Not sure if this is in the right place. And I'm pretty sure this must have been asked sometime but not recently. Out of curiosity and to inspire others I was wondering how many people on this forum have actually got a novel published? I'm talking traditional publishers, but I won't discount self-published books. If you've sold more than 2000 books that would be considered a success regardless of how you got the novel out there. So yeah this about the success stories. How many books? How long did it take you? Success after novel number what? I'm particularly interested in somebody who found success the orthodox way ie, queried agents--> snagged a great agent---> agent sold book to major publisher--> book available at your local Barnes and Nobles. But like I said, anybody who's sold more than 2,000 copies has achieved something truly amazing, so let us know of the other ways you may have got your book published. Don't worry about gloating. I asked.
Man I wish... I'm still the first section of your flow chart. I did get some nibbles from agents, not clean plate yet. But, it's only been 2 months since I've started querying so I'm still very optimistic. The fact that agents have positively responded to my story/concept tells me it has potential and motivates me to continue searching. I have considered self-publishing after being advised from a few writing friends of mine but I'd like to try the traditional route first.
Oh-fer-two, so far, but I did at least get the bat on the ball. On my first novel, I had an agent ask for several chapters after querying. She didn't take the work but game me some excellent suggestions. On my second, since it was a story about a priest, I tried approaching an editor who also ran a blog at the time. He also asked for more material, but in the end, he declined to take it. I realized that the ms presented something of a problem, in that it was too "earthy" for the religious press and too positive regarding the MC for the mainstream press. I've since done extensive rewriting on it (but have not changed its basic character) and so will probably try again. I haven't considered self-publishing. My mother used to write a weekly column for seniors for a small newspaper in Pennslyvania, and she self-published a collection of her columns. She managed to sell a few to local outlets in the Poconos, but that was all.
/\ My sentiments, exactly! If only... I'm working on it, sent out a few queries to agents but that was only about 3 weeks ago. We'll see....
