Dan Kennedy

Hey, well, you gotta, you gotta do a big proposal. and a competitive title analysis, and then you've got to find agents who have represented your kind of content, and you've got to submit packages to the agents, and you've got to grovel and beg and plead to get some agent to accept you as a first-time unpublished author.

And then if you're lucky, that agent will get you a deal, probably with a small, insignificant publisher for little or no advance. And then you get to write the book, and then ultimately the book will get published. And if you get out there and hump and hump and hump and hump and hump so it doesn't die, you might establish a good enough record that you can get a second book deal, right?

And then if you're lucky, that agent will get you a deal, probably with a small, insignificant publisher for little or no advance. And then you get to write the book, and then ultimately the book will get published. And if you get out there and hump and hump and hump and hump and hump so it doesn't die, you might establish a good enough record that you can get a second book deal, right?

And then if you're lucky, that agent will get you a deal, probably with a small, insignificant publisher for little or no advance. And then you get to write the book, and then ultimately the book will get published. And if you get out there and hump and hump and hump and hump and hump so it doesn't die, you might establish a good enough record that you can get a second book deal, right?

So this sounded really slow to me, right? And the mathematical odds were and still are astronomically against you. The number of proposals the average agent gets coming over the transom is, I don't know, 20,000 a year, 30,000 a year, 40,000 a year. He's got some NYU intern going through them and picking out the ones he should see and sending the rest of them all the standard rejection.

So this sounded really slow to me, right? And the mathematical odds were and still are astronomically against you. The number of proposals the average agent gets coming over the transom is, I don't know, 20,000 a year, 30,000 a year, 40,000 a year. He's got some NYU intern going through them and picking out the ones he should see and sending the rest of them all the standard rejection.

So this sounded really slow to me, right? And the mathematical odds were and still are astronomically against you. The number of proposals the average agent gets coming over the transom is, I don't know, 20,000 a year, 30,000 a year, 40,000 a year. He's got some NYU intern going through them and picking out the ones he should see and sending the rest of them all the standard rejection.

I mean, the system was horrible, right? Just horrible. I said, if I'm going to settle for small, anyway, why don't I just go see the publishers, right? Because I'm a sales guy. If I get in front of somebody, I can kind of sell. Not every author could do that, but I can do that. Well, you can't, you know. So now the wise troops are telling me you can't do that. Well, why can't you do it?

I mean, the system was horrible, right? Just horrible. I said, if I'm going to settle for small, anyway, why don't I just go see the publishers, right? Because I'm a sales guy. If I get in front of somebody, I can kind of sell. Not every author could do that, but I can do that. Well, you can't, you know. So now the wise troops are telling me you can't do that. Well, why can't you do it?

I mean, the system was horrible, right? Just horrible. I said, if I'm going to settle for small, anyway, why don't I just go see the publishers, right? Because I'm a sales guy. If I get in front of somebody, I can kind of sell. Not every author could do that, but I can do that. Well, you can't, you know. So now the wise troops are telling me you can't do that. Well, why can't you do it?

It's just not done. I said, well, why isn't it done? Well, they won't allow it. I said, well, if it's never done, how do you know they won't allow it? Because nobody's done it. Well, you can't do it, right? So the big, it's called Book Expo now, American Booksellers Association. All the publishers exhibit there for all trade.

It's just not done. I said, well, why isn't it done? Well, they won't allow it. I said, well, if it's never done, how do you know they won't allow it? Because nobody's done it. Well, you can't do it, right? So the big, it's called Book Expo now, American Booksellers Association. All the publishers exhibit there for all trade.

It's just not done. I said, well, why isn't it done? Well, they won't allow it. I said, well, if it's never done, how do you know they won't allow it? Because nobody's done it. Well, you can't do it, right? So the big, it's called Book Expo now, American Booksellers Association. All the publishers exhibit there for all trade.

It's smaller now because of Amazon effect, but it's all the bookstores went there. So I went. And most of the publishers, the small ones for sure, the presidents are there in the booth. The editors are there in the booth for the five days of the show. Even the big publishers, they're there for a day or so. So I door knocked essentially. I went for, they're all there in one place, right?

It's smaller now because of Amazon effect, but it's all the bookstores went there. So I went. And most of the publishers, the small ones for sure, the presidents are there in the booth. The editors are there in the booth for the five days of the show. Even the big publishers, they're there for a day or so. So I door knocked essentially. I went for, they're all there in one place, right?

It's smaller now because of Amazon effect, but it's all the bookstores went there. So I went. And most of the publishers, the small ones for sure, the presidents are there in the booth. The editors are there in the booth for the five days of the show. Even the big publishers, they're there for a day or so. So I door knocked essentially. I went for, they're all there in one place, right?

booth to booth. Here I am. You should publish me. Here's what I want to do, right? And I got a deal. I didn't get exactly the deal I wanted, but I got a deal sitting on the floor in the food court with the one president of the publishing company. And Afterwards, my agent at the time, who I fired, who had told me you can't do this, he said, I don't know how this could possibly happen.

booth to booth. Here I am. You should publish me. Here's what I want to do, right? And I got a deal. I didn't get exactly the deal I wanted, but I got a deal sitting on the floor in the food court with the one president of the publishing company. And Afterwards, my agent at the time, who I fired, who had told me you can't do this, he said, I don't know how this could possibly happen.

booth to booth. Here I am. You should publish me. Here's what I want to do, right? And I got a deal. I didn't get exactly the deal I wanted, but I got a deal sitting on the floor in the food court with the one president of the publishing company. And Afterwards, my agent at the time, who I fired, who had told me you can't do this, he said, I don't know how this could possibly happen.

I said, you go booth to booth, and you interrupt their conversation, and you talk to them. And so I had a bucket list item. I always wanted to do mystery novels but I got enough rejection slips early that you know I'm the Woody Allen thing you know try try try try again and now stop you're making a fool out of yourself so now late gee you know I still would like to do a couple mystery novels