We all know the feeling. You spend hours perfecting your Query letter, and even longer finding agents and publishers to send it to. You wait weeks for a reply, only to receive a generic rejection, if you receive one at all. But you've been told this is the way to get published, so you keep doing it. Over. And over. And over.
I'll be honest. I'm not very patient, and I've never been good at blindly accepting anything. Math was always my best subject in school, and that was because it's all about proof. Anytime I was taught a new formula, my teachers showed me how that new formula was created using principles I already knew were correct. They showed me why math was done the way it was. And it made sense.
Well, the way the publishing industry works doesn't make sense to me.
See, I'm an author, and just like all the authors reading this, I've been through the process of trying to get published. I understand that not every book is worthy of publication. Trust me, I have plenty of drafts around my house that might accidentally find themselves in a fire if anyone ever threatens to expose them to the light of day. But the industry never spent enough time telling me why I was getting the rejection. Was it my query letter? Was it my story? Was it me? Was it my political opinion?
I started rewriting things randomly, like throwing darts in the dark, hoping one of the changes I made would get me published. Until one kind Literary Agent spent just a few more seconds on their reply, telling me that it would be very hard for me to get the book I was querying for published, as it was the second book in the series, and the first didn't have notable success.
Finally, FEEDBACK! My writing didn't suck. My story didn't suck. But marketing it as the second book wasn't going to work.
I'd already been down the self-publishing route, and it had worked okay for me. But I was a freshman in college, and due to monetary restrictions, was forced to choose between my education and marketing my book. So using social media only, I sold about 100 copies. Now, I don't know about you, but 100 copies was most definitely more than my friends and family. So I viewed that a success. A marketing strategy that literally cost me nothing earned me a modest sum. Imagine what I could do with a modest marketing budget?
At the beginning of 2020, I made some edits to that book and republished it. I knew a lot more than I had when I'd published it in 2016. I knew more about book design. And the changes I made gave me a book that looked much more professional than the first edition. I started to think about doing that again for my second book. And even crazier than that, I considered offering my services to others.
And the idea of Battalion Press was born. Clearly, I fought the idea for a period of time, but eventually I realized it made sense. Before I graduated, I'd been telling people I wanted to go into publishing. My personal goal is to make a difference in the lives of adolescents through writing, like reading books made a difference to me during the difficult times in my life. Starting Battalion Press lets me not only do that with my own writing, but by giving the world the stories of so many others.
Unlike other publishing companies though, I want to make sure that every writer that submits their effort of love to us gets feedback. If you have been able to write a novel, you have achieved a great feat. I want to meet you there to carry you farther.
In college, I worked as a Writing Tutor. Between my coworkers sending creative writers to me for tutoring sessions, and my workshop classes, I discovered how impactful even a few minutes discussing writing can be. To continue getting that feedback, I founded a small Writing Group which is currently called the Creator's Guild of Bountiful. We each have our own wisdom, so each of us get something out of every meeting.
I want to integrate that mentorship into this publishing company. In the Writing Center, we lived by the mantra of "Make better writers, not better writing." I've discovered that's not entirely true. It's not that we need to make better writers. We simply need to unlock them.
When you submit to Battalion Press, you are applying for a partnership with us. Don't be surprised if when we finish reviewing your submission, we ask to sit down for a video call. I will provide you feedback on what I've read, and just discuss writing with you (I am a nerd, and have been known to geek out a bit). If we like what we've read, we will most likely ask you to send us the entire manuscript for us to review. If not, our call will have provided you with some feedback.
I look forward to reading your submissions.
Love
Alyx Tibbitts
Founder, Battalion Press
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