Everything seemed achievable back then.  I had loads of time, right?
 
Correct, but you can’t account for being let down by others.  The Queen of Vorn was supposed to be edited and ready for a proofread by December 2024.  The editor I appointed for this finally finished this week – after I’d published it. 
 
Let’s rewind a little so I can explain.  December came – just three chapters edited.  I was promised it by January.  January came, nothing.  February approached, I got techy, and some more chapters were drip fed.  And so it continued, chapters drip fed at the speed of a semi-retired snail.  Meanwhile, publishing day approached.
 
What to do?
 
I decided to cut my losses and looked for another editor to finish off my book.  I found one. Yippee!  He was nice and reliable and efficient, but unfortunately, he didn’t achieve much more than I could have got out of Pro Writing Aid, even though I tried to pay him more money to get a more in-depth edit.
 
But better than nothing, right?
 
Meanwhile, I didn’t turn off my original editor and I let him continue to drip-feed me chapters.
 
I got my book into a decent state, decent enough for my ARC (Advance Reader Copy) readers – I was desperate to get it out to them, I was madly hoping for a bunch of reviews to be print-ready on publishing day.  So I sent out my book to hundreds of people, and waited, and waited…
 
I know most will never read it.  To quote Logan Ninefingers from the works of Joe Abercrombie (a fellow Lancastrian author who I occasionally Twitter-stalk):
 
“You have to be realistic about these things.”
 
Yep, realistically I know the vast majority of people who have a free copy of my book will never read it.  People just don’t value free stuff.  I guess I need a bigger list of newsletter subscribers – but how to get one of those without spending hundreds on ads, I’m not entirely sure.  But anyway…
 
I got my ARC copy out, then proceeded to try to polish my manuscript as best I could.  To save on paying a proof-reader, and also to mitigate the risk them letting me down, I invested in Pro Writing Aid.
 
Wow, I have to say, it’s bloody good!  I’d say it's better than a proof-reader as it does more; it highlights sentences that are too long or ones that are clunky.  It suggests re-phrasing – and sometimes the suggestions are half-decent.  I suggest it’s a worthwhile investment for any indie author.
 
So, I finished my Pro Writing Aid-assisted proofread, formatted my book into an e-book and paperback, and uploaded them to Amazon.  I ordered a proof copy of my paperback, spotted formatting errors and realised the cover needed some colour adjustments.  I did a load more work then voila!  My book was finally ready.
 
Now its out!  Have you bought it yet?  You can read it for free on Kindle Unlimited.  There’s a load of links to Amazon in different countries here:

2024 saw another 12 months of writing and another change of careers (that's another story).  At the start of 2024 I was still attempting to get a traditional publishing deal for book 1 in the Gallantrian Legacy.  I self-published the second trilogy; the plan was to try to get a publisher to take on the first trilogy (you can more about that here).  But I didn’t get a single full request for that book.  The decision to pull The Offspring Trilogy came with a second decision – early in 2024 I decided I’d self-publish The Homecoming Trilogy. 

Confused?  Basically, I published the second trilogy first.  Its a sequel trilogy, but also a stand-alone trilogy.  Think Star Wars episodes 4-6.  The Homecoming Trilogy is the first trilogy in my 6-book series.
 
Anyway, so I stopped querying, took a deep breath, and decided to sort The Homecoming Trilogy out.
 
Boy, did it need work.
 
The Queen of Vorn
 
The Queen of Vorn is book 1 in my 6-book, 2-trilogy series, The Gallantrian Legacy.  This book had already been re-written once.  I didn’t think it was in that bad a shape, until Karen from Snowdon Publishing got her teeth into it.  After her manuscript review, I knew another re-write was in order.
 
Different authors have different definitions of what a re-write looks like.  My view is its where you have to make so many editorial changes to your story, it is almost a new book.  I’d suggest at least 50% of the words are thrown in the bin and re-drafted from scratch.  The general idea might be the same, the characters might be the same, but there will be minor and major plot changes, and bad prose and dialogue will be replaced.
 
Last summer, The Queen of Vorn got another, rather significant makeover.  It is now almost un-recognisable from the first draft I wrote in Autumn, 2021.
 
It was finished last autumn and is now being line and copy edited by Peter at Snowdon Publishing.  This book is now very close to being ready for human consumption.  But what about the other two books in The Homecoming Trilogy?
 
The Prince of Vorn
 
Book 2 in The Homecoming Trilogy has also had a lot of work.  This one had barely been touched since I wrote it in 2022 and needed even more work than its prequel.  Its plot didn’t need as much jiggling about, but the writing itself was awful.  Writing and having professional edits, then dealing with your editor’s subsequent suggestions is a very good way to learn to write better, and between drafting this book and taking another look at it, I’d had a pro-editor pull three other novels to bits.  I’ve improved a lot as a writer as a result.
 
The Prince of Vorn was re-written, sent for a manuscript review, then all the points that came out of that review were addressed.  I’ve almost done this, I’ve just a few chapters to proofread then it will be ready for a line and copy edit.
 
The King of Vorn
 
Book 3 in The Homecoming Trilogy needed even more work than The Prince of Vorn.  The writing and the plot needed a lot of adjustments before I was happy to send it to Karen to get her feedback.  But I finished a pretty comprehensive re-write of that book in November, and it is now under review.
 
Magic Breakers
 
I also did an edit of Magic Breakers, which is the first book in a whole other series, and I did some querying of that one.  So far, I’ve had no luck.  But I have been invited to talk about querying by The Writer’s Workout.  A link to the website is below. In March 2025, you will have the chance to watch a video of me waffling about querying, plus you can watch loads of other people who are involved in writing and publishing.  The conference is fully online and free.  I really do recommend you take a look.

​That pretty much summarises what I’ve done writing wise in 2024, so what will 2025 look like?

You finish your draft novel, edit it as best as you can, get some people to read it (if you can bully them into it), listen to their feedback, tweak your novel, edit it again, make it as good as you can, then get ready to release it into the world…
 
But how?  In the olden days, before the likes of Amazon came onto the scene, your only option was to print out your query package, lovingly bundle it into big brown envelopes, drop it in a post box and hope for the best.  This is exactly what I did with my very first novel that I wrote in 2010.  How things have changed.
 
Now you can self-publish too; what does that involve?

If you self-publish, everything it up to you. After you’ve got your novel as good as you can, you will probably need to pay an editor for a line and copy edit (this is the editing you do to really make your novel shine), you can do this yourself, but unless you’re an editing ninja, I don’t recommend it.  After it's edited and proof read, you have to format it so you can print it, you have to create an ebook, you have to design the cover or pay someone to do it for you, and you have to market it.  You can do all this for virtually nothing, if you’re really good at editing and designing and doing massive publicity stunts that make the world interested in you and your novel, or you can get a publisher to do all that for you and they will take a big chunk of your profits for the privilege…

If you’re broke or fresh out of ideas for publicity stunts, then I guess the good old traditional publishing route still very much has it’s appeal.  You get your novel ready for a line/copy edit, then a publisher tweaks it and polishes it (with your input of course), makes a shiny cover and gets it on the shelves of bookshops.  They will also give you an advance before all this starts! (Usually, not always).
 
You’ve probably heard of some of the big publishers, like Penguin/Random House, Hachette and Harper Collins, but there’s loads of other publishers too, all of various sizes, ranging from the afore mentioned ‘big boys’ down to one-man-bands.  Some of them let you query direct, some of them insist on you getting a literary agent first.  Most of the bigger publishers only accept submissions via agents.
 
So how do you get one of these publishers to take a gamble on your book?

If you don’t fancy self-publishing, then you’re going to have to do some querying. 
 
So what is querying? 
 
It’s basically where you go to a publisher or literary agent and tell them a bit about you and your book, usually with a synopsis and the first three chapters, and hope that they like what the see enough to ask to see more.
 
So you get your query package ready, then you do some research to find a load of agents and/or publishers you think will like your novel, and you start sending out your stuff.
 
Then you wait.
 
And wait.
 
And then you’ll start to get some rejections.
 
At this stage you might tweak your submission package and send out some more queries.
 
Then wait some more.
 
Until eventually, you either get a request for a full manuscript, or you lose the will to live.
 
Ok, I might be exaggerating slightly with the losing the will to live bit, but you can certainly get to the point where you start to lose all faith in your novel.  You start asking yourself stuff, like:
 
“Is my concept too edgy?”
“Is my inciting incident exciting enough?”
“Are my descriptions too long / too short / too boring?”
“Are my characters engaging?”
“Do I have a strong voice?” 
 
What the bloody hell does “VOICE” mean anyway?
 
I’ve read so may agent pitches saying they are looking for a strong voice.  Sorry, I didn’t study creative writing at uni, why can’t they just talk to this sciences graduate in English?
 
(Sorry for my little rant, explanations about what “voice” means are welcome in the comments section of this blog post.)
 
So you keep sending queries until you either get a full request or you give up.
 
But even if you get a full request, that’s by no means the end of the road.  A full request just means that whoever you’ve queried wants to see a bit more of your manuscript.  After which, they may or may not want to offer you representation (if they’re a literary agent) or a publishing deal (if they’re a publisher).  If they’re the former, even once they’ve decided to represent you, they then have to try and sell your manuscript to a publisher, and there’s plenty of repped authors out there whose agents never sell their manuscript.
 
So why even bother to query?
 
Good question.  I’ve tried querying with four different novels over the years.  I’ve given up on three of them.  The first, in fairness, was a pretty rubbish book.  The second was rubbish too, when I first started querying it.  The third was ok, but could be better.  I’m currently querying the forth. 
 
Today I got another rejection.  I got a couple more rejections yesterday, and also sent out a couple more queries, too.
 
Despite the odds that no one will ever publish my books, I’m still doing it!
 
Am I nuts?
 
Probably, but that has little to do with my querying.
 
You see, I’m querying, but I’m also self-publishing.  I have written eight novels in total over the years.  The first was awful.  Let’s pretend that one doesn’t exist.  The second has a good concept, but its execution was terrible.  It’s been re-written three times since the first draft, and I reckon it’s now half decent.  The second and third books I queried were part of a six-book series.  Those are the badgers I’m self-publishing.  The eighth is the one I’m querying right now.
 
Why?
 
Why not?
 
Also, because my six-book series is my baby.  It’s my collection of stories I’ve been crafting for the last three years and I need to get these out into the world.  I can’t guarantee that if I rely on the traditional route.  They are also science-fantasy, so don’t sit in a neat little box that publishers tend to like, which will make a traditional deal more tricky.  I’m going to self-publish these, but I’m going to keep trying to get a deal for my eighth novel.
 
Why?
 
Enough with the questions!
 
OK, fine, I’ll explain.  My eighth novel is the first in a brand new series.  It’s pure fantasy, so sits in a nice little box.  When I say in my query letter, “this is a stand alone with series potential” I’m not bull-shitting like I was with some of the other books I queried (they were definitely part of a series).  I actually wrote the thing with one eye on the market, with the intent to try to get a traditional deal.
 
This sounds soulless, sad, depressing even.  But it’s the reality.  You might be lucky and write stuff with a lot of commercial appeal.  You might be super talented and write an awesome book first time.  You might query the right agent, at the right time, and get an offer early on.
 
Chances are, none of those things apply to you.  Chances are you’ll be like me, stuck in the query trenches doomed to never leave them.  But if this is you and you’re starting to lose the will to live, try to remember this quote that is often credited to golfer Gary Player in reference to his luck in getting the ball into the hole.
 
“The more I practice, the luckier I get.”
 
I’ve been practicing writing and querying for three years now (plus for maybe 6 months, 14 years ago), and I’ve not been lucky yet.  But if I keep practicing writing and making my query package perfect, maybe, one day, I’ll find the luck I seek.