In Search of Publication

Today I turn 60.. Today still no book deal..

It all started six months ago, armed with nothing but a dream and a manuscript that I was convinced could tell a valuable story of women, nurses, mothers, daughters, grief, secrets and little bit of spice.

As I navigated through the labyrinth, I felt like Indiana Jones, dodging boulders of rejection and swinging over pits of despair.

Each query sent was like tossing a message in a bottle into the vast ocean of publishing.

And what did I get in return?

A flood of form letters that seemed to have been written by a robot..or at the very least an AI assistant.

“Thank you for your submission. Your concept is wonderful, but unfortunately, it’s just not a good fit for us at this time.”

Classic rejection line! It’s like the literary equivalent of “It’s not you, it’s me.” I mean, how can a concept so brilliant not fit?

Did they even read it?

Or were they just too busy asking Chatty GPT what is one to do in the changing publishing landscape?

But every rejection came with a silver lining, an opportunity to listen to another podcast about publishing.

And then, one fateful day, I received an email that didn’t start with “thank you for your submission.” It began with, “We’d like to discuss your manuscript.” Was this it? Was I finally getting signed?

Maybe my next book will be about how I finally got signed, filled with all the hilarious, heart-wrenching, and absurd moments along the way. Stay tuned!