I just figured out today that the first seven pages or so of Somewhat Alive needed to be cut altogether. I have mixed feelings because on the one hand, this can only help because when you’re querying the first ten pages need to be amazing. On the other hand, I’ve already queried several agents and gotten all rejections.
Needing to cut the first seven pages could explain the rejections, but now I have to decide if it’s worth trying to find more agents to query who haven’t seen the original ten pages.
Or I could move forward with self-publishing my book myself. I would enjoy keeping more creative control, not having to wait anymore, and keeping more of the profits. But the dream has always been traditional publishing. And that’s kind of hard to let go of.
If someone were to ask me if I’d rather be rich or famous, I’d say rich every time. I’ve always thought fame would be overrated. There’s a lot you can do with money that just can’t be done with fame. Plus, I do value privacy.
Is the question of self-publishing vs traditional actually the same as rich vs famous? It kinda seems like maybe it is.
Of course, I’ve never loved marketing or having an online presence or any of that. And I definitely do not want to do any public speaking or interviews or videos or anything of that nature. Can you really be a successful self-published author without mastering all of those things?
If I do decide to go the self-publishing route, there’s going to be a lot of things to learn. And it’s not like I can’t learn things. I like learning things. Just usually not social media or marketing things.
I suppose it’s perfectly possible to try both and see which I prefer. After all, plenty of people are rich and famous.
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