A Two Book Deal
As many of you know, I like to write. In fact, I've been writing my entire life. When I was in elementary school, I wanted to be a writer and publish books. Throughout the years, I've had varying levels of success in that, but I've never reached the level I wanted.
I always wanted an agent, and I've wanted to "traditionally" publish.
But traditionally publishing is not easy. To do that, one needs an agent, who then goes to publishing houses and tries to sell the writer's book. Agents only sign writers they think they can sell. And established publishing houses only buy books from agents. An un-agented author cannot go to a publishing house themself.
To get an agent, a hopeful writer sends a query letter (essentially a writer cover letter) to an agent, asking the agent to represent them. Agents can get hundreds of queries a day. I spent over fifteen years querying and never getting a real response.
Starting in my early twenties, I began to query. But I had no formal training in the writing industry. I would read things online, send queries, get no response, and generally feel hopeless about it (a thing everyone feels). I knew no real writers, and had no personal connection to anyone in the world.
But with the advent of e-publishing, self publishing became a thing one could do for free, as long as one had the time to figure it out. I self published my first book in my early twenties. This was book one of my Ryo Myths trilogy, a sci-fi, space opera.
A small publishing house then contacted me and said they would sign me for the Ryo Myths trilogy, including the book I self-pubbed. I did not have an agent, and this was a very unusual. Most self published books stay self published. The house didn't pay an advance, but I didn't pay them either. They re-released the book I self published and put a terrible cover on it. They also renamed it so badly that now one would think AI named it, even though AI didn't exist at the time. For the next two books I paid a friend to design the covers, and I named them.
The publishing house (now defunct) which released The Ryo Myth did no marketing and very little editing. It will surprise no one that they didn't really sell.
I learned a lot from this experience. When I signed that first contract, I thought I'd made it. It became very clear to me very quickly that people do judge books by their covers, and my cover looked like it had been made with clip art. And I became very aware of how without real marketing, nothing simply rises to the top of the mass of information on the internet. You actually have to tell people it exists if you want them to buy it. And there are a ka-zillion scams out there for low level authors. People offering social media followers, blog tours, general promotion, info on Amazon algorithms, you name it, someone is taking wannabe author's money and not turning it into actual exposure.
And because I am naturally distrustful of anyone asking for my money, I engaged with none of these marketing "opportunities" and, well, my book just existed but no one knew about it.
A few years later, I self published a collection of short stories called If Granite Could Speak on Amazon. I knew that the moment I did it, the whole collection was burned. At this point, nearly ten years after I had self-pubbed the first book of The Ryo Myths, the attitude on self publishing was once you did it, that manuscript was dead to any agent or publishing house, but that was okay with me. I was releasing it for other reasons.
I had been going through a tough time, and I had been struggling to write or read. The stories in If Granite Could Speak were the result of my ability to rejoin the world. They were me on the other side of a very tough time, and I wanted to put them out there more for me than for anyone else.
I did no marketing, but I did pay an interior designer and my old, cover-designing friend to do the layout and cover. I really liked the finished product. Some friends bought the book, and I felt like I had tangible proof of overcoming something.
But that collection of short stories did something else. It gave me the confidence to continue to pursue my writing with more seriousness than before. I joined a writer's club, and while in the club, attended an online talk by a writer who mentioned they had gotten an MFA.
I had always wanted a Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing, but I had never really been able to justify it. But with the emergence of low-residency programs, most of which took place online, with a few days a year in person, I thought I could possibly consider a program like that and keep working. I talked to the writer, and she told me she had gone to the University of California, Riverside, Palm Desert, Low Residency MFA program.
I Googled it and found this particular program not only focused on improving one's craft (their writing) but it also taught students about the industry. It wasn't a program that was just about art for the sake of art. (Which art for art's sake is great, I just had a job and wasn't going to be able to take a two year hiatus to then come out and have no clearer view on how to actually get an agent.)
The UCR MFA was self-paced, and twice a year the students met for ten days to workshop and take classes and meet people in the industry.
I applied, using stories from If Granite Could Speak, and a month later I was accepted. I started a month after that.
And, it is because of that program I met my agent, Jud Laghi. Nearly every other success I've had in furthering the professional aspect of my writing came because of the UCR MFA program. I am eternally grateful to the UCR program, and my mentors there, and it is the best thing I have ever done for myself.
And, now, my book has sold to Diversion Books, and not only did they buy one book, but they bought two! So my dream of being a traditionally published writer is actually happening.
My first book, Cash and Gravity, is publishing in the late spring of 2026. Book two comes out a year later in the late spring of 2027. I am over the moon that a goal I've been struggling towards for nearly THIRTY years is finally, finally coming to fruition. And I know this is just the beginning. Do I have new goals? You bet. But I am taking the time to revel in the moment.
I got an agent, and he sold not just one, but two of my books.
#winning