Comments on: A Faithful Grope in the Dark

By: Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 23:50:11 +0000

I made a similar decision to yours and don’t regret it. My debut novel will come out with a small press next year. I couldn’t be more pleased with my publisher’s emphasis on quality.

By: Jennifer Haupt

Jennifer Haupt — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:38:45 +0000

From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for sharing this. I won’t go into my sob story of rejection — you’ve been there you know. That you found a home for your novel is incredibly inspiring, as are the comments from other authors.

By: Marc Acito

Marc Acito — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:55:37 +0000

Your post was forwarded to me by a writer friend. As someone whose third book was dumped by a major house, as in Random, I take solace in your thoughts.

Thansk.

By: Jerry Waxler

Jerry Waxler — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:38:25 +0000

A young woman in one of my motivational writing groups said that after she received her prestigious liberal arts degree, she took a job as an editor thinking she was on the escalator to a literary career, but instead spent her whole day rejecting good books. This was ten years ago. I guess it’s worse now. I just finished reading Joan Rivers’ “Enter Talking” her (out of print, sigh) memoir about the six long years of groveling before she became world famous. Making it into the public eye is a long, usually slow, and very strange journey. In the meantime, there’s always blogging.

Jerry
Memory Writers Network

By: etiquette b

etiquette b — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 01:08:48 +0000

thanks for this article — a ton of insight. reminds me of my pitching experiences — agents liked my book and idea, editors claimed it wasn’t a good sell. can’t wait to read your book!

By: Casie Hermansson

Casie Hermansson — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:54:09 +0000

Interesting article. Congratulations on the book; and on the Press!

http://loveskidlit.blogspot.com

By: Gayle Carline

Gayle Carline — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:14:40 +0000

Great post, Josh. I am a genre writer (mystery) whose debut novel, Freezer Burn, will be released this August, and I, too, went with an independent publisher. Like you, I wrote the best book I could before I even looked around. The bigger houses frightened me; as a newbie and a nobody, how was I to compete with Paris Hilton’s latest fashionista fiction? Echelon Press is run by a woman who reads what she publishes, publishes what she thinks will sell, and engages all of her authors to go forth and conquer the world, one book at a time. So now I have a good, fun book with a supportive house – all that’s left is the “chance” part of the business. Will it sell? We’ll see.

The publishing world is changing, for all genres, and I don’t think all of the big houses are flexible enough to change with the times. It will be interesting to see which of them are still standing five years from now.

Good luck with your book. I hope it does really well.

Gayle
http://gaylecarline.blogspot.com

By: Jim Warren

Jim Warren — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:20:19 +0000

Enjoyed your realistic and encouraging piece.

Perhaps most useful to me was your statement about crafting the best book you can, and THAT is not a crapshoot.

Indeed.

By: Lynne

Lynne — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:24:51 +0000

Good for you! At a certain point in time, the peasants rebel, in search of cake. Leaving the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, aka the standard publishing process, was a great idea. Because, rather like the Mad Hatter, there is no room for new voices. Congrats!

By: Judith D. Schwartz

Judith D. Schwartz — Sun, 24 May 2009 14:26:17 +0000

Thanks for your story, and for alerting us to Two Dollar Radio. We’re definitely in an interesting time, literature-wise, with old doors closing and new ones opening. After hearing “we love it but…” too many times I’m bringing out a book with new POD technology, called The Espresso Book Machine. I have a blog to document the process: http://litadventuresinpod.blogspot.com. Who knows how it will turn out…