Only three out of every 10,000 fiction books submitted to traditional publishers are selected for publication, according to one industry source. When Nora McFarland made the decision to write her book, she knew that there was less than a 1 percent chance that it would be seen on bookstore shelves.

“You have to be a little delusional to think that it’s all going to work out the way you want when the odds are pretty much against you. Or you have to be a realist and say to yourself, ‘It’s OK if it doesn’t work out because I’m doing this for myself,’” McFarland said. “I just felt like I wanted to give it a shot.”

But McFarland’s shot wasn’t in the dark. She took careful aim by preparing herself for the competitive world of publishing. She worked for four years on the book, writing, rewriting and editing. She carefully researched agents and their submission guidelines and then spent seven months producing and submitting query letters. Her hard work and perseverance will be rewarded on Aug. 3 when “A Bad Day’s Work” will be released by Touchstone, a division of Simon & Schuster. The book was chosen by Target for their special Emerging Authors program, which means McFarland’s new book will be featured prominently in all of their stores.