Exactly. There's fewer and fewer publishers that want to take a risk on a new, untested talent. They've gotten burned WAY too many times, so I can totally understand their apprehension. I'm hoping very soon to prove myself to the main stream publishers that I'm worth looking at, and it's coming in the form of a review from a very widely read book reviewer. I can't say who, or what or any of that till the review comes out, but I can say that, if the review is what I think it is (crossing my fingers and hoping), then I can't see why Random House or one of the other big names wouldn't snap me up.
Yes, I know I've ranted against the big houses for a long time, but not so much anymore. Most of my ranting was over what I thought were really dumb practices. Oddly, the longer I've been in the publishing world, the more I've realized how "not so dumb" those practices actually are. lol. So if a big house wants to snap me up, I'm totally game.
That's one reason I'm loving this new "Prove Yourself" market.