Thread: Has anyone wrote a book that was published?

My wife just wrote a 500 page novel and is actively looking for a literary agent or publisher to represent it. She has sent out a query to a bunch of agents so far, most denied her, one guy wants to read the first 50 pages, which is a step in the right direction.
Does anyone have experience with this field or know someone who does? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thx, Greg

whats the book about if you dont mind me asking?

Here's her Query:

I have formulated a paranormal fantasy aimed at young adults where the readers follow a dynamic, tough young girl as she discovers her special ability to communicate with ghosts while she navigates the end of her first year of high school. Kylie is an outsider who has sculpted her hard shell, physically represented by the hooded sweatshirts she hides under, but longs for the experience of being on the “inside”. At swim practice, at school, even within her large family, she struggles with self confidence feeling distanced even from her best friend. The journey Kylie takes reveals to her why she feels different from everyone else: that we all do. She falls in love, deals with the oddity or gift that is that ability to communicate with people who have past on from this life, and most significantly, copes with her mother’s terminal illness. She comes to realize that her gift will lead her in the direction of a mythical cure-all that could possibly save her mother's life. As mentioned, the book is blanketed with a love story that will stop your heart and leave you begging for the obstacles the two encounter to disappear, and touch a place inside your own heart that speaks to the possibility of human relationship reaching beyond limitation of human nature.

That sounds like good stuff. Very eclectic.

A colleague at work writes childrens (8-12) books. Pm me, I can get you his process for making that happen.
He is going to #2 and #3 in the series, and as it has not violence or bad language, big Chicago school systems are snappin it up as required reading for 5th grades.

Also, if she just wants to publish on her own, Lightning Source in Nashville TN can print 1 copy to 100,000 copies. I know a director there.

Sounds great GS, thanks for your input, I'll definitely call on you if need be. Love this board!

dev if your interested i have a buddy thats a publisher. Im writing a childrens book now.

Very interested, please ask him if he or someone else would be interested in the first 50. I'll PM you...