Hello. This is a short blog post on perseverance. It’s short because the book behind the post is not yet a “done deal,” but I still want to take the time to make a point.

Sometimes a good book doesn’t find a home. Maybe it’s because the publisher deems there’s no audience for it. Maybe it’s because there are too many similar books coming out at the same time. Maybe it’s because its time has not yet come. I wrote a good book seven years ago. It’s the book that got me my agent, but it didn’t sell to a publisher because it was deemed too “quiet.” It was a book about characters, more than plot. At the time, that wasn’t a winning proposition in the particular genre I was writing. I shelved the book and wrote something else. I wrote a lot of something elses.

Then I took the book out again a few years later, dusted it off, and brought it to my critique partners. We punched up the plot. It got more interest, but now there were too many similar books. I shelved it for a couple more years and we sent it out again. Now it’s getting traction because one small nugget of the story (something I hadn’t really thought about) is now hitting on some current, newsy topics. Suddenly I might be…(hold onto your hat)…topical?

I still don’t know what the fate of this book will be, but I tell this story to encourage you to not give up on a good book. If you know it’s quality, it will likely find a home. Eventually. Some day. If you’re patient and persevere.