This blog is the result of a long thinking process that followed my agent’s decision to retire.

Yes I did have a agent, and “almost” found a publisher.

I can remember my jubilation back in 2008 when an agent offered to represent my book? Not only was he excited about my book, he also really understood what the story was about.

He was also a demanding professional. So he made me rewrite and rewrite my book quite a few times. Then he skillfully edited it before declaring it fit to be presented to publishers. By then, over a year had already gone by, the recession had hit and the eBook market had taken a sharp upturn.

The odds for a yet unpublished writer to be accepted by an established publishing house, never great to start with, were at an all time low.

Still, I had an agent working for me and could concentrate on writing the second volume, knowing that the first one was in good hands.

Until last April that is… My agent invited me out for a coffee because, as he then said, “we need to talk”. Everyone knows that “we need to talk” uttered in an ominous tone is rarely the preamble to good news. No surprise there unfortunately. The news was not good.

Due to personal reasons, he was leaving the agency and, as he was the only one in the agency dealing with Young Adult fiction, my book would not be represented anymore.

He went on drawing a bleak picture of the current state and future of the publishing industry and giving me the addresses of a few agents he thought might be interested in representing my book.

So that closed the chapter with the agency, abruptly leaving me in charge of writing the next chapter of the story of how my book got published.

As I had no idea as to what to do next, I had to gather information.

I’ll tell you more about what I found out tomorrow.