by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
There is the rather dubious claim that “you have to have 15,000 Twitter followers to get a book deal” floating around the writing community on social media, which leads me to wonder if I’m doomed because, well, I’ve been living in oblivion way too long.
It’s kind of deep to think that I could write the fucking Bible but, by definition, because I’m a just a rando living in the middle of nowhere that I can’t get a book deal.
I’m not prepared to believe this to be true, but it something I find myself thinking about a lot these days. I think this is part of a broader acceptance on my part that I’m beginning to leave the wilfully delusional stage of going the traditional route for trying to get my first novel published.
I will note as an aside that absolutely no one I know is supportive of me doing this. Everyone wants, for their own selfish reasons, to go the self-publishing route. No one believes in me enough to even support my dream of being traditionally published.
It sucks.
But I’m prepared to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune on that front. I want to be traditionally published, damn it. Even if it means I could be pushing 60 by the time people have the book in their hands.
Wanting to be traditionally published forces me to have the absolute highest standards possible. It’s the only way I’m going to make my dream a reality.
