Parisian Phoenix Publishing

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: E.H. Jacobs’ debut political drama will be released in September, in time for the 2024 Presidential Election and the third anniversary of Parisian Phoenix Publishing. I have invited him to share his thoughts on the process and here is the second installment.

By E.H. Jacobs

A writer, in my experience, often copes with more failure than success.

I have read that the chance of a new novelist securing an agent is about 1%, and the odds of that lucky writer actually seeing his or her book published is about 5% of that.

I once heard the editor of a prominent literary journal say that, although 80% of the submissions they received were worthy of publication, only 1% were  published by them.

So, a writer who wants to publish traditionally has to be willing to endure, tolerate, and even embrace frequent failure.

But, this failure has to be in the service of something else, something grander, or else it would just be an exercise in masochism. And that “something else” is the pursuit of better prose, more poetic writing, refining a voice, crafting a better story, and engaging a reader. And it’s the reader who we are writing for, which is why publication becomes important.

Unless we are content to put our writings in a shoebox in a closet, as Emily Dickenson was rumored to have done (I have no idea if this is truth or legend and, if not true please, forgive me Emily), we writers need readers. And why do we need readers so much? I really don’t know. I guess that depends on our individual psychologies (or pathologies). But the need to communicate is universal in humans, and writing is an exquisite form of communication of which some of us are blessed with the talent and the drive to commit ourselves. 

I remember the pride and joy I felt when my first short story was accepted for publication. After a short while, I began to wonder if I would ever have another story accepted, and after that, another, and then, another. And then it was the same with poetry. And each of these acceptances punctuated vastly more rejections. But I pressed on, my joy at my published pieces far outweighing the sting of my rejections, which diminished in significance the more they accumulated.

But the big mountain to climb has always been THE NOVEL. If I could get a novel published, then I would be a real writer, I reasoned.

And it has been years of writing, rewriting, editing and workshopping, and then searching for the right agent or publisher, tracking down every reasonable lead.

Until, by chance, I received a newsletter about lit magazines and publishers that appeared in my email inbox one day and, upon reading it, I decided to become a subscriber.

That, in itself, was unusual, as I am customarily very tight-fisted.

One day, the newsletter appeared with a headline that read something like: 20 Indie Publishers That Want to See Your Work. There was something about Parisian Phoenix’s website, their presentation of their books, and the posts by Angel R. Ackerman that motivated me to reach out, and the ensuing contact has just validated and reinforced my first impression.

So, to fellow writers reading this, whatever talent you are blessed with (although you can develop it), whatever luck you have – these are things you cannot control. Although you will need both of these, the one thing you can control is persistence.

I recently bought a signed copy of a book written by workshop leader and author Steve Almond. The inscription read: “Outlast your doubt.”

And, my friends, in this business, if good things are going to happen, that is what it takes.