I got my first book published in September last year. I did it without an agent…and in a bit of an atypical way. It was an exciting experience, even though it took over a year to happen.
In the mean time, I started working on my next book. I actually finished the first draft around the time Created for More released. So a couple of days after the publisher put the book like on Amazon, I sent them my next manuscript.
“We don’t think this fits in with who we are as a publisher. We have to pass this time.” That was the disappointing response I got from them. And it made sense, they didn’t really publish stuff like what I had written in this next book. Thus, I realized I needed a literary agent if I wanted to get this in front of the right publishers.
My brother hooked me up with his agent—like, a seriously legit agent. She’s quite known in the industry. And she agreed to work with me!
So I sent her my manuscript. I was ready to get going on this thing. Let’s get this published.
“I don’t think this is the right book to launch your career as an author. It’s a great book, but it doesn’t establish your unique voice.”
She was right. It was disappointing, because I had already taken multiple passes at this 31,000 word book. It felt like a waste. But publishers are looking for a specific thing, and my agent Karen was going to help me be that thing they wanted.
So I’ve worked on two books since then. Been working hard. Then last Saturday, an idea popped into my head. Why don’t I give away the book I worked on? It’s a great book, not right for a publisher, but that doesn’t mean people don’t need to read it.
I pinged my agent to make sure it wasn’t a horrible idea. And she loved the idea. So now I’m retooling it to make it available for free.
And there will be benefit to me, if not the benefit I assumed I’d get originally. I first thought I’d get great dollars out of sales, but instead I can use it to help build my platform and earn readers’ trust.
I’m convinced nothing has to be wasted. But we might just end up using things a bit differently than we thought we would. We just have to be open to that.
Maybe it’s a bad experience in your life. Maybe it’s a disappointment. Maybe it feels like wasted time. But nothing needs to be wasted. Submit it to God. He can use it when the time is right. It just might not look like you thought it would.
