Some months back, I posted on my website the intention to keep readers informed about how things are going with my debut novel, The Mud Bone Squabble. So far, it’s been an interesting and somewhat arduous journey.
A few years ago, when I enrolled in a creative writing Master of Fine Arts program, I believed all I had to do was write a respectable book and publishers would hop on it. That was before I learned approximately 4.2 million books were published last year (2025). About 3.5 million of those were self-published, leaving around 700,000 picked up by traditional publishing houses. Statistically, about 10-15% of books published are novels, which translates to 420,000-630,000 novels last year. That would make me and my novel a flea among falcons, a mere bug spot on the windshield of the publishing industry. The only good news in that data is most writers keep their manuscripts in digital form, which probably saves a few million trees from becoming pulp paper. Ample consolation if you’re a conservationist…which I am.
As I dug deeper into my MFA studies, it became quite clear that an important step for a writer is differentiation. How do you make yourself stand out in a very crowded field, and why would anyone be remotely interested in your work?
For me, that was a relatively simple decision. I am a southerner with southern perspectives. I love the South Carolina Lowcountry, where my heritage abounds. There is an important literary subculture in the South, and there are wonderful Southern publishers who care about Southern writers. There’s also a distinct and measurable market for southern fiction, not only among long-time southerners but also among the thousands of people moving into or visiting the South, particularly in the post-COVID diaspora.
Therefore, early in formulating my vision for a literary identity, it seemed inherently logical to wrap myself in the cloak of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Ergo, my website: www.LowcountryWriter.com and my Facebook page: “Landon Thorne Lowcountry Writer” (1,100 followers as of this writing).
I am also fortunate to live in Beaufort County, SC, a place with a long-standing literary tradition and home to the Pat Conroy Literary Center. The center has become a wonderful nurturer for writers of all ages, a true tribute to the legacy of Pat Conroy himself. Everyone I’ve met in association with the Conroy Center has been extraordinarily helpful, friendly, and sincere. I’m not going to recite all the names of generous folk who have helped me along the way. The list would be too long for a short blog. I’m saving that expression of gratitude for the “Acknowledgements” in the eventual publication of my novel.
I have learned writers are very generous and supportive of each other. I guess we all know this calling is not an easy one. It’s driven by passion, not riches. We also are not competing with one another, and we believe in a writers’ community. Empathy abounds.
Interestingly, the Conroy Center has become an important tourist attraction in Beaufort. Millions of people know Pat Conroy through his writing and the many hit movies based on his books (The Great Santini, The Prince of Tides, and The Water is Wide to name a few). Thus, many of Pat’s fans make it a point to visit the center when they come to Beaufort. If you are a devoted reader of an author’s works, there’s something magical about sitting in the author’s chair at their desk. Pat’s chair awaits you.
Like everything else in life, writing a novel takes hard work and a thick skin. It’s one thing to put words on paper, but quite another to get someone to pay for those words. Rejection is part of the journey, and writers soon learn to live with it. My motto is “Onward!”
So where am I on my journey? I completed the first draft of my debut novel a year ago. It was the graduate thesis requirement for my MFA. As part of the program, I received editorial comments from the course professor, much of which I implemented in a second draft. Post-graduation, I submitted the novel to a few publishers. Crickets.
I have now scrubbed and re-worked the manuscript with professional guidance. I have re-read it multiple (feels like a thousand) times. Lest you think this is failure, it is largely par for the course with a debut novel…mine is just one of those hundreds of thousands coming out of word processors each year. One must persevere.
I’ll wrap this up by teasing some potentially exciting news. Stay tuned. And for those who follow my blog, this comes with my sincerest gratitude. You are my peeps. Thank you!
