Hello everyone, and thank you for taking a moment to read up on some of my latest book happenings.
As well you remember, I am the author of a Christian memoir entitled, "Grateful: Faith Healing and the Gift of Music." I have lived my entire adult life with Bipolar Disorder, and all of it's perils and possibilities. Both have been plentiful.
My book is a reflection on what it's been like living with the disease, but more importantly, what it's like to live in remission today. It's been a long road getting to this place in my life, but I am so grateful for it all. Today, my life is beautiful, and thriving on every level. Does that mean it's perfect all the time? No, of course not. Is anyone's? I have my ups and downs, but Glory to the God Who healed me! The rest, as they say, you'll have to read about! (You can find excerpts within this website).
I finished the first version of my manuscript back in 2019. With that, I began the arduous process of submitting to literary agents. Not long after I began, I landed one. I spoke of her in two previous blogs, though I never gave her name or the name of the top agency. I'm so glad that I didn't, because I found myself three years later, scratching my head as to how she got into the business. As with my book, I don't want to disparage anyone or harm their life or career, but I do wish to tell my story. It's a tightrope walk at times as you can imagine. Many of the red flags authors warn you about when it comes to working with literary agents, she ultimately waved in my face, and it all came to a head in December of 2022.
I left her alone to do her job for the most part, trusting that she was doing it. We checked in from time to time, and she always assured me that she was working on submissions. She tended to blame Covid for why publishers were moving so slowly while working with a skeleton crew. True back in 2020, and maybe part of 2021. By the end of 2022 however, I was starting to ask a lot of questions. That's when things began to unravel.
I tried to reach her on several occasions via text messegas, voice mails and emails. She typically had some excuse as to why she was not responding promptly, if at all. Ex:
"I'm sick, my phone broke, there was a family issue, my computer was hacked." On and on it went. I'm not the type to acuse or assume anyone is lying, but repeated blunders like this, do begin to raise those red flags. I'm afraid they are text book literary agent incompetencies. I was starting to disbelieve that she was not working on my behalf at all.
She told me I was "under consideration" with two top publishers. When nothing transpired after so long, I began to question. Keep in mind, I am new to the publishing world. I had no real idea as to how long a publisher needed to review or potentially accept a manuscript. I was learning however, that it is very difficult to get your memoir published when you are not a president or a celebrity. Still, I press on.
The agency ended up fledgling and they were supposed to shut their doors in December of 2022. I wouldn't know, because I thankfully pulled out of there by Thanksgiving. The final straw was when I asked her to show me one of her submissions.
Her synapsis read like it was written by a third grader, with none of the most important points of my book emphasized. The worst part of it all, was that she didn't even get the title of my book correct! In the synapsis, she called my book "I Am Grateful."
To say that my head spun with anger would be the grossest of understatments. I insisted that she withdraw that sumission and I completely severed ties with her. I suppose you could add this to the list of red flags she was already waving. Yeah, so, if your literary agent doesn't know the name of your book, you're good to go...away!
She made no money off of me. She would only be paid if she got me a publishing deal. I would think that was incentive to work hard. It was a straight up and straight forward contract which I had no trepidation in signing. She is a published author herself, so I'm guessing, that's where her strengths lie, and maybe she was looking to make a better living by become an agent, albeit not a very good one.
I will say that some good came out of this negative experience. I hadn't been real focused on the book for a while, side tracked by this music thing of mine. With all of this, came a lot of re-focusing, editing, and re-writing. I enlisted some beta readers and made a few submissions of my own, receiving some great feedback, but no contract.
Where do I stand with the book now? Well, I look back on the "finished" manuscript from 2019, and laugh a bit. I suppose you could say an author's job is never done. In truth, I do have a publisher offering a contract, but I have decided to slow down, and enjoy the editing and re-writing process. Put quite simply, I'm not ready for it to be fully published, and I believe God shut some doors for a reason.
I cannot begin to tell you of what's truly involved with writing a memoir of such a sensitive nature. I'm reliving some painful moments as I write, re-write and edit. I want the best possible placement for my life story. So, we wait.
I am slowly releasing excerpts, podcasts (all heard through this site), taking on speaking engagements and releasing my Christian testimony (Hallow App). I continue to do some published interviews (Kent State Today), and to do advocacy through my published articles on prominent mental health platforms (NAMI, IBDF, all seen here).
I imagine, had I known just what a process this would become, I might never have embarked on the journey. I guess you could say that God reveals more in time...His time.
I will continue to keep you posted on my progress. In the meantime, I hope you will stay close to www.mariajacobs.com. The author tab will have links and updates.
Thank you again for reading, God bless!