If you've never been published before, you're an 'unknown quantity', so you're going to have difficulty selling your first novel.
('chiefly US') The 'big unknown' [=the important thing that everyone would like to know] is how investors will react.
A 'fear of the unknown' kept her from changing jobs.
(..) Yeah,you know,sheldon,howard,raj. Who all's coming? They... might all be there. Or a subset of them might be there. Algebraically speaking,there are too many unknowns. For example,sheldon had quiznos for lunch. Sometimes he finds that filling,other times he doesn'T. It's no fault of quiznos- (..)2007 TvShow: The Big Bang Theory Title: The Fuzzy Boots Corollary Season: 1 Episode 3