How I Traditionally Published My Book Without an Agent

Guest Post by JB Harris, Author of The Immigrant’s Wife

December 18, 2023

Meet JB Harris, an author who has successfully navigated the complexities of traditional publishing. In her post titled “How I Traditionally Published My Book Without an Agent,” JB candidly shares her journey, shedding light on the process of securing a traditional publishing deal without the aid of an agent.

Drawing from her own experiences, JB offers insights and practical advice, providing a glimpse into the less conventional path to traditional publishing. Her narrative serves as a valuable resource for aspiring authors seeking to understand the dynamics of the publishing industry.

Join me as we explore JB Harris’s account, gaining valuable perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of achieving traditional publication without agent representation.

First, let me say that it was not my goal to usurp having an agent. I wanted an agent more than anything. They are very valuable allies to have for a number of reasons.

They make sure your work is good enough and polished enough to go out
into the world.
They know the industry and have connections you don’t, which means they
can get your book into the right hands.
They are great sounding boards for revision ideas and can help you save a lot
of wasted time and get you to a strong finished product faster.
They know industry standards and can help you greatly with your contract
getting you the most for the hard work you have put in and saving you from
scary loopholes of which you may not be aware.
The big five generally will not even look at something not sent to them by an
agent.

After 11 years of hard work and over 125 rejections, I either had to put The Immigrant’s Wife in a drawer and move on or consider other options. Many people had told me my book was good enough and I should self publish, but that is not the right route for me. First of all, I needed the validation of the industry to say that my book belonged on the shelf beside books such as Orphan Train by
Christina Baker Kline, or Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate of even, dare I dream, The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. Second of all, like so many of us, I have a lot of other commitments such as children and parents to care for, households to run, a paycheck to earn. I simply did not have the time to edit, format, design, and publish my own book.

Now in the beginning, lets say the first 50 rejections, it was clear the book was not ready. But by rejection 75, I was getting emails that included lines like, “I really enjoyed your characters, setting and story but I don’t think I can sell it,” or “right now editors are looking for escapism. This isn’t the right time for this kind of book.” And yet, The Four Winds, which I think is a great comp for my novel, was published
exactly during this time. That’s when I decided that I disagreed enough with the gatekeepers to step out of line and go my own way.

I began researching contests and small to midsized presses that would consider a submission without an agent. Where do you find those opportunities you ask? On-line of course. Just like you research agents to see who is looking for what type of book, you can do the same thing with publishers and contests. Many resources exist out there to help you with this. You can simply search “publishers accepting unagented novels,” but there are other resources out there that can help you to find
reputable contests and publishers. Some to consider would be:

https://www.pw.org

https://www.publishersmarketplace.com

https://www.awpwriter.org

Even Linked In has a list of publishers accepting unagented fiction:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/11-literary-fiction-publishers-accepting-
unagented-erica-verrillo/

The important thing to realize when you start trying to place your novel without an agent is you have to be very, and I mean very with a capital V, careful and do your due diligence. There are a lot of scam artists out there preying on authors who just want to see their work in print. You should NEVER have to pay someone to read your work for consideration unless it is a contest entry fee. There are vanity presses
that will charge you to self publish, and there is no problem with that if that is the way you want to go. But if you, like me, want to publish your novel traditionally, then the publisher is paying all of the costs. You do not pay a reading fee, an editing fee, a design fee, a typesetting fee; you pay NOTHING. In return, the publisher offers you a royalty, usually 10% – 15% of what they make on the book (not 10%-15% of
the retail price but that is an article for another day).

So how did I make that happen and thus how can you? I did my research. I applied to contests that were specific to my genre (historical fiction) and researched what the presses were seeking. Do not submit your book willy-nilly. Make sure the press you are submitting to publishes what you are offering. Don’t send a bodice ripper to a Christian press for instance or a fantasy novel to a publisher who works only with
non-fiction. A little research can save you a lot of heartache. Once I did my research and targeted the publishers I thought would like my book, I waited, and waited, and drafted my second novel, then waited some more. Finally, the acceptance email I had been waiting for for years appeared in my inbox! But I
still didn’t run headlong into my dream.

There is still more research and due diligence to do.

The publisher will provide you with a contract. Since this was my first time at the rodeo, I paid an agent, who I knew and trusted and who had a side business, to review my contract and alert me to what might not be industry standard. If you don’t know any agents from years of submitting, or conferences, etc., you can find some willing to do this by contacting The Manuscript Academy at www.manuscriptacademy.com they can point you in the direction of reputable people who know the business. You can also join the Writers Guild of America (east or west) and hire a lawyer to look over the contract for you.

Next, I ordered a book published by the publisher I was considering so I could see if the quality of the book was what I wanted. Some presses’ books look like they are made in someone’s garage using subpar materials. Others look exactly as a book from one of the big five might look. I wanted my book to resemble the latter.

Finally, I searched the authors represented by my publisher and reached out to some via social media to see if I could pick their brains about the publisher, the press, and what they liked and didn’t like about their experience working with the publisher.

My publisher is fantastic. I would highly recommend them www.Sunburypress.com and they have multiple imprints so you are more likely to find that your novel fits in with one of them. I am with Milford House the fiction division. But there are many more out there that you can work with that I am sure are wonderful as well.

So if you have revised and revised, edited and revised again, if your writing groups and beta readers tell you the book is ready but the agents are still sending back rejections of full requests that ring very subjective, then why not consider some of the smaller and midsized presses out there.