Do only 1% of authors get published?

WORK WITH ME ON YOUR STORY

DOWNLOAD MY FREE STORY SELF-ASSESSMENT!

SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER FEATURING WRITING/PUBLISHING EXPERTS

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Welcome to another #AskMeAnything session! In this series, I'm responding to your questions about the publishing industry and how to write a better book. Leave me any additional questions in the comments and I will add them to my list for future videos!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
GREAT BOOKS ABOUT WRITING/PUBLISHING:

SOME OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS:

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
MORE BOOK EDITOR Q&As:

RELATED VIDEOS:

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
TODAY'S #ASKMEANYTHING :
01:28 - Should you follow up with agents who miss their own deadline for responding to queries?
03:39 - Is it true that only 1% of authors get published?
06:45 - How do you stay on track when drafting?

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
ABOUT ME:
My name is Alyssa Matesic, and I’m a professional book editor with nearly a decade of book publishing and editorial experience. Throughout my career, I’ve held editorial roles across both sides of the publishing industry: Big Five publishing houses and literary agencies. The goal of this channel is to help writers throughout the book writing journey—whether you're working on your manuscript or you're looking for publishing advice.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
MUSIC:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Some of the links above are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

[declanconner]

The thing about querying, is that we only ever hear about querying that one book. Do the majority of authors really only write 1 book and query it to death, then abandon writing if they are not successful? All that work. All that effort for no return.

I don't blame any author who writes constantly for going the self-publishing route, maybe writing say 1 book a year, but they have to be careful not to make it a money pit. Talking to many authors, the average a self-pub book makes is around $1500 in a lifetime. Not much really, but by the time you are on your 10th book, that's $15k less expenses in your pocket.

Obviously there is more money to be made with the advance alone if you get a publishing deal, but there is nothing stopping anyone from trying querying first before self-publishing.

[Ruylopez]

As Stephen King says, when you get so many rejections that the nail in your wall falls out, you get a bigger nail. But ultimately, the solution is to separate rejection, validation or 'success' from the art you make, and recognise there is worth in spending time writing about what you feel is important to the world in order to feel fulfilled (whether the world ever hears it or not). The focus should be on expressing ideas the best you can, and getting better as a writer. And there is value in pursuing a book deal, even though it requires a bit of luck with timing and finding the right agent/editor at the right time. You have to enjoy the process, even when it sucks, and accept it sometimes sucks.

[alancook]

A, I agree with your realism. If a writer sets themselves a goal of 100, 000 words for their novel but is getting despondent then knock off 30, 000 words and feel releaved and liberated! And bring closure massively forward.

[matt_rahn]

Thanks again for the encouragement, Alyssa. I submitted another manuscript of mine to a publishing house back in January when they offered a possible deal for any unsolicited and unagented debut novels for one day only. I just received the rejection letter (automated again...that always upsets me) today and I got REALLY down on myself.
But I had already started working on two more novels and editing a handful of others so all I can do is keep enjoying my own writing, sharing it on Substack, and hoping some day it'll reach an audience, one way or another.

[floragraves]

Q. If a writer wants to pitch a book to small publishers and no agent is required, what advice would you give them?

[mikepasley]

I just wanted to be the first to comment and to tell you all the info you've given out has been awesome and priceless. I have a novel I've been working on for three years. I'm very nervous about showing it to anyone. You have renewed my hope that I may one day get published.

[TheSlickmicks]

Sometimes months to get a response? I feel special! It only took a week to get my rejection letter.

[davidionepearl]

Killer sesh.

In the middle of my 6th draft now, after fits and starts with the novel over the last thirteen years.
Will finally begin querying soon!!!

[lukesmith]

I live in Canada and hear a lot of talk about goals. What gets measures gets done etc...However I've read convincing studies that goals can leave us feeling worthless if we don't hit them. I've found getting into the habit of writing most days helps me. No big goal, nothing concrete and I've found it takes the pressure off. It's part of my day like exercising or reading

[bhsprinkle]

Excellent responses to these questions.

[dallaswhitman]

Q: How do you get your books into bookstores? I have a book that is going to be published by a small press which doesn’t have a really strong distribution reach.

[Ruylopez]

For anyone struggling with reaching a word count for a first draft or rewrite, perhaps a word count goal isn't that motivating for you (even if it worked for a previous project). The solution might be experimenting with different motivators (e.g. mood board, or recording your voice discussing the story) or different time/location in which to write. It might be due to distractions or worries about other areas of your life. As Alyssa said, a writing session doesn't have to be about hitting a word count, even if that's how some published writers work. Forcing yourself to type just to reach a word count can also be unproductive if you're just going through the motions, and end up with scenes that you aren't happy with (although obviously writers aren't always happy with what they've written).

[kirtiomart]

Thanks... forgetting about the "supposed" 1-3% of writers findings agents is the best way to approach the querying trenches.

[MrCrazyChihuahua]

Thank you Alyssa! It has been a while since I last saw one of your videos (Life caught up), but I am glad I visited your YouTube profile when I did today!

For the past 7 months I have been heavily researching the history behind my next novel, all whilst querying a novella of 36K words to dozens of agents.

Lately I have been struggling mentally with work-writing-querying-editing, and I have found that it is best for me to write something else (For example, poems, which are going to be published in other books), until I get the inspiration to write more chapters of my book.

Being a writer is difficult, and like you said, achieving representation can indeed take years and years; and listening to statistics and the "opinion" of others, is just going to do more harm than good.

Regardless, since I am here, allow me to pop a question for your next video! (I have no Idea if you have already answered this one in previous videos, so excuse me if you did).

My brand when it comes to writing novels, revolves around the genre of "Folklore/historical fiction". Specifically, I write about adventurous stories staged in the Mediterranean island of Cyprus in the middle ages, or sometimes in pre-20th century periods. A big concern I have, is whether or not the rejections I get (or will get) are because the specific genre I am writing is not "marketable" in the USA or the UK.

What do you have to say about that? I am really interested in your insight!

Have a good day!

[trilingual]

Thanks so much for these Q&As!

I have a question about sensitivity readers. Can you ask traditional publishers to implement them in the editing stage?
If you can’t, what stage should you implement them in your writing process? For example, before getting an agent/before formal editing.

[handleswhywtf]

Q: If you get a short story published and later want to extend that into a full-length novel, does the previously published short story impact the chances of your novel getting published negatively? Thanks for these videos!

[writingitright]

Hi, Alyssa! I have been binge-watching your videos, lately; they have been so helpful with making my novel the best it can be! I have a question regarding my YA portal fantasy novel. I have discovered during the drafting process of my novel that portal fantasy is not the hottest fantasy sub genre in the current market. But, my novel does have a lot of tropes that people are reading most recently (secret societies, fantastical creatures, a love triangle, taverns, quests, etc.) How do I highlight the strengths of my novel in a query letter to capture the interest of an agent or future reader? Thanks, so much! ❤

[jameshansen]

Q. Does it matter or have any more influence when submitting to agents if you have male or female leaders in fiction writing?

[محمدابراهيم-زضع]

Hi Alisa: I am from Iraq. And I have a long fantasy novel.
In fact, I have several novels that are not completely written. But I'm about to finish writing one of my best novels.
My question is, are there specialized agents for authors from outside the United States?
Or I can send an inquiry letter to any agent I want.
And will being from Iraq make me a red flag for agents?

[rowan]

I had a response from an agent after a year. Even apologized for it. Only to be told it's a rejection.

Since I've been getting constant, generic rejections, i have asked in a group what am I doing wrong. One responded that my blurb isn't really captivating (although others said it was good enough. I really never had much luck with getting good advice) and that my first page needs some work too, although it has been beta read and edited.
Now I feel tempted to query the agents again after making these changes. But since the story is the same, I'm afraid the damage is done and can only query other agents instead.