went on to receive placement with major publishers makes plain that my writing is not the issue. (Similarly, I have drafted the cover letters for wannabe authors that literary agents snapped up, so my letter-writing skills are not the problem either.) Yet somehow people who are objectively untalented writers with questionable command of English receive steady book deals. I confess to being baffled. I have, over the years, done everything one is “supposed” to do to enter into the mainstream publishing field. After placing a few books with small publishers on my own, since no agent was interested in me at the time, in 2010 I acquired a literary agent who was a former editor at a publishing house and a foreign scout for major publishers and who represents several authors whose works you would recognize, including New York Times bestsellers. I followed his advice about setting the groundwork for a literary career. I established a website and built a large and dedicated audience, and I appeared on TV and podcasts to raise my profile. I worked with him to hone book proposals and write sample chapters for various books, and the result was jack shit. Despite his best efforts, not a single publisher, large or small, had any interest in anything I wrote or would write or could write. Well, that’s not entirely true. Skyhorse Publishing expressed interest and then slow-walked the process for three years before claiming to “forget” that they ever wanted me. I feel comfortable naming them because I have no interest in working with them after that fiasco. My agent dropped me several years ago, and aside from automated rejections, none has ever placed me under consideration for my nonfiction work since then. Quite a few even refuse even to consider queries unless an author has a formal introduction from a current client. A major British historian who has BBC documentaries and several bestsellers to his name found my writing compelling and offered to introduce me to his literary agent. He tried for a full year to get the agent to respond to my query. He never did, not even to say no. I reached out to several prominent authors with whom I had worked in the past and asked after their agents. More than one simply refused to provide an introduction on the grounds that they didn’t want competition. I’d name names, but it would be unkind and would unduly complicate my life. For a long time, I followed my ex-agent’s advice and said nothing, lest publishers and agents take offense. Well, a fat lot of good that did. I don’t see much point in pretending anymore for fear of giving the vapors to people who clearly have no intention of ever working with me. This seems to be a recurring problem for me, and one that I am unable to resolve. When I graduated college, a professor thought I would be a great fit for National Geographic magazine and contacted a friend who worked in editorial there. I never heard a word from them. My hometown newspaper, for Pete’s sake, interviewed me for a reporting position and told me that they did it only as a courtesy to my parents because they had Ivy League interns coming in from Boston, so why would they want a mere local to report local news? The joke was on them, of course. The Ivy Leaguers quit after a year for more lucrative jobs, and the paper is shell of its former self. The paper here in Albany cut the reporting positions an editor had recommended I apply for when the chain that owned it slashed its budget. I worked with the New York State Museum for a year, and the museum director told me that he recommended me for a staff position, which of course never materialized despite months of promises that it was forthcoming. The museum’s director blamed state funding, and an inquiry from my state assemblyman (who in those days was a friend of my father’s) achieved nothing. For years afterward, the director would duck and turn the other way when I would see him around the Capitol. I remember when I applied for an editorial position at a regional publishing house and made it all the way to final consideration when the hiring manager informed me that the owners of the company had personally decided to dismiss me from contention. I was a bit miffed at that, since I had spent so much time and made it all the way to the end of the hiring process, so I asked why the owners decided against me. The hiring manager told me that they thought I was too qualified, and they were really looking for someone less competent that they could mentor and train and treat as a surrogate child. My very first job out college was even worse. I trained to be a Kaplan SAT instructor, passed their test, and was all set to start teaching when… nothing happened. I went to the for my assignment, and the staff had turned over and they claimed not to know who I was. The company later said that they had no record of me, and then that the deposed manager of my local branch had forgotten to assign me to teaching courses, and any number of other excuses. It wasn’t a scam; their paychecks cleared just fine until they stopped. Depending on whom you asked, I either never existed or fell through the cracks. But they kept advertising for new employees. They hired me and sent me through training, but they forgot about me so completely that they never officially fired me. As far as I know, I’m still technically employed there. When I published Knowing Fear and A Hideous Bit of Morbidity, two well-received books about the horror genre that took years of research and dedication to bring to fruition, and which I was proud to have cited in dissertations and popular histories alike, the Bram Stoker Award for accomplishment in nonfiction studies of horror went to a book from the same small publisher, McFarland, in which the author literally copied and pasted 13 public domain newspaper stories about Halloween and called it a book. I didn’t even get nominated. I could go on, but I won’t. At a certain point, though, I just get tired of trying. The only thing I’ve learned from the process is that there is no benefit in following the rules. The rules are designed to help the powerful avoid responsibility and to reinforce existing hierarchies. I get frustrated, though, because I’m not in it for the money—though, of course, I can’t afford to work entirely for free. I wanted my books to have a larger audience because I write when I have something to say, not just to make money off them. But it’s increasingly hard to justify the effort to write deep and detailed books if the only publishers who will touch them are so small, and pay so little, that they are essentially unread. I devoted a year to writing Jason and the Argonauts through the Ages, and fewer people have read it than will read this blog post. So, the long and short of it is that I have about two-thirds of a really great book written and absolutely no incentive to finish it.
73 Comments
Matt
3/21/2018 09:13:30 am
Damn, if I was in the USA I'd be hitting you up to collaborate on a documentary series.
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Stickler
3/21/2018 03:59:15 pm
The U.S. doesn't use Imperial Measurements.
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Joe Scales
3/21/2018 10:08:46 am
"The rules are designed to help the powerful avoid responsibility and to reinforce existing hierarchies."
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3/21/2018 02:08:33 pm
All rules are made by people with power for their benefit. That's been true since the earliest law codes. Hammurabi's code treated different classes of people differently, and those with more power had more legal protection.
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V
3/21/2018 02:31:33 pm
Wow, talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Hint: calling people "not that much fun" and "inflated self-valuation" are deeply personal attacks, sir. Nobody wants to have a beer with a bully, and I'm afraid that's what you come across as right now. Personally, I'm going to go have a beer with the people who DON'T think that "you are factually incorrect" is a personal attack, and DO understand that "you're a jerk" IS.
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Joe Scales
3/22/2018 11:58:22 am
Perhaps you have a better way of dealing with whinging other than giving it to them straight. I'll stick to my methodology, thank you.
Machala
3/21/2018 03:22:58 pm
Joe,
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Doc Rock
3/21/2018 11:00:19 am
Have you looked into university presses that publish fiction?
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Doc Rock
3/21/2018 11:01:59 am
Or nonfiction novels.
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Doc Rock
3/21/2018 02:40:34 pm
They might prefer something by a Ph.D. But if they get a well done prospectus on a topic relevant to their interests it probably won't matter if you are a high school dropout.
Enid McConnell
3/21/2018 11:13:41 am
As a former editor at both scholarly and commercial publishers, my experience has been that you have to be either a celebrity or you (or your agent) has to know somebody who is willing to do you a favor by publishing you. Contrary to popular belief, the publishing world is not a meritocracy. On the other hand, sometimes lightning does strike...
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Doc Rock
3/21/2018 12:00:30 pm
Enid,
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Enid McConnell
3/21/2018 12:06:27 pm
Actually, I am...
Doc Rock
3/21/2018 12:17:04 pm
I recently had a university press agree to publish a book that I lead authored. I’ve also contributed several chapters to edited volumes published through university presses. I have dozens of colleagues who have published books through university presses. None of us were celebrities in any sense of the word and I don’t know of any instance where agents were involved. In fact you are the first person that I have ever seen even mention the use of an agent in publishing thru a university press, although I assume that it can happen with very successful authors.
Marko
3/21/2018 11:21:02 am
I'm really sorry to hear this, Jason. I see no good reason for your run of bad luck.
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3/21/2018 02:14:05 pm
The trouble is that all of that stuff is a lot of extra work, and a huge time sink, with only a small chance of producing useful results. Magazines are the worst. They constantly want free work for "exposure." The paying magazines are just like publishers, and basically want celebrities and friends of the editor to write for them.
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Marko
3/21/2018 03:06:23 pm
I hear you. But if the publishing world is about 'who you know', doesn't it follow that, to succeed, Jason, you'll meet new people, make new connections? It's not the worst thing in the world, having to work free for 'exposure' (even if it is objectionable on principle)... Aren't you already working for free when you write for your blog? 3/21/2018 04:12:34 pm
Oh, I spent years trying to break into various magazine and website markets, but to no avail. Yes, "who you know" would be about meeting new people, but you don't get entre into NYC and DC society without living there, and I decided long ago that I couldn't well give up real life to pursue a remote possibility of success. I mean, what would be the ideal outcome? It's not like a literary career does much to pay the bills.
Anonymous For Reasons
3/21/2018 11:43:15 am
It pains me to say this but there's a common denominator.
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Dudeleoid
3/21/2018 11:48:15 am
Jeez. I wake up this morning to you complaining about the exact same thing that has happened to me. I have five self published books and a great deal of alternative media attention but no one wants it because it debunks all the talking heads on the History Channel. That may be your problem right there. You refuse to jump on the bandwagon that has been created thus leaving yourself out in the cold. What you don't believe Phoenicians came to America in antiquity or that Baldar the Venusian has mated with your sisters? .....No soup for you....Your scorned unfinished book would likely threaten the logic of the entire season of new programming for both the Discovery Channel and History Channel and you wonder why? Still I would rather read your book so at least self publish it.
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Murgatroyd
3/21/2018 12:18:50 pm
The thing about publishers is that they're always on the look-out to devise ways of placing printing ink on paper in the manner most likely to shift the greatest number of copies: they don't much mind what the subject matter is, or who the author is, as long as the copies get sold. As Dudleoid rightly says, the reading public might be prepared to pay to read how " ... Phoenicians came to America in antiquity or that Baldar the Venusian has mated with your sisters ... " - but the fact is that far fewer people would pay to read about the debunking of such theories.
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Enid McConnell
3/21/2018 12:37:44 pm
Doc Rock--You misunderstood me. You don't need to be a celebrity or have an agent to publish with a university press; but usually, you do have to have a relationship with one of the editors or be otherwise known to them in some way. Very rarely does anyone get published by an "over the transcript" submission. Moreover, as you probably know, academia can be just as cutthroat as the commercial world...
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Doc Rock
3/21/2018 12:56:37 pm
Well, that's a bit of a shift from your initial statement. I agree that knowing an editor might help, but certainly not necessary. Otherwise revised dissertations or edited volumes by young scholars who have never even met an editor would never get published. But that happens all the time.
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Enid McConnell
3/21/2018 03:18:13 pm
Not much of a shift, if you read my initial statement closely...
Doc Rock
3/21/2018 03:34:25 pm
Enid,
Kal
3/21/2018 12:45:59 pm
Finish the book, advertise it yourself, and put up a YouTube weekly podcast on ancient mysteries and myths. Tell your next potential agent, this is part of the portfolio, but pick the best stories to show them.
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Joe Scales
3/21/2018 01:28:35 pm
"They probably see you as the fringe as well."
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Joe Scales
3/21/2018 01:33:40 pm
Actually, it might have been blocked for "alternative beliefs", not views.
Gunn at Risk
3/21/2018 01:09:24 pm
Jason, I recommend that you do not finish your book on white racism. This would be a bummer, not much for anyone to be uplifted about. I, too, think you should veer off more into history-related subjects, steering away from the supernatural and horror.
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Clint Knapp
3/21/2018 03:53:53 pm
Bob Voyles, ladies and gentlemen, making yet another pitch for someone else to do the work of promoting and proving his pet theory for him.
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Huh? What?
3/21/2018 09:14:31 pm
Isn't he the guy who tried to crowdsource $500? What a "looser".
Gunn at Risk
3/21/2018 09:29:19 pm
An unnecessary and personal cheap shot: Clint Knapp, ladies and gentlemen, not getting the simple joking idea that Jason would come into the picture AFTER something of exceedingly historic value is found...not an up-front pitch for someone else to do the work of promoting and proving my pet theory for me. Nice twist-try, Clint. But, in your terse, troll-like attack against me, you did manage to come across as not very savvy.
Concerned Sister
3/21/2018 10:34:04 pm
That sounds like something a demon would write. Are you possessed, Brother Risk?
Concerned Sister
3/21/2018 04:08:28 pm
That sounds like something a demon would write. Are you posessed, Brother Risk?
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Americanegro
3/21/2018 01:22:44 pm
Have you submitted to E.P. Grondine's publisher (pauses for laughter to die down). Speaking only for myself I'd be much more likely to read (buy) a non-fiction book than a "nonfiction novel".
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3/21/2018 02:06:27 pm
It's not a novel in any actual sense. I was trying to describe for my readers what the rather clinical publishing category of "narrative nonfiction" entails. It just means telling a story rather than academic style analysis.
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E.P. Grondine
3/21/2018 02:15:48 pm
Dear Dickwad,
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Americanegro
3/21/2018 02:31:11 pm
So now you call me "Dickwad" whatever that is? Coming from you I suspect it's a profanity.
E.P. Grondine
3/22/2018 11:22:53 am
"I'm off to the bar now to "read a few E.P. Grondines"."
E.P. Grondine
3/21/2018 01:52:41 pm
Well, Jason,
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KH
3/21/2018 02:23:43 pm
I am sorry to hear that, Jason.
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Machala
3/21/2018 02:48:42 pm
Jason,
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Kal
3/21/2018 03:34:54 pm
Mr. Colavito.
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Doc Rock
3/21/2018 04:58:15 pm
This thread is pretty much turning into an episode of The Price is Right where an audience of people is just yelling random answers. So, some food for thought and then I am off to happy hour and gonna try to forget that this never happened.
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Machala
3/21/2018 06:47:24 pm
Doc,
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Only Me
3/21/2018 05:21:21 pm
Jason, have you considered the possibility that some of your past troubles with fringe personalities may have had an impact? If I recall, you've been threatened with legal action on more than one occasion. I know you've talked openly about it to be honest with your readers.
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3/21/2018 08:51:33 pm
Oh, sure. I've had editors come right out and say that they wanted me to write fringe history books or pretend that aliens or Atlantis could be behind it all. While I don't know whether agents or publishers look into legal claims, TV producers who have expressed interest in me have basically conceded that their production companies won't work with me for fear of crossing the History Channel and its lucrative gravy train.
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Americanegro
3/21/2018 06:11:16 pm
"So, some food for thought and then I am off to happy hour and gonna try to forget that this never happened."
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3/21/2018 06:25:18 pm
You should perhaps have followed the example of independent historian Kirsten Seaver, whose major monographs have been published by Stanford University Press:
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David Bradbury
3/22/2018 09:25:41 am
In general, it might be worth researching the backgrounds of authors published by different presses. Using the obvious one as an example, going through the first few pages of SUNY Press's current catalogue we have:
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Titus Pullo
3/21/2018 09:49:50 pm
Jason,
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Americanegro
3/21/2018 10:49:35 pm
I applaud my non-Masonic brother Titus's suggestions. Today's article was like a bath in Lake Me. We've all had days like this. Bothering other people with it is not the solution. That doesn't mean I don't want Jason to continue on his successwalk. But if he doesn't use Adobe fonts I will deny every hearing of him. That is a sine qua non. And in addition to a plethora of piñatas I have always curated a cornucopia of sine qua non.
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javy lopez
3/22/2018 08:18:22 am
I always find it a puzzlement that some authors manage to get published, when their writing is (in my opinion) amateurish and silly, the story premise is ridiculous, the endings are forced and contrived, and the entire flow is disjointed. Yet, they continue to get business.
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E.P. Grondine
3/22/2018 12:15:18 pm
"They don't want to learn, they want their pre-existing beliefs to be "validated"."
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Ghost of David Brinkley
3/22/2018 01:45:17 pm
More goddam nonsense.
Huh? What?
3/22/2018 09:47:17 pm
"frantic mania"?
E.P. Grondine
3/22/2018 12:48:44 pm
My current writing project is a little pamphlet on the Native American remains in the Charleston-Marietta area. The pamphlet will have very limited sales, no profit margin, and has to be better than fry bread.
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Jim
3/22/2018 02:47:19 pm
"My current writing project is a little pamphlet on the Native American remains in the Charleston-Marietta area. The pamphlet will have very limited sales, no profit margin, and has to be better than fry bread.
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E.P. Grondine
3/23/2018 11:38:06 am
The pamphlet will only take about 3 hours to read. I will share a tip with you: big type and lots of pictures works well.
Kal
3/22/2018 01:53:15 pm
Note: Andy Weir's self published book, "The Martian", was picked up by Crown and made into a movie later. It is the exception, not the rule, in publishing, but a sign of the times. It is changing. He lectured as suck in a 2017 writer's workshop in San Jose. He also said he was a scientist first, and happened to know people, which also helped. He said do what you love, have a thick skin, and keep practicing, and don't worry about other ideas out there. You have your own. Nobody is going to take them until you are famous.
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Kal
3/22/2018 01:54:55 pm
I am no blog writer critique expert, for I have accidentally put "suck" when I meant "such". Freudian slip? No, the book is very good, as was the movie. Apologies.
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Americanegro
3/22/2018 02:03:34 pm
By the way, no one was talking about William Gibson old man.
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E.P. Grondine
3/23/2018 11:47:35 am
Dear Dickwad -
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Americanegro
3/23/2018 12:14:41 pm
Again with the "Dickwad" Chief? Remind us, who's your publisher?
An Anonymous Nerd
3/22/2018 08:22:03 pm
1 - Most writers never publish anything, get paid for writing, appear on radio, appear on television, are cited by their enemies, or run popular Internet sites. You've done all.
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EsoterX
3/23/2018 08:06:12 am
Hi Jason,
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Pacal
3/23/2018 04:16:43 pm
15 years ago I wrote a book about a fairly arcane subject. I mainly wrote it to satisfy my curiosity and have little interest in publishing it. and besides by now I suspect it is out of date.
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Gene Rhea Tucker
3/26/2018 01:57:19 pm
I'm normally a lurker (and I think you're often too eager to think fringe believers are all conservatives; many are liberals). But, I thought I'd come out of the woodwork and comment to suggest a university press. You won't really make much money, but I'm sure that one would print your manuscript. (You don't need an agent either.) Some university presses publish some neat stuff on fringe theories. Take the University of Alabama Press's "Ancient Ocean Crossings: Reconsidering the Case for Contacts with the Pre-Columbian Americas" by Stephen C. Jett (which, if you haven't seen, I'd suggest you take a look at). And, from previous experience, I know academic presses love to get fully formed manuscripts to look over. Good luck, and keep on writing.
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John
3/27/2018 09:58:10 am
Try archaeopress in Oxford, UK. They will almost certainly publish your book.
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Thank you very much for revealing your efforts, failures and your thoughts about it. My experiences with publishing books are not different in Germany.
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Emily
5/6/2018 07:13:23 pm
You write too well, think about things too deeply, and don't have elite connections. You don't perfectly fit into any predetermined mold and refuse to force yourself to. This is actually a huge problem throughout all of publishing, fiction and non-fiction alike.
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