ATTEMPTING TO READ THE MINDS OF PROSPECTIVE PUBLISHERS

                           IMPATIENTLY WAITING FOR A RESPONSE

Two down and two to go as I start my fourth week waiting for the other two publishers to weigh in.

The two rejections came in relatively quickly. The first happened at the end of week two and the second was heard from at the start of the third week. This may be good news.

I know that speculating about what they are thinking is probably futile. What I do know is there are three major considerations in selecting a manuscript to be published. These are: the quality of the content (wherein the best quality is not always what is being looked for by a given publishing house); the characteristics of the author (wherein being outrageous and young (as in keeping a philosophical diary for 10 years beginning with age 4 to 14 may be advantageous); and answering the question as to its marketability {will it sell?} has to be answered affirmatively.

Beyond my general knowlege of the above I know nothing. Indeed a few people who are intimately associated with the book business when consulted throw their hands up concluding that like God, publishers - in selecting manuscripts - work in mysterious ways.

So I am resigned to waiting for an answer. But my resigned state does not stop my body to want to pace. Pacing seems absurd to me so I have found a pacing alternative: browsing the internet. In so doing must a little while ago I came across the following:

"You finally did it. You managed to get through the gatekeepers and a literary agent (or perhaps even better, an acquisitions editor) is reading your book proposal. Congrats! Well, sort of. Now the question becomes: Is your proposal going to wow him or her? Do you have the "goods" needed to land an author and publishing contract?

Before uncovering the science of the book proposal, you must understand the editor's decision-making process.

An editor or literary agent is asking three main questions:

1. Is there a market for this book?
2. Is this concept unique and differentiable from other books in its genre?
3. Does the author have a platform and the expert status to sell this book (assuming it's a work of nonfiction)? "

(How Publishers Evaluate Book Projects: By Scott Jeffrey)

It is interesting to me how different words are able to inspire hope. I was familiar with point one. But because points two and three were expanded it allowed me to match me and what I have done to the clear criterion.

Excitedly I raise my hand high with respect to point 2. Yes - definitely yes. No one has treated my subject of treating heroin addicts from the complementary roles of an observing participant and a participant observer.

My hand can raise even higher when I consider point three. Given the fact that 35 years has gone by since I kept my journal at Odyssey House from 1966-1969 I have become an expert in the field of substance abuse.

Will my grade A self assessment be translated into a book contract? I can't read the future any better than anyone else. But what I do know for certain is that if Scott Jeffrey is accurate then the probability of my eventual success has just notably increased.

As in similar such matters like giving birth, waiting for the spring to return after a long winter, hoping that tomatoes will eventually grow on those initially skinny stalks, time will tell.

What time do you have?