Book number 2 and the search for a publisher

With my second book currently being edited I am once again in the painstaking process of trying to find a publisher. For those who don’t know, it’s not a simple case of just messaging a publisher and saying “hi, I’ve written a book, can you publish it for me?”, oh no, that would be far too easy!

Literary agents are the gatekeepers to the nirvana of having a publishing deal, and so far my efforts at finding a literary agent have been pretty fruitless. With War Inc. I flouted myself to about 20 or so, most never replied, and those that did weren’t interested. Most agents want to read the first three chapters of a new manuscript, which is madness as not all books are able to set the scene fully in just three chapters. I was also super impatient, sending my first three chapters before they had even been edited and fine tuned.

This time I have waited until the three chapters were in a much better state before submitting them, but I haven’t exactly been beating agents off with a stick. I’ve submitted to 20 or so already with more to come. I’ve had a couple of quick rejections and the rest are now floating around out there, possibly never to return.

I can’t help thinking that this whole process is outdated and inefficient. There must be a better way to do this. A centralised process where authors can submit once and agents browse the submissions to find the gems they are looking for. In the meantime, its a painful and totally frustrating process.

I’ll keep toiling, wish me luck!!