Scrolling back through this blog, I surprised myself with how quickly I hit 2015. Only 11 posts ago! And the top book in "Books I've written" is Charms and Witches, which, wow, was ten years ago.
It's not that I haven't written anything in the meantime. I finished a fifth Delvonia book not long after that, then wrote a standalone novel in 2022 after getting 35,000 and 10,000 words into a couple of books that fizzled -- oh, and I did throw together a 20,000 word novelette back in 2018.
So why nothing published? Well, I did try with the novelette -- I actually wrote it because a bizarro fiction publisher put out a call for novelettes, so I banged one out and submitted it. It got a very nice, personal response from the publisher along the lines of, "Really good but not quite what we're looking for; feel free to try again with another story sometime."
The other stuff, I would have published myself back in the day. But by the time I got to five books on Amazon and five years of self-publishing under my belt, I concluded that I was no good at marketing or cover creation, and if I didn't do something to improve on both, there wasn't much point in continuing to fart around on KDP, selling maybe a few dozen copies per book and getting nice reviews that apparently only I and a couple of others ever read.
The book from 2022 is good, but still in first draft form. The Delvonia book is exceptional. Frankly, though, I just don't find myself with the energy to do final drafts and search through the thin pickings of fantasy publishers who still accept unsolicited submissions.
So I'm basically writing for myself and a few people close to me these days. Right now I'm 75,000 words into a novel I think is pretty terrific so far, with maybe 2 or 3 months of writing to go if I can keep to a 500-words-per-day pace.
It's got a different sort of appeal to it. I may end up feeling like it has a shot at getting a publisher's attention, in which case I'll see about breaking my long submissions dry spell.
But the thing I've realized is, if it's not worth it to write for myself, it's not worth it to write at all. I don't work in the right territory to expect to get a cultural phenomenon going, which these days is the only way to make much money at the publishing game.
So I'm content with how things are going, and more than willing to just keep on keeping on and waiting to see what happens.
Any publishers who read this and go to my book links and decide I'm great, feel free to make me an offer!
