The Tears and Triumphs of a New Author - Chapter 10

The Tears and Triumphs of a New Author

Chapter 10

Our research so far left little doubt that we had the proverbial snowball’s chance in H--- to get picked up by a mainline publisher or represented by a legitimate literary agent.
Discouraged? Of course!
Whipped? Not by a long shot!
I’m sure the careers of many writers are nipped in the bud at this point.
Everyone dreams of being accepted by a publisher or agent. Naturally, we had visions of advances and royalties, travel and fame. But when those things didn’t come, the only other alternative we found to get ‘Lady Justice’ in print was to self-publish, and that takes hard cash.
Not everyone has the financial resources to self-publish, so I’m sure many great novels die at this point along with the dreams of their creators.
As we began to dig into the tangled web of self-publishing, we had some serious moments of soul searching. “Is it good enough?” “Is it worth the investment?” “Can we make it work?” “Can we afford it?”
Did we have doubts? You bet we did!
When my character, Walt, suffers a serious setback in his law enforcement career, his old friend and mentor, Professor Skinner offers this advice:

When things go wrong as they sometimes will
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with it’s twists and turns
As everyone of us sometimes learns.
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won if he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow-
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out-
The silver tint in the clouds of doubt.
And you never can tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
It’s when things seem worst that you must not QUIT!

OK Professor, we won’t throw in the towel yet.
Let’s take some time and study the many companies who are eager to take my money to publish my book.
Sucker? Maybe. We’ll see.