Hello, dreamers. Happy Easter to those who celebrate.

As the weeks go by, my prospects for this round of queries are dimming. I still have five active queries, but at least several of those are likely to become “CNRs” (“Closed—No Response”). I remain hopeful, but at this point I must be pragmatic, and begin looking ahead to the next round.

As I said last week while discussing trends in publishing, I knew going in that querying with Seven Days on Samarkand was going to be difficult. Hard sci-fi that leans upmarket is a tough sell in any circumstances, and in the current market agents and editors are reticent to take on a debut novel intended as the start of a long series. It is entirely possible that the success of the film adaptation of Project Hail Mary will lead to greater interest in hard sci-fi space adventures in the coming year. But for now, it is what it is.

It’s the most frustrating part of querying a novel: knowing you’ve written something really good, something readers will love, but also knowing it’s not marketable enough to lure an agent. There are still changes I can make that I believe will improve my chances. But for too many querying writers, this is where the story ends. They just can’t handle watching their beloved story pull down rejection after rejection.

In the modern literary market, this is also the point where many querying writers consider switching to self-pub. It sure looks tempting, especially after sifting through a mound of rejection letters. You get to be your own boss. Chart your own course. Make your own rules.

Now, I’ve written at length in these posts about how being an indie author is by no means easier than trad-pub. In fact it’s a lot harder. But the recent fracas surrounding the AI Shy Girl fiasco made me realize that while I’ve discussed both trad-pub and self-pub, I’ve neglected to mention the small but growing number of books that manage to bridge the two. So let’s take a look at that this week…

The “Back Door”

For a writer, going self-pub feels like walking through a door that locks behind you. You’ve made your choice. Once your book has been self-published, no agent will take it. And accepting the “indie author” label makes it nearly impossible to switch back to trad-pub. Agents will want to see your sales figures, and unless you’ve written a runaway self-pub hit, they won’t give you a second look.

But there’s a little wiggle room there that’s easy to miss.

Nearly impossible.

Unless.

The truth is, it is possible to make the switch from self-pub to trad-pub. Other authors have done it. While Mia Ballard is obviously a terrible example, others have done it right. In my genre, Hugh Howey is one of them. The author of the bestselling Silo series began in self-publishing. Eventually he managed to translate his indie success into a traditional publishing deal. And he’s not alone.

Howey broke through using what I call the “Back Door” of modern traditional publishing: writing a book so successful as a self-pub title that the literary market just can’t ignore it. And as the saying goes, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Or rather, throw a pile of money at them so big they can’t refuse.

“So, all I have to do is self-publish my book, get people to read it, rack up a ton of sales and reviews, and I can get a book deal without all this querying business!” You may be thinking. But feather the brakes there, because if you’ve taken one thing away from these posts, it should be that nothing in publishing is ever easy. And there are a few huge caveats to this one.

Succeeding in Self-Pub is Extremely Hard

That’s the biggest problem. So big it might as well be the only one. I know a lot of self-pub authors. Most of them have written books I personally think are very, very good. And most of those books have sold very few copies and made very little money.

Case in point: one of the most successful self-pub authors I know (outside of romance, which sells exceptionally well in the self-pub space) recently celebrated her book making the top ten on Amazon’s bestseller list. That’s no mean feat. She has every reason to be extremely proud of herself. But thus far, her book has made less than $200 in sales. And it’s a bestseller. Furthermore, she noted that she had to spend many times the amount she’s made so far on advertising just to reach that point. And so far, no major publishers have been beating down her door to hand her a book deal.

This underscores what I’ve long held up as the biggest drawback of self-pub: a lot of effort and expense for very little reward. It takes a lot of time and money to make a book successful, no matter how it’s published. To be fair, most debut novels in trad-pub also make very little money. But that’s offset by the advance offered by publishers. Self-pub, like trad-pub, is not a get-rich-quick scheme. So if you’re unwilling to spend a lot of time, effort, and money to turn a self-pub novel into a bestseller, you’re probably better off taking your chances in the query trenches.

And as I said, even if your book is a bestseller, there’s no guarantee a major publisher will want it, because…

Your Book Must Be Marketable

Much as I hate to do it, let’s go back to Mia Ballard. Her book sold a lot of copies (at first). And she racked up a lot of reviews (most of them negative). But in the end, Hachette was eager to pick it up because it sat in a marketable genre. One that’s very trendy right now. Maybe your 150,000-word epic fantasy is selling like hotcakes on Amazon, but unless epic fantasy novels are flying off the shelves, it’s unlikely a publisher will jump at the chance to pick it up.

This is where agents come in. If your book is well-written and has the potential to be marketable, it needs an advocate. Someone inside the literary industry who can sell it to editors who might be reticent to purchase a book that doesn’t follow the current trends. Sure, my book might not be extremely marketable right now. But I know I still have a better chance of signing a book deal if I find an agent first.

Put all of this together, and you arrive at one inescapable conclusion:

There Are No Short Cuts in Publishing

Period. Yes, there have been writers like Howey, and others, who’ve managed to sneak in through the back door. But banking on doing that is akin to expecting to win the lottery after purchasing a single ticket. Sure, it’s possible. But as I’ve said with regard to nabbing an agent on your first query, the possibility is so remote that it’s not worth considering. To say nothing of betting your entire career on it.

Based on what I’ve learned from all my wonderful, talented, hard-working self-pub friends, the first rule of self-publishing is this: don’t go into it unless you’re committed. If you decided to self-publish your book, you need to own that “indie author” label. You can’t go in counting on publishing a runaway hit that lands a six-figure book deal. You need to go in with the mindset that, if all you ever do is self-publish, you can live with that.

I, for one, know I could never be as strong and resilient as they are. So for me, the querying continues. —MK