An odd thought struck me this morning: what if people actually like my books? Over the past few years, I’ve racked up hundreds of rejections. I told myself the agents and editors were only rejecting my query letters, because what else could they be rejecting? None of those I sent letters to had ever heard of me, so they could not be rejecting me personally. Nor did most request any part of a manuscript, so they could not be rejecting my novels. But others did request parts of the manuscripts, and found them wanting. Some did not like my characters, my setting, my matter-of-fact style, my inability to sweep them away. Some did not like that the books could not be easily slotted into a genre. The rest simply said the books did not fit with their list. I had a great attitude through all those rejections, and I didn’t think they affected me, but they must have, because I’ve been steeling myself against weak sales and less-than-stellar reviews.
Ever since More Deaths Than One and A Spark of Heavenly Fire were accepted by Second Wind Publishing, I’ve been so focused on figuring out how to sell my books (I even started a new blog, Book Marketing Floozy, to share what I learned and will continue to learn) that it never occurred to me people might read my books. Of course, one-fourth to one-half of all purchased books are never read, so perhaps those who buy won’t read, but what if they do?
Now that my publication date is nearing (actually, it’s not a date, more like a time — end of November), and my novels are about to be made available, I’m getting nervous. Only one person (a free lance editor I met in a writing group) read all four of my manuscripts, and she absolutely loved them. And an author I met through my blog read one of my manuscripts, and she thought it was brilliant. Although many people have read excerpts of my novels, no one else has ever read one all the way through. Soon my novels will be published.
And what if people like them?
Bertram's Blog 
November 8, 2008 at 10:58 am
I totally relate, Pat. I’m about to do a book tour in my province, and I’m scared silly. What if nobody buys my books?
I guess the thing to do is to let your fear propel you forward. There’s nowhere to go but up.
November 8, 2008 at 11:58 pm
And what if they do like them?
What I’m trying to say is you must get over the fear of success/failure. You’re published. Pat yourself on the back. There will always be critics — don’t listen to them. Find your fans and hold them dear.
November 8, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I am sure there will be some who do–and conversely, some who don’t. We can’t aim to please everyone. But the people who like it will really like it, trust me on that…
December 5, 2008 at 2:39 pm
It’s that fear of success getting confused with fear of failure and it gets all muddled up. Just hold your breath and jump in with both feet!
Donna
December 5, 2008 at 4:25 pm
I like that — just jump in with both feet. I will!
December 14, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I think you’ll bear up just fine. 🙂
Good luck!
April 29, 2009 at 12:57 am
[…] November, I posted a bloggery, “What If People Like My Books?” I had been so focused on getting published, that for some reason until then it never […]