Well, part of me is a bit — no, a lot — bummed out.
We received another encouraging letter of hope today.
But you know what? In reading it, and working with this acquisitions editor, I really get the feeling that she is as disappointed with her company’s decision as we are. NO, REALLY!
I'm not pulling your leg on this, and it's not my "Pollyanna" outlook on things. I could tell that she really loved the book, and she put a lot of energy into pitching it to her publisher for us. To sway things to our favor, she did market research and everything.
Unfortunately, all her diligence did us in. As our acquisitions editor says, “It seems that people are mostly buying friendship books that focus on repairing damaged friendships or dealing with toxic friends.”
The problem is that people aren’t buying books like ours — positive books on friendship and relationships. They aren’t looking at how to create long and lasting relationships from the start; only how to repair friendships after they’ve screwed it up so badly that there’s no hope in salvaging anything from it. People don't realize that, once trust and respect is gone, the relationship is dead.
Why aren’t people interested in developing healthy relationships from the start? Why do people wait until it’s too late? Then, after it’s too late, they look around and wonder, “What the hell happened?”
It’s all very sad… sad for us all…
Anyway, with the paying public against us, the acquisition editor couldn’t change her publisher’s mind. She truly wishes us the best in finding a home for our work.
We do understand. When we started on this journey, we knew it was going to be an uphill battle. What we are selling is not easy to sell. Trust, caring, kindness, empathy, communication, appreciation, affirmation, ethics, generosity, attention, respect — all the things that support positive relationships — aren’t money makers in this world of ours.
But, we refuse to give up. I trust that one day, things will change; and I hope our books will become part of this change, if not the catalyst to change. [And yes, I admit... that's the Pollyanna in me.]
Anyway, on a brighter note: I left the door open with this publisher, hoping that we can send the acquisitions editor our other books for her review.
She said that she would be happy to look over whatever we send to her. Hopefully, our next book will meet her company’s marketing criteria.
I’m grabbing on to that promise with both hands.
One more thing I do know — with all my heart — is that the acquisitions editor did enjoy reading our book.
Well, one more person has read our material. Only 7,100,557,000 to go to reach the rest of the world.
We've got a lot of work ahead of us!
.
No comments:
Post a Comment