Spilling Brains

There was a time when I thought the only way to be taken seriously in the world of publishing was to get traditionally published. For all you writers out there, you know that the task begins with finding the right agent. For years, I shopped around my manuscripts to various agents, pitched at writing events, and did everything possible to land an agent.

I had a few close calls—a few full manuscript requests here and there—but most of the time, it was rejection after rejection. Sometimes, you didn’t get a response at all, and when you did, it was short and trickled in at a snail’s pace.

Fighting through my own personal doubts, I did what any writer would do trying to please the corporate machine; I did massive revisions and rewrites, hoping against hope that this would be the book, this would be the version they would fall in love with. It became an obsession – an abusive relationship I should have closed the door on long ago, but like a fool, I kept going back because of a stupid dream – a dream of being traditionally published. I’m sure some of you reading this right now know what I’m talking about.

I started to get depressed, wondering if my work was so bad that maybe I should just quit. There were days, and I’m not even joking here, that I would contemplate just putting a bullet in the dream’s stupid head and calling it a day. I did this off and on for years, blinded by the need to be accepted by the Simon and Schuster’s of the world.

One year, at DFW Writer’s Con, something happened. I was sitting in a room full of other hopeful authors, seeking advice from a panel of experts. Among them was the bestselling author of the Uglies series – Scott Westerfeld. This clown told us to write what we know – our own experience and not steal from marginalized voices or, as a dude, write about the female experience. The whole panel was in agreement with this ass clown’s Marxist ideology as if he was speaking the gospel and not insanity.

But that’s where we are today in the publishing world, where agencies are filled with activist agents who search for work based on their ivory tower agendas. No longer was it about the story or what the market was craving; it was about checking victimization boxes and grandstanding. These same ideas and practices are what have killed Hollywood, the comic book industry, and video games. Now, they are killing the book business.

The entire publishing world has gone off the edge of a cliff like a lemming on a suicidal charge—agent after agent is closed for queries EXCEPT for people of color or members of the LGBTQQIP2SA. And let me just say this, if you need special treatment to get published, maybe your work sucks. It should be an even playing field where the story wins over skin color or if you identify as a woman or house cat.

You might think I’m just some crazy conspiracist, but this is a fact. All you have to do is go to places like Manuscript Wish List or your favorite agency and see what they are looking for. So many agents will say closed for queries unless you are a person of color, trans, or a member of a marginalized class. Their wish list has become a list of niche book ideas that the general reader will reject. And the funny thing is, most of these agents are the same – these overweight white women with partially shaved heads and colored hair.

When I was shopping around for agents, I avoided sending my stuff to them because I knew they would take one look at my bio and reject it outright – I’m just too vanilla for their woke, Marxist insanity for representation.

That’s why I created Battered Brains Productions. I’m taking publishing back to focusing on what any good agency should—quality of work and story! Right now, we aren’t taking any queries because I’m learning to navigate these waters, but once I get it down, I’m going to open up to other authors sick of being openly discriminated against by the corporate machine.