Why Kindle?

So why did I decide to put my novel on Kindle?  I had a little late night rant a little while back after researching "conventional publishing," and had made the decision to go with an ebook.  This should explain it.


So why am I here working on putting my novels on Kindle?  Why not go the conventional route and have my books published for real?  Well, in my opinion, online publishing IS real.

I have doubt that digital media will ever take the place of print completely, at least not in my lifetime.   A physical print volume offers comfort to many.  But the convenience of digital cannot be denied.  It is the ultimate in instant gratification for readers.  While there is the warmth of a visit to the local book store, more and more people’s lives are just too busy for that.  Of course there is Amazon, but if there is a book you really want, you want it NOW, not three or four days from now.  E-books can be yours in seconds.

Then there is another reason.  The agent search process is INSANE.  In the old days, an aspiring author typed up a manuscript and submitted it to a publisher for consideration.  Usually, the manuscript was returned with a note saying “Don’t call us we’ll call you.”  But now it’s different.  Most publishers will ONLY accept submissions from literary agents. 

So how do you get a literary agent?  You don’t just find one in the Yellow Pages and say “I want to hire you to be my agent.”  Any agent that wants money up front should be avoided.  Agents work on a percentage.  It gives them incentive to sell your book and get the best possible deal.  But the question remains, how DO you get an agent.

You send out a letter called a query.  It’s one page and HIGHLY structured.  First, you tell them WHY you chose them.  You’re supposed to tell them that you chose them because they represented a similar book for another author.  What?  I have to go out and find books similar to mine?  THEN find out who represented the author?  Are you CRAZY?  I spent 2 years working on an original novel and now I’m supposed to go out and find books that are JUST LIKE IT???  Not just one, but potentially DOZENS.  I have a job.  I don’t have time to read that many books and I sure don’t have time to research dozens of books that ARE “just like mine.

But it gets better.  The rest of the query is a doozy.  The next paragraph should be a run on sentence called “The Hook.” The hook should describe your ENTIRE book enough to garb the agent’s interest.  It’s tough but doable.  I still have a problem with run on sentences though.  I had a lot of them in my rough draft.  And I went through it over and over to get rid of them, breaking them up into two or sometimes three sentences.

The next paragraph is a little easier.  It’s a whole paragraph describing your book: a normal one without run on sentences.

Lastly, you describe it in a little more detail in TWO whole paragraphs.

A lot of emphasis is put on the query letter.  There are web pages devoted to how to write query letters.  One in particular, http://www.agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx, is considered to be the standard.  It even includes examples of queries from published novels.   And since the query is so important, there are forums that exist for people to submit their queries for critiques. 

Boy do you get critiques.  No matter what you write, one of the first comments will direct you to the above website, because you obviously don’t know how to write a query letter.  Then people come in and pick it apart.  Then it dawns on you.  99% of the people commenting have never sold a book.  It’s a classic case of the blind leading the blind.  Why am I here?  ARRRG!!!!

On top of all that, your letter, as a first time author is going to end up on what’s called a “slush pile.”  That’s where all of the unsolicited first time authors go.  The main agent (or agents) at the firm likely will not read them.  A lower level assistant may or may not read it immediately, if at all.  It may be tossed aside because frankly, it’s terrible.  Or it may not be exactly what they are looking for at this time.  Hmmm.  Maybe they already have a similar author writing similar materials?  Is THAT a possibility?  Or you might have the next best seller but the assistant was having a bad day and just didn’t see your brilliance.

In common parlance, it’s a crap shoot.  It’s not unheard of for an author to have to make 100 submissions before they are published.  I’m 55 years old!  I don’t have THAT kind of time. LOL

Louis L’Amour received 200 rejections before getting published.

140 rejections for Chicken Soup for the Soul

Margaret Mitchell got 38 rejections for Gone with the Wind.

Zane Grey was told he had no business being a writer, and even Dr Seuss was informed his work would never sell.

The odds of finding an agent are far less than the odds of going crazy trying to find an agent.  Kindle became a viable option, if for no other reason than my mental health.