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While the industry as a whole has been slow to react to changes in technology and in the way people approach reading, that doesn’t mean you can’t.

When I first started submitting my first novel, Pig in a Park, the only real game in town was New York (with some smaller, specialty presses as back up). Pig did the rounds (back then there were a few more publishers to go round) and came back to me with encouraging comments but no offers to publish.

Conventional wisdom was: you never contract your first book. Put it away and write the next book.

My problem? I really liked my Pig. I didn’t want to put it away. I’d entered it I a few contests and readers seemed to like it as much as I did. Looking back I can see that it was different—but not different enough. What do I mean? I’d colored outside the traditional lines but not far enough to create my own genre. Think Stephen King or J.K. Rowling. Both of them created their own genres. Me, I just mixed several genres together (not a crime now, but back then it was the kiss of death).

In addition to finishing my first novel, I’d just ventured online and I began to wonder about the publishing possibilities of the internet. A little searching turned up some epublishing companies. Since the book had already been rejected by New York, I felt like I had nothing left to lose by experimenting with this new medium, so I submitted my Pig to one of the companies and it was accepted.

I was thrilled that someone had liked my book enough to publish it. Was it hard to know it wouldn’t be in print? A little. Being a pioneer in this new area of publishing was also pretty challenging, but eventually my epublisher released my books in trade paperback and I was also able to contract my hard cover rights to Thorndike Press, who released library editions of five of my novels.

From this I was able to get a really good agent. Now, if this were a novel, my story would move smoothly to a wonderful, New York publishing career that included best seller lists and movie deals.

But this is my real life, so it didn’t go that way. I came close to the New York sale, but along the way I discovered something about myself and how I write.

I couldn’t do what New York needed me to do to swim with them. It was just wrong for me. So we parted ways and I don’t submit to New York or agents anymore.

While I would absolutely advise every writer to try for New York and to try to get an agent, I would also caution writers to have a back up plan. It’s gotten even tougher to break into New York, or to get an agent, than when I first started submitting. And when you find your perfect fit, be happy with it, even if it's not someone else's idea of perfect. :-)

While I wouldn’t slam the door on New York if they came knocking with bags of money, I’m really happy with my “little time” and the freedom it gives me to go where my Muse sends me with my novels.

There are so many publishing choices available now. Don’t be afraid to research all your options before shoving your book in a box under the bed. Aim high, take control of what you can—and have an emergency plan for what you can’t control.