In the Badlands of Montana, young Molly Wilder discovers the fossil remains of a 66-million-year-old winged, flesh-eating monster. This discovery thrusts her into a hidden war between unknown enemies and the truth behind humankind’s own mythology.
A virus wiped out every male on Earth, leaving the females to carry on alone. Now, five centuries later, the genome is breaking down and the only hope may lie in something long lost.
From what I hear, you’re right: this is not the way that traditional publishing normally works. Nonetheless, it appears to be the way it’s going for The Life Interstellar. I do have an agent now–whom I found through personal networking rather than a query–and through him I have received several official offers (including advances) on the partial manuscript. I am told there will be some announcements soon depending on how this shakes out, which is why I’m choosing not to say more yet.
I’ve spoken to both @Jeremy Thomasand @Adam Gomolin at Inkshares and both have wished me nothing but the best. As Jeremy said in another post, the door is always open both ways, and the Terms of Service say so. They are simply trying to make their deal so attractive that no one wants to leave. In my case, it just didn’t turn out that way.
I cannot for the life of me imagine why someone would even consider wanting to self-publish if they had the option to do it any other way. The entire process is exhausting, demeaning, and discouraging the entire way through. Attempting to manage a successful pre-order campaign is already killing me, and the only thing keeping me going is the knowledge that once I make it to my goal, I can pass that responsibility on to someone else and focus on, like, writing and stuff. I just cannot fathom why anyone would go that route when a legit publishing deal is within reach.
