an only slightly bitter rant about publishers

After the sweltering heat of last week, today there's sun and a chill breeze. The city is still; I'm hearing birds like never before, exotic new trills, wish I knew what song belongs to which bird. The Gardiner Expressway is closed this weekend for repairs, and Bayview is closed for "Open Streets Toronto," so I took a long quiet bike ride almost down to the lake, surrounded by bikers, walkers, runners, skateboarders ... a vision of what this city could be if they ended their worship of the bloody car. It's so quiet and the air so sweet, it's hard to believe this is the heart of a metropolis.

I have started a chronicle I'm calling The Journey to a Book, about my efforts to get this memoir published, to share with students and any CNFC colleagues who might be interested. So I made a list, just of what I remember of my efforts over the last two years to get the book into the world.

Since 2015 I have worked with 5 editors, 4 of whom I paid, including a copy-editor at the end. (Rosemary, dear friend, read and commented for free.) After thousands in expenses and many drafts, in  2018 I started to try to find a publisher.

I contacted 4 agents, 2 of whom are friends, all of whom said no.
Over a year and a half, I sent either a query letter or a full submission, which is a convoluted lengthy process as they all want something different, to 20 publishers, big and small. Sometimes submissions, written specifically for a certain press, are many pages long.
I received a no, eventually, sometimes after months, from 10 of them.
I received a maybe from 2, one finally saying no, the other nothing.
I heard nothing, not even an acknowledgement of receipt of my query or submission, from the 8 others.

Fellow writer Judy urged me to be patient; "This is an important book, surely someone will want it," she said. @#$# that, I replied, though more politely. Enough. I understand that publishing is in dire straights, especially now after Covid. The one publisher who got back to me promptly to say, "I like your book" and express interest in publishing it, took five days to think about it and finally tell me the pandemic has so crushed his business, he can't take on any new projects.

So this list is why I'm going with a hybrid publisher who's a respected editor. I will pay for the process, have artistic control, receive much of the royalties if there are any, and most of all, will hold the book in my hands before I die.

As for much more important matters: the protests continue, as they should, and my family is doing its part.