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Remember: 19 out of 20 first novels which are accepted for publication do not see a single royalty check beyond the advance of 5-10,000 dollars, and are returned unsold after 60-90 days on the shelves. After this typical experience of publishing failure, it's even harder to get novel number two published. All this, for the promise of a miserly 8% royalties after the advance.

The best sellers by "name" authors are driving the entire industry. Yes, there are best sellers, they exist, but the odds of a first-timer hitting that "hole in one" are daunting. In the publishing world first time novelists are mere cannon fodder, grist for the mill. A newly-hatched baby sea turtle faces better odds than a first time novelist.

And why should 5th Avenue care? No matter how badly or stupidly they treat first time authors, another 100 unsolicited manuscripts will arrive tomorrow.

OTOH, you have A Patriot's History to point to, which is a plus for getting your first novel published. However, that merely puts you on the shelf for 60-90 days, and as I mentioned, 19 out of 20 first-time novels end up in the returned unsold bin, and these "failed" authors don't get a chance to publish novel #2.

Doing it on my own, I've sold over 5,000, and trust me, I'm getting a lot more back than 8% royalties.

Doing it on my own, I've sold over 5,000, and trust me, I'm getting a lot more back than 8% royalties.

Go Travis! Go Travis! Go Travis!

Oh, I know there is another way to go---Jeff proved that too.

I think the PHUSA network will sell September Day beyond the "lower tier" of 20,000 copies. But self publishing always remains an option.