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***The way for the author to beat those odds is to SUBMIT WIDELY***
Perhaps, Maggie. But I would suggest SUBMIT WELL.
Too many developing authors haven't a clue about how to compose a query letter or to construct a good synopsis. Many don't even thoroughly check the agents and publishers they submit to and suss out what they'll consider and what they definitely don't need. It's a waste of everyone's time and talent.
What puzzles and frustrates me about this is that we're in the Age of Internet when good, sound advice is freely available if you take the trouble to seek it out.
Folks spend years in the attic, burning midnight oil and pouring their hearts into a book ... and then throw it away by dashing off sloppy covering material and spamming publishers and agents with zero interest in the type of work the author has produced.
Few authors-in-waiting realise that they can actually sell a story on synopsis. If the story idea is gripping and characters are appealing in a tightly written summary, there's always an editorial way to fix the manuscript itself.
Neil
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