My book is now out in the world!

It’s been a journey for sure, with many different iterations and many different story arcs, but my book is finally on Amazon! Since this is my third book, I wanted to see if I could work with one of the large publishing houses, but there is no direct access to those guys. You have to find an agent who likes your story enough to partner with you and market it to them on your behalf.

So that’s what I did. I sent out a variety of query letters which did result in responses from several agents who wanted to see the full manuscript, but each time I’d get a follow up email saying, “Sorry, it’s not for me, but I’m sure there is someone out there who is the perfect fit.”

In other words, STRIKE OUT.

Feeling discouraged, I put it away for a couple of months, then did a rewrite this summer, taking into consideration the comments from my editor and from those agents that I respect and would love to work with, but I’d lost confidence. I was starting to feel maybe the whole thing needed to be dropped into the trash.

Then, on a trip to the beach with friends, my friend Betsy asked how things were going and when I told her, she said “Read the first chapter to us.” I did so, then waited in tense silence for a response from the audience of seven.

“That’s great! Keep going, I want to hear what happens next,” one friend said excitedly, and smiling in relief, I continued reading. Each chapter brought great comments and feedback from the group, and I started to feel like maybe it wasn’t garbage after all.

After we got home, I continued reading it out loud to Betsy, and by the end of the last session, I was reassured I did in fact have a good story and should go ahead and release it to the world.

For the first time I also decided to solicit independent reviews from professionals and that has been immensely helpful and satisfying, too. Now on to Book Four!

This one was from Kirkus Reviews.