Be the Big Fish
I actually found an item in the PW article about the ten things most authors aren’t aware of in 2021.
It’s better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in the big, well, you know.
This goes for publishers and agents.
I once had arguably the best agent in the world. Suzanne Gluck at William Morris. She really liked Moonlight Falls when I first finished it back in the early 2000s.
She actually invited me into her private office while she read the manuscript page for page. I just sat there in front of her massive glass desk, hungover and wondering what I was doing there. She had a pair of brass knuckles set on the desk. I sort of felt like Tony Soprano when he goes to his sexy shrink.
Anyway, even the most powerful agent in the world couldn’t sell Moonlight Falls, and suddenly, I became the little fish. She didn’t want anything to do with me after that (Moonlight Falls is now in its third edition with its third publisher).
I moved on to another agent that was smaller, but no less successful. To him I was more of a priority and he’s done well for me.
When I sold 100,000 units of The Innocent, it wasn’t with a mega publisher like Dell. It was with an upstart small press. In fact, I was content to remain with said small press where I was, and I quote, “the rock star,” if not for another major deal that fell in my lap.
I did well for the major publisher, selling hundreds of thousand of units, until one deal sort of went south after the editor left prior to the novel coming out. That always spells disaster. Naturally, it was all my fault. I became the little fish again.
I’ll take things a step further than what the article does. Start your own company, and publish your own IP. You will be the biggest fish because you will be the only fish.
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