I said: "As for my POD experiment ... that can wait, I guess."

Barbara replied: "I'd like to hear about it."

The Background:

I sent one of my first versions of _Succubus Sea_ to a traditional
Canadian publisher back in 1990 or so. They sat on it for almost a
year. When it came back to me, it came with a note that said that it
had gotten all the way to final read, but was finally rejected on the
grounds that it "just didn't quite fit."

Five years later, I sent _Abadoun_, then called _The Last Breath of a
Kurdish Village_, to two different Canadian publishers. (One of those
being the publisher I had sent _Succubus_ to years before.) One of the
two (a local press) informed me that they wanted to speak with me in
person. So, I set up an appointment with them, and visited them.
During the visit, I was shown the first reader's notes ... she
recommended publication. The main person, however, had some concerns,
and wanted some revisions. So, I revised to order, only to be
rejected. In this particular case, I believe I was rejected because
the publisher discovered that I was not of Middle Eastern origin. (The
penname I submitted the book under was Omar Aziz. When I showed up --
he discovered that my real name was Quinn Tyler Jackson.)

The second press I had sent it to asked to see the revised version,
and I sent it to them. About a year after first sending it in to them,
I received notice that it, again, had made it to final reading, but
"just didn't quite work" for them.

In the meantime, I completely rewrote _Succubus Sea_ from memory. I
sent it for editorial feedback to my mentor, he returned it with
notes, and it sat for 4 or 5 years without any revision.

I lost the manuscript for _Last Breath_, but ultimately, found it
again on the last floppy I checked.

Enter POD:

When XLibris started offering free "core" publishing, I sent the
manuscript of _Last Breath_, now called _Abadoun_, and the book soon
came out, available on Amazon. It received a glowing review and was
selected as a required text for a local creative writing course. It
sold about 40 copies. A short while later, I was contacted by
PlaneTree. They wanted to include Abadoun in the UK on their initial
list. So, we signed an agreement and off it went to PlaneTree. In the
meantime, XLibris stopped offering free "core", and since I also had
the PlaneTree edition, I pulled out of Xlibris altogether on a matter
of principle.

A short while later, PlaneTree also took _Succubus_ on.

In the meantime, I wrote _Janus Incubus_. I sent it to several regular
publishers, and both rejected it within reading the first chapter,
saying things like, "You are in danger of winning a lot of awards."
Finally, since PlaneTree had taken on my first two novels without
charge, I decided, since _Janus_ had been published as short stories
here and there in large part, to pay to publish the novel.

_Janus Incubus_ was recently selected as a required text at the
university level.

Sales:

Total sales of all three novels, to date: About 60 copies in 3 years.

Acclaim:

Excellent reviews. Apparently, I'm the James Joyce of our generation.
Tell that to the people who didn't buy my books.

Main Obstacles:

People don't buy much fiction on the Net, especially literary fiction,
and it's almost as hard to get Internet visitors to buy a UK novel, in
UK pounds, as it is to get them to dance the polka over hot coals.

Final Analysis:

I'm either going to give up writing fiction, or decide that waiting 1
year at a time for rejections made in the final stage is worth my
time. I don't recommend POD to anyone who isn't a born marketer.
You'll have to push, push, push your work like a demon to get ONE sale
to materialize.

Non-fiction, self-help, and so on -- I hear the results are much
better.

--
Quinn Tyler Jackson
http://members.shaw.ca/qjackson/
http://members.shaw.ca/jacksonsolutions/

--- Rachel's Little NET2FIDO Gate v 0.9.9.8 Alpha