All authors will be able to relate to the struggles of navigating the publishing world as described by Anjali Enjeti in her piece this week in The Atlantic. She has tried without success for 10 years to get a book deal, even though she has written for nationally known publications. It is indeed a maddening process for a first-timer without what they call a “platform.” First you need to get a literary agent, which I found to be like applying for a job at companies where there are no openings. It took me about two years, dozens of boilerplate rejections, scores of ignored follow-up emails before I signed with my current agent. The book deal happened a few months later.
No one likes rejection (though I think it’s even worse to be ignored), but I did learn from the few agents that took time to read my proposal and offer critiques about my work. I did a radical overhaul of the manuscript after talking with a very thoughtful agent who I didn’t end up signing with, and I think I ended up with a better book as a result. I’m sure writing groups and conferences can also be helpful, though I’ve never gone down those paths. The trick, as in anything, knowing how to discern what advice to accept and what to discard.
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/09/why-im-still-trying-to-get-a-book-deal-after-10-years/539115/