Selling a novel is a wonderful, wonderful thing. But when people hear about it--especially folks who are trying to sell novels of their own--they tend to think luck (or, as I prefer, Divine Providence) has something to do with it. "Why did it come so easily for TL," they say in their minds, "and yet it's been such a difficult, long road for me?"

I understand those feelings too well. I've had them myself, when other friends sold novels: you're excited and thrilled for them, of course, but you're also wondering when--maybe even if--it's ever going to happen for you.

And so, I'd like to tell you about the two years of work that led to my overnight success. And, about the bit of Divine Providence that eventually led to my publishing contract. (Man, it still feels good to say "my publishing contract.")

In 2002, I finished a novel, revised it, polished it, and decided I was ready to venture into the big wide world of publishing. I drafted a query letter, revised it with help from some friends, polished it, and sent it out. And sent it out. And sent it out. Revised it slightly and sent it out. And sent it out. And sent it out. I did this, mmm, about 60 times--until I'd exhausted my list of legitimate ABA (American Bookseller Association) agents who handled my genre. During all of this, I'd been wondering if I really should try to be selling my book to the CBA (Christian Booksellers Association) instead--it did, after all, have some strong spiritual overtones. So, I built a list of CBA agents, which was somewhat smaller, and began querying them. Same result: nothing. Mind you, I had some close calls during all this, including a few agents who said they'd like to read something else from me.

Seeing no other realistic options, I chalked the first book up to experience, put it in a drawer (figuratively speaking), and began writing another--this one more of a dark fantasy. After nine or so months, I had it in pretty good shape, and felt it was time to start querying again. So, yes, I started at the top of my previously-assembled agent list again. If an agent had responded positively to my first book, I reminded her of it and asked if she wanted to see the next one. I got a lot of reads, but still no offer.

After exhausting about half of my agent list on queries for the second book, I decided I was wasting too much time and energy worrying about becoming a published novelist.

So, I stopped. I began writing a third book, and put a moratorium on new queries. I decided I'd simply write, and concentrate on that alone. Publication, well, I'd worry about that at some undefined future date.

That's when the magic happened.

About a month after that decision, in April of 2005, I received an email from Dave Long, an Acquisitions Editor for Bethany House Publishers. "Discovered your blog," it said, "and downloaded the first chapter of your book. Don't know if you'd be interested in pursuing publication with a CBA publisher, but I'd like to see more." The book he was referring to was the first book I'd written--the one I frankly hadn't opened and looked at for more than a year. Well, heck, so what if I hadn't been trying to market that particular book? He wanted a partial, so I sent him a partial. Dave wrote back, asking for the whole thing, so I sent that to him. A month later, he wrote back to say he was taking it to editorial review--pitching it to the rest of the publishing house. Well, that's farther than I've been before, I thought. Cool.

At about this same time, I received The Call (described below) from my soon-to-be agent. Well, that's farther than I've been before, I thought. Cool.

Also at about this same time, I found out I'd won the spec fiction category of the Maryland Writers Association Novel contest, which I'd entered in February with my second novel. Well, that's farther than I've been before, I thought. Cool.

Meanwhile I continued to work on an outline for my third novel, and started the first couple of chapters.

Then, June 22nd, the day of The Call, came. My agent told me I had an offer from Bethany House, as well as interest and potential offers coming from two other publishers. (I'm not sure Dave even knows this.) At any rate, long story short, my agent negotiated a nice deal, I signed on the dotted line, and here we are today.

But I want you to realize, especially if you're a writer trying to sell your own novels, two important things. First, the novel that got me a two-book contract was the same novel I'd abandoned and given up for dead more than a year before. Second, I didn't sell anything until I'd decided to stop worrying so much about selling.

Am I telling you to just stop trying, and wait for a bit of Divine Providence to take over? Not at all. I'm telling you: it will happen when it's supposed to happen. After being rejected by 80+ agents, it would have been easy to think, hey, maybe this book sucks. It would have been even easier to just pack it in and give up. But it was the exact same book the folks at Bethany House liked enough to give me a two-book contract. Nothing about the book itself had changed; only the circumstances were different.

So it's really true: agents turn down saleable work every day. Sometimes 80 of them do it. (I'm not saying this to hack on agents in any way. Thank God for mine, who patiently explained what "Royalty on Net" meant. I'm just saying it all boils down to individual judgments. And the judgment of an agent is no more "correct" than yours or mine.)

Keep plugging away, and you can indeed reap what you sow. The growing season just may be a little longer than you expected.