The Scary Stats

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Did you guys read Kate Hart’s blog post on YA deals signed in the last twelve months?  If not, go here to see what I’m talking about. 

I read the entire post and had this moment of, “I am never going to be published.  I’m never going to be published.  I’m NEVER going to be published.” 

That very last stat, the one that says only sixteen percent of book deals go to debut authors?  That’s the one did me in. 

It was almost depressing enough that I debated whether or not I should spend my two free hours writing or watching mindless TV. 

Then I had a couple of flashbacks: 
  1. As I was about to query, I read a blog post that scared the crap out of me.  One agency put up their query stats, explaining they only offer representation to 0.2 percent. 
  2. A published author friend warned me that only ten percent of book deals are to new authors. 
And you know what…I queried anyway. 

The numbers coming into this business were WORSE then, and I still managed to land an agent — a good one too. 

If nothing else, Kate’s post reminded me that there were many places I could have quit along the way.  Like when I got stuck mid-way through my plot or got poor responses from betas or got my first dozen query rejections. 

I haven’t given up yet and I don’t intend to.  Sixteen percent of debut authors got book deals this year.  And soon, one of them is going to be me!

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