Looking back, process becomes a blur, it's difficult to recall point at which your first draft transformed into your final draft, but it happened. For a moment, you allow yourself to be still and bask in glory of your completed manuscript. But only for a moment. Now a new process must begin.

As if going from concept to page isn't enough, aspiring writer must now bravely pass his or her cherished manuscript along for opinion. Opinion is actually too light of a word; writer must submit to, and endure critique. For those faint at heart, critique can be a frightening experience, rearing its ugly head of self-doubt to highest position. But ultimately, it's what makes you stronger, better at your craft, and prepares you to for next phase on your quest to publication.

Family and friends only hinder critique process. Although supportive, their opinions are bias and counter productive unless they are professionals. So where do you turn if you are not fortunate enough to have a local writing group or personal mentor in your life? The modern writer turns to cyber world.

Could I actually publish a book and generate a passive income stream?

Shortly after finishing, I distributed a promo package featuring sample chapters and a synopsis to a hand-picked list of about 10 small to medium-sized publishers who accept non-agented work. I received four nibbles and two of publishers expressed genuine interest in manuscript--so much so they requested to review book in its entirety.

While this was an exciting time for me--this was also when I got my first behind-the-scenes glimpse at publishing industry.

CH-CH-CHANGES I received generally strong feedback about my writing and story-telling ability, even praise for uniqueness of my novel. But at same time, this "uniqueness" was making it impossible for publishers to categorize my manuscript. They couldn't find a round hole in which to fit this square peg--was this mainstream fiction, spiritual material, speculation, all of above?

One publisher asked me to consider changes in order to move forward. Another said changes would be cost-prohibitive so they simply "passed," asking me to keep them in mind with my future efforts . . . and that's when I decided to "pass."

Seems that all those editors admonishing new writers to target a specific genre aren't kidding. If you write a book, they tell us, make sure you'll be able to find a readily-apparent home for it on shelves of your local book store--or be prepared for a hard sell.

MONEY MATTERS To make matters worse, when I began to explore finances of my book being published by a traditional publisher, I really became discouraged. It soon became clear that, unless I had a major bestseller on my hands, I wouldn't be seeing much--if any--profit. Even if it was a moderate success, this is what I was looking at as a "new" author: no advance and only 40% royalties on wholesale price of book. If any money was to be made, it would be going to publisher--not me! So much for dreams of grandeur!