The Author Guy Blog by Larry B. Gildersleeve

16th August 2024

Hello out there,

Welcome back. While I was writing my first novel eleven years ago, I made a decision not to either seek agent representation or try to secure a place for my books with one of the Big Five. Here’s why.

Mainstream publishers receive thousands of unsolicited manuscripts every year that will never be read. The only hope to break through this seemingly impenetrable barrier comes in one of two ways. Either a current author in the publisher’s stable advocates for the unknown author’s book, or the manuscript arrives with the endorsement of an agent with whom the publisher has an established relationship.

My research revealed it could take years to secure an agent, and years after that for the agent to find a receptive publisher that enables the book to finally find its way into print and distribution. Those lengthy and uncertain timelines may work for others, but certainly wouldn’t work for me.

I also learned that publishers will, on average, invest about six weeks of marketing on behalf of an author, either well-established or unknown, and if the book doesn’t gain significant marketplace traction, the publisher’s efforts go elsewhere and the marketing and sales responsibility falls entirely, or almost entirely, to the author. This would be the same fate as an independently self-published author, which is the route I chose.

Self-published authors control everything, and I do mean everything, and all things being equal, they will earn more income if wide readership can be achieved. I’m not there yet in terms of my own expectations of commercial success, but that’s not why I’m doing what I’m doing. I’m writing fiction for the pure joy it brings me.

Until next week … Vaya con Dios

Larry B. Gildersleeve