A Vietnam War Novel - Part 5

The Red Dragon was finished, time to begin the search for a publisher. There are intrinsic rewards to writing and completing a book. It has its frustrations, for sure, but when you're in the grove and the words are flowing effortlessly, it feels wonderful. Now, on the other hand, finding a publisher is the most frustrating part of writing. I knew that a certain New York City agent would be interested in this book. When I had submitted my first novel to him several years ago I mentioned I would be writing this one next. I sent a query letter to him by email and was almost immediately told to email the manuscript. So begins the rollercoaster ride of the publishing effort. I started up the hill, would I hit the jackpot at the top or come screaming down the other side. Several days later I had my answer. He liked it, but didn't love it. With the difficulties getting unknown authors published, etc. he was sorry, he would have to decline. Down the hill we went. Well, let's find a publisher who publishes military stuff. There's not many out there. But, I found the perfect one. A small publisher in the south. The publisher was an ex-Green Beret who had also been a chopper pilot. Perfect. I sent a query letter and was asked to send the maunuscript by email. Here we go, back up the hill. What came back was a partially edited manuscript. He had went through the first hundred pages. This was very positive. Why would he bother unless he was interested? A few emails back and forth and I send the corrected manuscript back. Then nothing. I send a few emails asking about the status. I'm not getting any response from him. I find another person in his publishing company and contact her. She gets through to him and he sends me an email. He's sorry, but finances are tight. He can't publish the book. But, I can tell prospective publishers that he would have published it if he had the money. Great. One liked it but didn't love it, another would publish it, but didn't have the money. Let me digress here and tell you about my first novel, a political story titled The Second Amererican Republic. It took two years to write, it took another year to find a publisher. The scheduled publication date was a year later. I suspected things were not going well as the publication date neared and little had been done to get the book ready for publication. I knew he was slow because I had been watching his website and scheduled publication dates of other books had been pushed out. I knew mine would suffer the same fate. Well, about two days before my scheduled date he went out of business. Four years and now--nothing. Nothing in my life has been as frustrating as tried to get a book published. Time to check out other publishers.