Status of my Efforts

[ahunter3]

Seal Press will not be publishing my book. I received the rejection letter on 9/8.

I was originally planning on querying Cleis Press next: "Cleis Press publishes provocative, intelligent books across genres. Whether literary fiction, human rights, mystery, romance, erotica, LGBTQ studies, sex guides, pulp fiction, or memoir, you know that if it's outside the ordinary, it's Cleis Press."

But then I read some things other authors have written about them in recent months that made them sound like a bad idea.

I've been contemplating Thorntree, publishers of the polyamory guide More Than Two, and in fact I sat down at my desk tonight to review their submissions policy:


To submit a proposal, please first send an email with the following information:

A one-paragraph biography, including any published works

A one-paragraph summary of the proposed work, including your intended audience

Links to your social media and Web presences

If your submission appears appropriate for our list, we will invite you to submit a complete proposal.

We will accept queries and proposals on a rolling basis.



Whether it's the mood I've been in lately or not, I can't say for sure, but right now their submission process is very discouraging. It comes across to me very much as "we might be interested in your book if you've already got a track record of publication and, in particular, if you've got a strong active platform already; outside of that, just summarize your book and its intended audience in one paragraph and we'll let you know".


I have of course continued to send query letters to literary agents. It seems to me that public attention is more focused on gender issues and gender identity than ever before, so my book is squarely located in the midst of a trendy topic. So I keep telling myself that any day now some agent could decide to represent my book and get it published. Well, here's how that's shaping up at the moment:


Total queries to date: 680
Rejections: 613
Outstanding: 67
Under Consideration: 0

As Nonfiction, specifically, total queries: 467
Rejections: 414
Outstanding: 53

As Fiction, total queries: 213
Rejections: 199
Outstanding: 14



I've been trying to make a public ripple, explain the phenomenon of being a male girl or non-transitioning transgender or heterosexual sissy or gender invert or any of the other things I've attempted to call it over the years. I've been trying to do so because once upon a time, a long long time ago, I promised myself that if I *EVER* found out why people treated me this way, if I *EVER* found out why these things were happening to me, I was going to do something about it. I've been trying to do so because once I did, in fact, figure it out, I promised myself that I'd make it so that anyone like me growing up would not have to figure it all out for themselves. I've been trying to do this as my primary avocation and purpose in life, my mission, since 1980.

You could say I've only seriously set out to do one thing in my life and I've been a pretty pathetic failure at it.

That's not entirely fair, I tell myself. Once I figured this stuff out, I also set out to actually live my life, to not merely preach these ideas but to put them into practice. And to my relief and surprise, that's been the easier part. It took decades but I got better and better at communicating up close and personal, I learned from experience how to find what I was looking for, and I found personal solutions. I get to live my everyday life not at all closeted or isolated but instead loved and understood and cared for and appreciated for who I am, and I in turn get to hold and love and cherish and have togetherness and meaningful connection in my life.

Which is to say that I've got damn little to complain about, and also to acknowledge that it is grossly insulting to people who love me for me to characterize my life as a failure.

I get to be me, and not merely in isolation. (Can anyone be themselves without connection and accepting companionship?) But there is "be" and there is "do". I set out to do something. Nothing else I have ever set out to do has held anything akin to the same kind of importance; every other activity or accomplishment has basically been distraction and entertainment along the way, including artistic accomplishments, job and career, and the acquisition of skills. This one thing is where I've invested all my determination. I am stubborn, intelligent, passionate about my issue, and I'm good with words and skilled at explaining complicated concepts, and I can't believe I've accomplished so damn little in so much time!

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Comments

[anais-pf.livejournal.com]

<3 <3 <3

[magentametrix.livejournal.com]

"I get to live my everyday life not at all closeted or isolated but instead loved and understood and cared for and appreciated for who I am, and I in turn get to hold and love and cherish and have togetherness and meaningful connection in my life."
Success in Life is a multi-dimensional equation. You've hit the jackpot in some dimensions and are still struggling in others. They don't cancel each other out; you get to experience them both.
And remember, this is all just "...to date."

[musicman.livejournal.com]

I'm encountering similar rules at agents, and it is discouraging.

Don't give up.

I don't know how you keep on, but don't give up.

[khall.livejournal.com]

So what about reversing the marketing process? Have readings, book signings, etc, before it's published? (Maybe not book signings where you give out an actual copy, but events at a book store, to drum up attention?)

Letters to the papers? Local radio/talk shows? Also, is there a website for the book? If every time someone searched for 'gender issues' your book came up in the top 100, that would help get it published?

Can you 'fuzz' a resume to give the impression that you've been published before? Or can you revise/excerpt part of it to publish in a local LBGT periodical? How about the local trans community? Have you talked about it to them or something?

Failure is quitting. Everything else is steps on the way to success. Partial success is more likely in life than full success. You just have to work harder to add up to full success.

K.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

When I was living in yr house, you gave me part of your memoir to read, remember?

I actually do think it's publishable -- with a lot of editing work.

The arc that goes from being institutionalized and homeless to being successful and independent is a compelling one. The gender stuff, which I think you see as your story, has no narrative arc per se and so can't carry the story, even if you really want it to.

That doesn't mean you take the gender stuff out. It means the gender stuff becomes descriptive, not narrative.

(I fear I'm not articulating this clearly enough; it's not a judgement call on my part. I'm noting this because with a decade or so in the writing biz, I know what people want to read.)

If you want to continue with this project, you need to work with an editor, Allan. An editor that you trust and to whom you're willing to give up control. Which means you have to ask yourself a question: Do I want to tell a story or this story?

[ahunter3.livejournal.com]

This story, give or take some changes.

Do you have an editor you can recommend? I'd be delighted to find an editor who would work with me on it.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Well, first you need to think about what your book is. Is it what you've written so far or can it be what with you've written with changes? And how extensive are you willing to have those changes be?

You'll have to trust the editor, and be willing to try his or her advice even if (as is likely) you don't agree with it. Otherwise, you'd be wasting your money, and a good editor can be quite expensive.

Read this article: https://janefriedman.com/find-freelance-book-editor/

And check out these websites:

https://reedsy.com/

http://nybookeditors.com/

http://www.book-editing.com/

[ahunter3.livejournal.com]

I won't know until the changes are proposed. I think I could do a rewrite that incorporates changes that I think are a poor idea just to see if I change my mind after seeing the results.

It does need to continue to be the coming-of-age story of a genderqueer / gender-inverted boy. If it doesn't currently work as that, then it needs to be edited so that it does work, and does entertain, as that. But it has to be that. That's what the story is. If the story isn't that, the story needs to become that. I'm not interested in writing a different story but I'm interested in rewriting this one so that it work, if it doesn't currently work.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Well, then, you might want to call a few of the publishing houses that you really hoped would publish your book because they publish a lot of books that deal with gender identity issues and ask if they might be able to recommend an editor.

And then, interview the candidates very carefully, letting them know that you're not willing to change what you see as the essential narrative of the book.

I imagine you've already considered (and rejected) self-publishing?

[(Anonymous)]

Chelsea Hopper have you tried Topside?

[(Anonymous)]

Donna Fyfe I have to say, my beloved friend, that you really can't discount all the learning and growing along your path and the life-changing experiences you've racked up, all of which have contributed to the conglomeration of Allan Hunter. Especially since you've been swimming upstream all your life -- and we all know how stubborn our friend is and how determined he is to do things according to his vision. if you had compromised more maybe you would have "accomplished" more ... but that probably wouldn't have made you happy. I know this probably sounds like "consolation," but I look at your scorecard of queries and that looks like a hell of a lot accomplished, to me. (of course that's ME, a consummate be-er). I get that you want to have more accomplishments to show ... maybe this is one of those periods of impatience that precedes a burst of positive flow. I think of you as someone who can do whatever he puts his mind to ... so where are you putting your mind?