How to wait

Not a week passes when a client or writer friend doesn’t lament to me that it’s taking too long. “It” being their current publishing goal.

I get it. Whereas many other industries operate on daily, weekly, or monthly schedules, publishing can take literal years. Agents respond to queries slowly—if they do at all. Once you have an agent, selling your book to a publishing house can be a drawn out process. And if an editor is interested, they still have to run your manuscript and pitch past their publisher and various other teams to get the green light to offer you a contract. Then comes the lag between manuscript purchase and publication—which is often twelve months (if you’re lucky) to two years (if you’re not).

It.
Takes.
So.
Long.

Now that we’ve established that, here’s how to make the wait less painful.

Accept that (traditional) publishing is a long game. Yes, this is simplistic—but it’s also imperative to be realistic about the nature of the business you’ve chosen. Chosen being the operative word. If you decide to self-publish, you set the deadlines and can publish as much and as often as you want. I personally believe self-publishing is a viable route to writing success—but if you’re intent on publishing traditionally (meaning with a publishing company who will pay you some sort of money—a.k.a. an “advance”—for your book and then take a large chunk of your book sales in exchange for help with editing, marketing, distribution, and so on), then it’s in your interest to accept the constraints of the industry.

Take control where you can. Impatience is often just a palatable way of describing a perceived lack of control. While we wait, we often feel we have no control over what’s happening behind the scenes or without us, and that’s uncomfortable. But there are so many other factors that you can control—and that's what you should focus on.

As you’re waiting to get edits back or hear from your marketing team or find out whether the trade publications think your book is mediocre or a masterpiece, start marketing! Connect with readers and authors on social media, devise an ad campaign, and start or grow your email list. I also recommend learning to write faster—then writing another book. Not all stories work out the way we want them to, so it’s to your advantage to be able to produce more manuscripts to up your odds of writing a hit.

Above all, focus on your personal growth. A belief that this can and will work out for you will take you further than talent (and if you don’t believe me, just think about the last bestseller you wanted to throw across the room). Read more, get support from courses, coaching, and professional organizations and networks, and do things that take you out of your comfort zone. Your goal is to be more confident, nimble, and resilient when your book is published than when you wrote it.

Be honest with yourself. How much do you want this? Why do you want it? How long are you willing to keep trying, and what are you willing to do? I want you to honestly ask yourself—and answer—these questions. Odds are, after you do, you’ll realize that making your publishing dreams come true is worth the wait.