A Publishing Obsession
- Feb 11
- 3 min read
By Joshua Becker
Journey is an apt word for a writer. While I can’t speak for every person who spends countless hours toiling with a passion for the pen, I am sure a roomful of writers would mostly—if not all—agree that writing is a winding path filled with lots of rejections and self-doubt, but also triumphs and goodness for the soul. This brief introduction encapsulates a decade of my life, during which I wrote, edited and edited, traveled to writing conferences, endured lots of rejections, and finally had a dream fulfilled with the publication of my novel, Soul Mission. Just maybe, my publication journey could inspire you: don’t give up. Tenacity isn’t a cliché; it’s one of the most important qualities in a writer’s toolbox.
To say that my book was like my baby, that I reared it and brought it to maturity isn’t so farfetched. Yes! Writers become that attached to a book project (more on this obsession later). First, birth: I was taking graduate writing courses in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at Mount Mary University. It was not unusual for a writing professor to begin class with a writing prompt, when students write for several minutes extemporaneously (how’s that for a writerly word!). The professor said something to the effect, “Imagine being trapped in a room with no way out.” The prompt led to a scene in my mentor’s study, surrounded by voluminous sacred texts, and a book that glowed. After developing it and having my peers critique the piece, my professor nonchalantly suggested, “Hey, why don’t you turn it into a book?” Little did I know, a pursuit of epic proportions (maybe I’m exaggerating) would ensue for the next ten years of my life.
I won’t bore you with the actual writing and editing process, which anyway differs from writer to writer; for that, there are professors, workshops, online videos, etc. Instead, I’ll focus on my journey toward publishing, which naturally leads to speed dating. Huh? Well, a publishing version of it, anyway. For those unfamiliar with speed dating events, two people sit at a single table and have a few minutes to hit it off with each other (or not). If each feels they’d like to further the conversation, they receive each other’s contact information. At writers’ conferences, an author pays to sit with a literary agent (the gatekeepers to the big NYC publishing houses) and pitch the book, with a time limit of several minutes. I did this at multiple locations throughout the U.S. Did it pan out? Nope. Not through this method, anyway.
From the comfort of my own home, or often from the library, I researched literary agents online. I also found books with parallel genres and searched the acknowledgements pages for names of agents. I don’t just mean a few agents; I pitched to a few hundred. For years! While there was some copying and pasting my email pitch from one agent to another, I did reconfigure each pitch so that it aligned with the interests of each agent. Looking back at it, I can’t imagine how many hours I spent on it, for years. I admit, it became more of an obsession (at times I chided myself as perhaps an unhealthy one). Then I pitched to publishers and simultaneously to agents, meticulously keeping track of each one.
Finally, a publisher offered a contract. A friend suggested I have a literary lawyer take a look at it. She saved me!
Unscrupulous publishers, among many others, prey on writers. I kept pursuing my dream until the right and honest publisher accepted my baby.
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