Hating the traditional publishing process? Let's talk about it

I'm a poor pensioner with no income other than a measly government 'tip,' so I definitely don't have a cent to pay an editor. I've sent my ms to 4 literary agents, but so far just rejections. That means I'm 4 closer to that happy 'yes.'😊

Not a single friend I asked to beta read my book has finished it or given me any feedback. It’s making me question whether I should publish it at all. I feel like a fool for investing my meager savings on having the draft professionally edited. I guess this is where my dream dies 😢

Hi Alyssa! Thank you for this channel and for your effort to help writers write better and be published traditionally. I have a question about Christian literature. If I write Christian fiction, do I have a chance to be published traditionally by one of the US publishing houses? If yes, is the process any different than for those who write non-Christian fiction? I would appreciate it greatly if you could make a couple of videos about writing and publishing Christian fiction books.

My husband is a playwright but hasn't been able to find a literary agent for theater plays. Any ideas where to look? thanks very much.

Fluff Bungles got those been writing for a year querying for two month problems. You’re right there bud, on the cusp of doing what everyone does or what winners do.

If you're not one of those people who sees every grammar and spelling mistake, fear not! Most good word processors nowadays have spell check and grammar check. USE THEM! You can also use one of those programs that beta-reads your MSS, and gives feedback. Those are certainly much cheaper than a human editor. Lastly, you can go through your MSS and check it, paragraph by paragraph, against the most common writing advice for your genre. IMO, if all that's not enough to make your writing presentable for publication, then you need more practice before trying to publish. If you're not even willing to do those things, then (sorry for this blunt opinion, but) you're not a writer. You might still have a great story in you, but you'll have to hire a ghost writer. And that will be WAY more than a human editor.
Requirements for writers are changing very quickly with technology advances. Just 35 years ago, writers had to hire typists to change their hand-written pages into a MSS. Then they just needed professional editors to find the spelling, grammar, and typo errors. Now we just need beta readers -- but some software claims it can do that now. Perhaps in another 5 to 10 years, AI will be able to write very well, given ideas and an outline. When that happens, the most important skills in writing will change.

Is the New Adult genre more widely accepted today by publishers and agents?

"a healthy disdain for agents" - that made me laugh!!

Far as beta readers go i do those one on one. This way no one knows what others say. This keeps things from overlapping and confusing. Another thing helps is knowing when ignore something said and when to actually listen.

Am I the only unpublished writer who's a bit grateful that the traditional publishing industry is somewhat gatekept? I suppose the "writing to market" side of things gets a little annoying sometimes, but by and large, judging from the books I see in bookstores, I truly believe most of the gatekeeping in the publishing industry really is based in quality, not trends or platform or anything else. I am okay waiting - and working - to meet those standards before I'm published. Even if it never happens for me, I would still be fine because I know the bar is so high.

(That is with the understanding, of course, that if you really have found a publisher asking you to hire your own editor, they are NOT a traditional publisher.)

Hey Alyssa, I was wondering is it worth to divide you MS into multiple small documents. For all my life, I was trying to write one whole MS into one document, then edit that same document... is there better way? I noticed some of popular writing software operate based on idea of multiple smaller documents for MS instead of one big one. Is there any particular way for that? Another question I have is maybe related to this, but I often times struggle with starting to write on blank page, so I wonder is there better thing to start writing as part of MS. My idea was to start with something easy then rewrite or reedit the MS once it's finished, with the idea that first thing that may be written isn't first chapter on finished books. But I had trouble finding comfort in writing action and usually resort to info dumping at beginning (it's always a fantasy novel), but of course that may be filtered out by edits. Maybe I need to write formative document about my world before I need to write the action? Do you have idea what might help me write a novel. I struggle to write beyond 5 or 10 word pages because I just want to daydream about world and write about the world, but I feel like I need to write actual stuff - the thing that would be in actual book. Could you shed light how writing a novel usually goes?

One of the reasons why I want to be traditionally published is that every writer who I love is traditionally published (except for Abbie Emmons, a great Indie author). My dream is to be represented by an agent who also reps an author I love. I think if you're a writer who is struggling with querying to agents and/or publishers, a good route to go is to look up who reps/publishes your favorite author and go from there.

Mam i am writing a 2 part novel in which first one is complete in itself but it is very predictable so should i add a certain un predictable part from the next book.

You are phenomenal!

I just got my first full request 😊 I paid for an editor and all they did was move some commas around 😅

You know, now that you mention the word "Hating", as it happens I had plans with a very dear friend, an artist, concerning the new novels we were working together. But because of the ridiculous amounts of new do's and don't's and these giant stacks of politically correct nonsense, our dream project's been delayed just long enough that my friend has already passed away as of July. So while I was pretty sad and depressed, putting this dream project of ours in perspective I'm borderline enraged at all this absolute lunacy that the publishing industry has become. Like come on, just 10 years ago, anyone could get published. The guy behind Shitcase Cinema got published. The Amazing Bloody Atheist got published. Now the young authors aren't even being given a chance unless they turn full robot and meet every whimsical, farcical demand from agents that need "trigger warnings" and suspiciously specific political talking points.

It really depends how the beta formulates their feedback and how constructive it is. I know I had my bad ones very early on who pretty much wanted to change everything.
The latest one gave me very good points I agreed with. After addressing them, which resulted on adding more chapters and huge changes as such throughout the whole book, the responses from agents have been a bit personal. The latest one few days ago, pointed out many aspects of my work she enjoyed, but still rejected because she thought a certainly element was missing to make it more engaging.

I think the new beta I got, hit the nail on the head, that my chances on getting an agent is much higher than if I would persisted on leaving my work as it was. Now with the new feedback from that agent, I try to address the issue as others may see the same.

I don't hate agents (although it's sometimes tempting). Most agents are worthy professionals and experts in their craft. However I cannot abide agents who require trigger warnings. In most novels -- not just murder mysteries -- somebody dies at some point. If an agent needs to be warned of that the agent needs to find something else to do. That goes for suicide too. Several of my close relatives committed suicide. I regret their decision and I miss them but if a character in a book I'm reading commits suicide I don't fall apart. It's a story.

An author appeared on a show I was watching and complained that the new version of publishing is so over loaded with various rules of dose and don'ts, he's taken a break and feels that the industry needs to realize that writers aren't robots, we're human beings with stories to sell and for those talking so much get over themselves and just let us write.

I have just finished my first book and I'm in the process in finding a Literary Agent. Everytime I try to start to find one my anxiety goes crazy. I just want to make the right moves and go to the right sites or places to find an agent, but it's so nerve-wracking. I'm prepared to have my book rejected many times by agents, but I'm so worried that I might get scammed by someone who is pretending to be an agent. Do you have any advice to where to go to find a literary agent, Alyssa?

Alexa Donne has some tough love to give on the question of how to know if advice is worth taking. She’d say, if you don’t know then you’re not ready to be published.

Just subscribed to Chapter-Break. My second book has been sold and will be published Nov 13th 2024! The first book is coming next June.

I've said it before, but if writing and publishing a book is your dream, keep plugging away at it. It's a nut that can be cracked.

Thank you SO much for answering my question. Your insights are very valuable and the timing is incredibly perfect!

Is there a cutoff for publishing credentials when querying? Last published poetry over twelve years ago, but have a novel I'm about to start querying.

Pro Writing Aid now offers extensive AI editing tools for those that don’t want to break the bank on editing. $249.99 for a one time fee (the AI comes with the service and will be updated for eternity) vs $5,000 for a human (per book!), for someone struggling to break into writing, is just too easy of a choice for most people. I honestly see people moving away from human editors in the long term same as people moved away from physical media. Both will become boutique for those who can afford it, and the rest will flock to what’s easy and cheap.

Great info as always. My original plan of finding a literary agent by way of airdropped leaflets is becoming more refined thanks to your content.