In the mining industry that I am familiar with, it’s not unusual for a discovery to take 15 to 20 years before it becomes a mine.

By the time the revised and illustrated book of Into the Unknown is officially released, it will have gone through eight drafts. I am proud to say that with this latest edition, I’ve taken my work to a whole new level—a creative triumph.

I believe I have a page-turner from beginning to the end. More than that, it will stand the test of time.

Twelve years have gone by since I first embarked on the journey.

(Book II – Gold Rush – won’t take as long; perhaps two years now that I am more experienced.)

Of course, I wasn’t working on the book full-time. I had a business to run and family responsibilities. There were tines when I had to stop and focused on marketing.

In a culture that prizes instant gratification, I sometimes wonder if I am the odd one out for having the patience and perseverance to stick with my creation through to the end.

Since I subscribed to Writer’s Digest, my literary horizons have expanded. Reading about other authors (both indie and traditionally published) and what it takes to get their books published, I am often struck by two things (i) their diverse backgrounds; and (ii) their patience and perseverance.

Some examples:

• Kiran Desai’s book — The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunni to be released in September. She spent close to 20 years writing it.
• Jemimah Wei — The Original Daughter. It took her nine years to finish it before she approached an agent. A full 11 years by the time it’s
  published.
• Jacqueline Park — The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi. Park was 62 when she began writing it. The book was published when she was 72.
• Jesse Q. Sutanto — You Will Never Be Me. Got her degree in creative writing at the University of Oxford. It took her over 10 years to get her
  first book traditionally published.
• Kristin Owens — Elizabeth Sails. Although it only took her six months to write and one year to edit on her own, by the time the book is published, it will have been eight years.

Most people don’t realize that writing a book can take years. Then comes the process of finding a literary agent to represent them. If they survive the rejections and land a publisher, it still takes, on average, another two years before the book is published.

After all that hard work, there’s no guarantee it will be a financial success.

Riley Sager, the bestselling thriller writer, found instant overnight success with his Final Girls book. But few know that this was preceded by “many, many years of toil” and disappointing sales with his other books.

How many? 20 years!

Years of toil are par for the course for aspiring authors, but that doesn’t mean that quick and early success is impossible. Chloe Gong was still a 2nd year university student when she wrote her bestseller (These Violent Delights), which became an instant New York Times bestseller.

Since then, she has written other books—all this while still in her twenties.

There are other best-selling authors who seem to crank out a book every one or two years.

And if you self-publish, the process is faster.

It’s possible that after I finish my trilogy, with so much experience under my belt, I could write a thriller at the rate of one a year, too. In the meantime, I need to stay focused on getting the 2nd book done.

(Interested in a free copy of Into the Unknown to review? Please contact Hai via the contact form at his website https://www.haivanle.com.)