My Long and Winding Road to Publication

I started writing my first book a few years after graduating from college, so a very long time ago now. I won't bore you with numbers. Ha! I don’t quite remember the plot of that first "book" now, probably because it was so long ago. I think I had maybe three chapters written altogether before I got stuck. I couldn’t come up with anything more to write. The challenge was more daunting than I had anticipated when I made the goal of writing an entire full-length novel, and I ultimately set it aside altogether.

As the next decade passed, I worked and then started a family. I focused most of my time and energy on being a mother, volunteering at school, driving to-and-from kid-based activities, and doing a few part-time jobs. All the while, I read. I plowed through every book I could get my hands on, not really caring about the genre. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was subconsciously studying the writing, the plots, the character development, etc. Eventually, I felt more confident to pick my own writing back up and give it another go.

I wrote a young adult story. I wasn’t sure if it was any good, but I was proud to have completed my first full story arc. I also knew that if I wanted to improve, I needed to get eyes on it. Scary! I had a “friend” who had a master’s in English read it and give me feedback. When we met in a coffee shop to discuss it, he told me he was surprised by how bad it was because he thought I was much smarter than that. Ouch. I maybe even shed a few public tears into my coffee mug during our talk.

I could have quit right then and there, and maybe I should have, but I’m nothing if not stubborn. I wrote a few more YA stories that didn’t see the light of day, followed by a middle-grade mystery. I thought it was a cute,little story, so I let my husband and daughter read it. They both praised it, which gave me the confidence to query for the first time. Without knowing the ropes at all, I think I sent out a total of twelve letters, and I got one full request. The agent asked me to revise a few things and resubmit. I was thrilled. After I sent her the manuscript with the changes, I waited. And waited. Reader, I was ghosted by my first real query attempt. I’m still proud of that story, though ultimately, I shelved it.

That next year, I decided to tackle my first adult novel. Because I’d had so much fun writing a mystery, I went that route again. When Painting the Lake was finished, I shopped it around with a few publishing agents and had another full request. After another wait, the agent told me it was decent, but it was a bit too quiet for her taste. Fair enough. I kept working on it and got feedback from a few author friends I’d made in a writing course I took online. Since my MC was a detective, I even got feedback from a retired detective I’d met at the coffee shop where I often wrote.

One day, I had lunch with one of my real-life, full-fledged author friends and she pointed me toward self-publishing, so in 2016 that’s what I did. And the feedback I received on that book was amazing. I got letters in the mail from friends and family. I even got emails from strangers telling me how much they enjoyed the book. The book was reviewed in my local newspaper and put on the shelf at my local library.

I continued to write and self-publish several more books. And while I was overjoyed to get my stories out into the world, I continued to improve my skills with each new work. I half-heartedly queried a few of those books, but it wasn’t until around 2020 that I started to query again more seriously. Of course, the timing was terrible because I was now competing with all of the authors who had more time during the lockdowns to pursue their own ambitions, and the market was oversaturated.

Regardless, I had a lot of traction on that book, and I was starting to feel confident that this was going to be the one that got me a deal, or at least an agent. I think I had eight full requests out at one point. The wait was unbearable, so while months slowly ticked by as I waited for responses, I needed a distraction. I pulled an old, half-finished manuscript from my document folder and got back to it. While I was writing that next book, the rejections for the first one started to trickle in. Eventually all but two of the agents replied with Nos, though I never heard back from the last two.   

My virtual shelf was starting to grow again, but I pushed ahead and soon I was ready to query the new manuscript. This one got fewer full requests than the one before it. I think it was five in total. And then one day, I got an email from one of the small traditional presses I submitted to and instead of the usual form rejection, this one said that they would like to offer me representation. Just like that. No call, no negotiations, just a big, fat YES! I had to read it a few times. I even called my husband over to read it. I was excited, but also nervous. I hadn’t heard of things happening this way before. I researched all of the presses I subbed to beforehand, but now I went back to this one and I even talked to a co-worker who is a freelance editor who I knew had worked with them and verified to me that they were legit.

At that point, I still had three full requests out. Two were with agents and one was with another small press. I sent them a notice of publication and asked them to get back to me within twelve days. I had one agent step aside the next day with a very polite rejection, and the small press requested an additional week to read and get back to me. I was nervous waiting so long, hoping I wasn’t ruining my chances with the first place to give me a yes, but ultimately that second press didn’t take all that long to come back to me with a polite pass. The third agent, who had actually requested a partial and then later the full request with a rather encouraging note about wanting to be notified ASAP if I had any offers come in, actually GHOSTED me after two nudges. That was disappointing.

I signed with The Wild Rose Press ten days after the offer came in and things went quickly from there. I had a great experience working with them and the editor that signed me, and I am very excited that my book is now available for Pre-order on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. THE MORTICIAN’S WIFE will be officially released on June 19, 2023.

So, yes, the road has been long, and at many points I considered parking the car altogether, but in the end, I really enjoy the journey, and I hope readers like the book! I've posted links below:

https://www.amazon.com/Morticians-Wife-Jody-Wenner/dp/1509249621

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-morticians-wife-jody-wenner/1143179532