“Sir, how can I help you?” The receptionist was a blonde girl in her twenties, with a sweet but professional smile.
“I’d like to submit a manuscript. These are sample chapters of my novel.” Wos handed over the folder.
The girl took the folder and flipped through it.
“Have you published any works before?”
“Um… this is my first work.”
The girl’s smile visibly stiffened.
“Please wait a moment, I’ll contact the editorial department.”
She picked up the phone and dialed an internal number.
“Hello, editorial department? There’s a gentleman here who wants to submit a manuscript… What? A new author?… Okay, I understand.”
After hanging up, the girl’s smile became even more professional.
“I’m very sorry, but our editorial department is not currently accepting submissions from new authors. I suggest you first publish some works in small literary magazines, build up some name recognition, and then try again.”
“You won’t even take a look?” Wos was a little reluctant to give up.
“My story is really exciting…”
“It’s company policy, please understand.” The girl’s attitude had clearly cooled.
Seeing her businesslike expression, Wos knew there was no point in saying anything more.
“Alright, thank you.” He put away the folder and turned to leave.
Walking out of Random House’s front doors, Wos took a deep breath.
He had actually expected this result, since he really was a nobody.
“It’s fine, there are other publishers.” Wos looked at the address list in his hand.
“Next stop, Penguin!”
Penguin’s office building wasn’t as grand as Random House’s, but it was still a modern twenty-story building.
This time Wos had learned his lesson and stated his purpose directly.
“I have a novel set in World War II and I’d like to submit it to your company.”
The receptionist was a woman in her thirties who seemed more experienced than the one at Random House.
“Which agent referred you?”
“An agent?” Wos was taken aback.
“I don’t have an agent.”
“Have you published any works before?”
“This is my first work.”
The woman shook her head.
“Sir, we don’t accept submissions from new authors without agent representation. I suggest you find a literary agent first, or take part in some literary competitions to gain recognition.”
“But my story is really good…”
“It’s an industry rule, please understand.”
The same result again.
Wos left Penguin feeling a bit depressed.
“Damn it, are the barriers at these big publishers really this high?” Wos muttered as he walked down the street.
“They reject you without even looking.”
Over the next few hours, Wos went to five more publishers, with more or less the same results.
Either they didn’t accept new authors, or they needed an agent’s referral, or they told him to go build up credits in small magazines first.
“Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillan…” Wos looked at the names crossed off the list.
“Total wipeout.”
It was already one in the afternoon.
Wos was tired and hungry, so he bought a hot dog by the roadside to tide himself over.
“Looks like the big publishers really are hard to crack.” He bit into the hot dog.
“I need to change my approach.” Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Wos reexamined his strategy.
Maybe he should start with small publishers, get his work out first, build up some readers and word of mouth, and then consider the big publishers.
“Small publishers wouldn’t be this snobbish, right?” Wos’s fighting spirit was rekindled.
He searched for small publishers in New York on his phone and quickly found a few targets.
The first was “Radiance Press,” a small company that specialized in publishing new authors.
“Radiance Press” was located in an old three-story building, with peeling paint on the exterior walls, which was quite shabby compared to those glass towers.
But Wos couldn’t afford to care about that now.
All he needed was someone willing to read his manuscript.
Pushing open the door, Wos found that there wasn’t even a reception desk, only a crude sign reading “Editor Osk’s Office, Second Floor.”
“This place… is certainly modest.” Wos laughed at himself and walked up the stairs with his folder.
The second-floor hallway was covered with an old-fashioned carpet, and the walls were plastered with posters of works by unknown writers.
Wos found the door to the editorial office and knocked lightly.
“Come in.” A slightly weary voice came from inside.
Wos pushed the door open and was a bit shocked by the scene.
The office wasn’t big, and a large desk took up almost half the room.
The desk was piled high with thick printed manuscripts, at least several dozen of them, stacked like a small mountain.
Sitting behind the desk was a man in his forties wearing old-fashioned gold-rimmed glasses, his hair a bit thin, buried in a manuscript and not even looking up when Wos came in.
“Are you Editor Osk?” Wos asked tentatively.
“Mm.” The man didn’t look up and kept flipping through the manuscript in his hands.
“Say what you need to say, I’m busy.”
Looking at the “mountain of manuscripts” on the desk, Wos instantly understood why Editor Osk was so busy.
“I’m here to submit a manuscript. These are sample chapters of my novel,” Wos said carefully.
“A new author?” Editor Osk finally looked up and glanced at Wos through his glasses.
“Yes, this is my first work.”
Editor Osk nodded, as if he were long used to this kind of conversation.
He put down the manuscript in his hands and held out a hand.
“Give me the manuscript, and your contact information.”
Wos quickly took the printed sample out of the folder.
“These are the first twenty pages, the opening of the story. Contact information… I don’t have a phone, can I leave an address?”
“No phone?” Editor Osk looked at him with some surprise.
“There are still people who don’t use phones these days?”
“Money’s a bit tight,” Wos said, feeling awkward.
Editor Osk didn’t mean to mock him and simply nodded.
“Then write down your address.”
Wos wrote his home address on a sticky note and handed the sample and the note together to Editor Osk.
Editor Osk took the manuscript and casually flipped through it.
When he saw the title “Reborn in World War II, I Became Captain America’s Comrade,” one eyebrow rose slightly.
“A superhero theme?”
“Yes, but it’s mainly set against a World War II historical background, and the superhero element is just one part of it.” Wos hurriedly explained.
“Mm.” Editor Osk placed the manuscript next to another pile on the desk.
“I read dozens of manuscripts every day, and yours is toward the back of the line. At most you’ll hear something tomorrow.”
“You’ll really read it?” Wos couldn’t help asking.
Editor Osk looked up at him, his tone a bit helpless.
He pointed at the mountain of manuscripts on the desk.
“As you can see, these are all submissions received today. I have to read them one by one and evaluate them one by one. If yours passes the first review, someone will come to your door to notify you.”
“Come to my door?”
“Yes, our company is pretty small and doesn’t have much of a phone bill budget.” Editor Osk gave a wry smile.
“If a manuscript is selected, we send someone straight to your home to discuss the contract details. If it isn’t selected… then you won’t hear anything.”
Wos nodded.
Although this method of notification was a bit primitive, it was at least much better than the big publishers who wouldn’t even look.
“Then I’ll wait for your news.” Wos got ready to leave.
“Wait.” Editor Osk called him back.
“Your theme, Captain America, is actually quite interesting. Superhero themes are very popular right now, and if it’s written well, you might really have a chance.”
These words made a wave of hope rise in Wos’s heart.
“Thank you for the encouragement!”
“Don’t get too happy too soon. I only said there’s a chance, it still depends on the quality of the content.” Editor Osk lowered his head again and went back to the manuscript in his hands.
“Alright, you can go.”
Wos quietly backed out of the office, feeling much lighter than before.
Walking out of the doors of “Radiance Press,” Wos took a deep breath.
Although there was no definite result yet, at least someone was willing to seriously read his manuscript, which was much better than the cold attitude of the big publishers.
“There’ll be news tomorrow.” Wos looked at his watch.
It was three in the afternoon.
“Time to go home and wait.”
On the way home, Wos’s mood got better and better.
Although he had run around all day and been rejected countless times by the big publishers, he had finally found a place willing to give him a chance.
“And Editor Osk said superhero themes are popular,” Wos thought as he walked.
“Looks like I made the right choice.”
When he got back to their place, Tom and Jerry were waiting for him in the living room.
Seeing Wos return, the two little ones immediately gathered around, their eyes full of concern.
“How did it go?” Tom’s expression seemed to ask.
“There’s hope!” Wos raised both hands excitedly.
“Although the big publishers all turned me down, I found a small publisher, and the editor said he’ll read my manuscript carefully and there’ll be news tomorrow!”
Tom and Jerry looked at each other, and both were happy about Wos’s good news.
“And the editor said superhero themes are popular, so I made the right choice!” The more Wos talked, the more excited he got.
“Maybe I’ll really make it!”
Jerry jumped onto Wos’s shoulder and patted his cheek with his tiny paw, as if to say “You worked hard.”
“Not hard at all, not hard at all!” Wos stroked Jerry’s little head.
“For our future, this little bit of effort is nothing!”
Tom pointed at the clock, then at himself, reminding Wos that he had to perform at the restaurant tonight.
“Right, right, you still have work tonight.” Wos slapped his forehead.
“I got so excited that I forgot. Go get ready, we can’t let the guests down.”
Tom nodded and walked toward the wardrobe to get his tailcoat.
“You perform well tonight, and I’ll wait at home for news from the publisher.” Wos sat down on the sofa.
“Maybe tomorrow we’ll be celebrating a double happiness!”
Watching Tom’s elegant figure as he changed into his tailcoat, Wos’s heart was full of anticipation.
Although running around all day had been tiring, this feeling of hustling for his dream made him feel especially fulfilled.
“Keep it up, Wos,” he told himself.
“The opportunity is right in front of you.”