It is now 2011 and I have caught you up to where I am at in the present day of things. I decided to self publish instead of taking the "traditional" publishing route. More control, more royalties! Of course I may change my mind about my decision later, but for right now I feel I am moving in the right direction.
Side note: I did attempt to obtain an agent, but after sending my manuscript to one particular agency in New York and NEVER hearing from them. I decided, the heck with that!!!! An author spends so much time developing their manuscript...writing, re-writing, editing, more editing. Then spending a GREAT deal of time putting together a synopsis, query letters, etc etc, and to NOT hear anything from the agency you spent so much time in researching and reviewing and getting to know them (of course not personally but after you have spent so much time researching their company, you feel like you know them personally!!). I was not only frustrated, but incredibly ANNOYED at their lack of response--even a "BUZZ" off would have been something better than nothing. At least some acknowledgment would mean that they at least received the material, may not have looked at it, but at least they received it. However, when you don't hear ANYTHING from ANYBODY, that pretty much tells you what???
NADA, ZILCH, NOTHING!!!
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All that time and effort and nothing...
I have received rejection letters before and even experienced the "No response means NO" policy. So why did this particular agencies response (or LACK THEREOF) annoy me so much? Because nowhere in their submission policy did they mention they were utilizing the "No response means No" method. In fact, there policy specifically stated that if an author didn't hear from them within 2 weeks, to send an inquiring email to XXXXX. Which I did, but no response! SIGH. I don't mind the "no response means no" policy, as long as it is clearly stated in the agency policy.
So, I decided that route was NOT for me. I wasn't going to waste any more time on people that weren't interested in me or my material. So I decided to self-publish!
