I Don't Hear You!

Cover of "Too Much with Us, Late and Soon" by Bryant Wieneke, the eighth self-published novel in the series, featuring illustrations of iconic Washington D.C. landmarks with cherry blossoms framing the scene.

It's been almost a month since I finished sending out my queries to literary agents regarding my new novel, Eternal Moments. This novel continues the story of Kendall Jackson Smith, who spent eight novels traveling the world as a water expert and the last two wondering what the hell it all meant. In Eternal Moments, he continues to work on the Great Green Wall of Africa, a massive effort to halt the devastating southern expansion of the Sahara Desert due to climate change.

With every one of my novels, as well as my six non-fiction books, I've tried to interest traditional publishers and literary agents in my writing. Alas, there have been no takers. Except for the one niche company that actually did publish my story of a unique Congressional campaign by a remarkable man named Walter Capps. But the publisher did a rotten production job and zero advertising, so it was not exactly a rewarding experience.

With Eternal Moments, I am waiting for responses from the 91 literary agents to whom I sent queries. Some have already responded with a thanks-but-no-thanks. Others have sent out an automatic response they will make a decision about representation in four-to-six weeks, or whatever, but that they don't have the time or energy to respond to the millions of queries they get. They will only be in further contact if they decide they want to represent my novel.

Fat chance!