My wife and I drove 548 miles to be turned down twice. Oh, the story is great, they said, but just one problem. No newsletter. No kidding.
I went through Steve Laube's highly entertaining and informative videos on book proposals - twice. Many notes on marketing and the importance of platform, but I don't recall all that much emphasis on a newsletter. Yet the newsletter was the one issue that popped up repeatedly. I am taken aback by how much publishing is tied to social media on the internet. It's almost as if publication isn't possible without an overwhelming internet presence.
They reason given is that publishers assume only 10% of all subscribers and followers will actually buy a book. So, I was told, "when you get 2,000 subscribers, notify me and submit your manuscript."
2000? I will be dead by then.
Thankfully, Defender Publishing doesn't need a newsletter, and they requested my manuscript. The interview I didn't have scheduled turned out to be the one that mattered after all. Lord willing, good times are ahead.