Ready, Nearly, Not Yet

from Leading Human Hosted by Chad Prevost

Last week I mentioned an agent who read 6,152 queries and signed two writers. This week I want to talk about the other 6,150. Every one of them got a letter—or possibly just a long and unreturned response—but one way or another the message said some version of: thank you, but this isn’t the right fit for our list. That sentence contains no information. It doesn’t tell you whether your book was almost there or nowhere close, whether to revise for a year or send it out again Tuesday. I read every manuscript that comes to my press myself, and everyone who sends pages gets one of three answers in writing, with the reasons. Ready. Nearly. Not yet. This episode is what those three words actually mean, why nobody upstream in the industry is checking readiness at all, and then the question I get at dinner parties: can’t I just edit my own book? The honest answer has a wall in it that has nothing to do with how good a writer you are. Follow The Difficulty: Subscribe at chadprevost.substack.com, or listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. The Difficulty is produced by Crossroads Publishing Group, a message-and-meaning press. More also at chadprevost.com. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadprevost.substack.com

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Ready, Nearly, Not Yet

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This episode was published on September 7, 2026.

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