Okay people, it's time for some rules for all authors, whether you're indie, small press, or traditional big 6 published. Hell even if you're not-yet-published.
1) Write.
2) Wash (please, I have to sit next to you at conferences) and repeat.
3) Edit. Revise. Re-edit.
4) Submit.
Seems simple right? You're not a writer unless you write. Stop talking about it and get your words down. Then do what successful writers do, let it go. Your words, as beautiful as they might be, aren't so vital that you cannot make the changes needed to enhance the story for your reader. Quit being so damn haughty. Our job is to entertain and educate the reader, so if you're not doing that, no matter how great and pretty your words are, you are not accomplishing your goal.
So go write in your journal if that's the case.
5) Stop whining about gatekeepers. Janet Reid isn't a bitch. Bookends LLC doesn't hate you. They don't even know you, no matter how many times you comment on their blog.
If you truly believe you are being unfairly judged by agents who've rejected your science fiction novel told from the POV of a space slug, go ahead and self-publish. Otherwise, suck it up, take the rejection and write another book. Move on. Don't wallow. Try again and again until you hit that right agent/publisher.
Being an author is damn hard. No one, except for that one asshole every writer knows who sold his first book on his first query, wins at this game unless they keep playing. If you give up, throw up your hands and whine about how unfair the industry is, you will never succeed. Or if by some fucked up fate, you do succeed, you won't know the satisfaction involved in the fight for publication. The fight makes the sale that much sweeter.
