Friday, December 07, 2007

Conversations with Calliope


JOE: Good afternoon, Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good afternoon, Joe. Where have you been all day?
JOE: Getting refocused. Yesterday I finally sent out an agent query I had been working on for some time. Within fifteen minutes I had a rejection.
CALLIOPE: So what did you conclude from that?
JOE: That I am wasting my time with traditional publishing. I worked hard to craft good query letters and took pains to carefully choose and research the agents I approached. Yet not a glimmer of interest from any of them.
CALLIOPE: You sound miffed.
JOE: I am a little. It leaves me wondering what I need to do to get access to the traditional publishing world. I have been speculating that I either need to be famous or have a personal recommendation from someone an agent trusts. Another possibility is that the topic of The Pastor's Inferno is too emotionally charged for them to risk.
CALLIOPE: Have any of them given you any indication why they would not look at your work?
JOE: Not one. It would be nice to know what the reason is and then I could address it. But no dice.
CALLIOPE: So now what?
JOE: I have decided to further explore print on demand and am looking at a couple POD publishers. I spent the rest of yesterday and today researching them.
CALLIOPE: So no writing yesterday?
JOE: No. I was a bit obsessed with the publishing concerns. I don't know if I will get back to writing today, but I am ready to write the next chapter and will do so tomorrow if I don't get to it today.

(Rocky Mountains- Colorado)

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