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This comic was partially based on this conversation I had, in which a strange person told me that I would be more likely to get an agent if I put my book up for sale in PDF form through my website. (I seem to have managed to sign with an agent without doing that, y’all.) For the record, folks, most agents and publishers are not out looking to discover authors. They want you to come to them. With a book you haven’t already put on the Internet.
When you hear those stories about people getting discovered for their blogs and getting a book deal, it’s almost always nonfiction (a field in which Internet popularity and “buzz” DOES matter). When you hear about self-published books getting mainstream deals, they’ve sold an unusual number of copies (5,000 in six months gets their attention; 500 does not). The ones you hear about are exceptions. They’re lottery winners. They’re not an example by which to model your own career, because the likelihood of it happening to you is slim.
If your GOAL is a mainstream book deal, chances are much better for you if you query agents and keep the book you want to sell off the Internet!
🙂 Everybody’s an expert. I haven’t had this conversation yet, but I’m sure it will come. Love your comics–so glad to see another one up!
I usually only have time for one a month these days. 🙁
Yes, “everyone’s an expert,” you’re right! They all seem to think, with knowledge that comes to them direct from their butts, that they know what actually works to get positive attention and become a published author. They don’t seem to realize how unnecessary it is to have “a buzz” on the Internet if you’re pursuing a mainstream contract. They don’t ask how many likes your post got on Facebook! Though of course they like it better if you have a large network to promote your book once you get a deal, that isn’t what helps make the decision of whether to publish you! 😀
If only people would understand the publishing process better. If it were that easy, JK Rowling wouldn’t have been rejected so many times.
I’m curious. Do you ever worry that people like that guy you had the conversation with are trolling you? I mean, of course there are lots of idiots out there, but that one seemed oddly persistent. I just find it sad that you give them such clear, well-written explanations, and then they ignore them completely, and just keep bothering you.
There are certainly trolls out there, but normally when they get personally indignant and try so hard to derail the conversation from themselves having made a mistake or been wrong about something, they are not trolling–they’re trying to punish me for questioning them so they don’t have to look at what they did wrong. Trolls are usually pretty incendiary from the start. This guy’s flailing was all about his own insecurity. Pretty painful to watch.