wow

Ok, so when I was trying to get published the "traditional" way, I queried four agents. I received rejections from two of the four and the other two never answered me. No big deal. Rejection is a BIG part of the business. Before I even started trying to get published, I knew I was going to have a short attention span for that effort. When you have the escape that is self publishing, there is less incentive than ever to fight that good fight.

Today, one of the agents that rejected me posted her statistics for the year in her blog. She said that this year, she received 38,000 queries. 38,000. That baffles the mind. Can you even imagine? Even if that agent worked every single day this year, that would be over 100 queries a day. How do you even begin to handle that work load? I never felt bad about being rejected; I still don't. But I feel even better about it after reading that.

Of those 38,000 queries, she sold 15 books. That being said, how the hell does anyone get published in the traditional way? An agent would have to wade through thousands of amateur query letters (like mine), probably from many people who have no business writing in the first place, to find your one little letter and actually read it.

I am very happy that she posted these statistics. They just confirmed that I made the right decision in publishing my own book. A person could die of old age waiting for an agent's approval. I worked four years on my book and I refuse to let it fade into oblivion because I couldn't get someone to notice me.