Re: Writer's problem
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Fri, 17 Jul 1998 11:36:17 +1000
Thanks for all your lavish and wholly undeserved praise Pruffrok33 (:
As far as publishing goes - it's a very, very, VERY difficult business to
break into at the moment. I've actually found it easier to break into film,
which you wouldn't expect! In my country especially I've received
manuscripts from places with notes saying `We're sorry, we couldn't even
contemplate reading this, we're just not in the position to solicit new
people' - the industry's in total turmoil. I can't comment on the situation
in America - I understand that very few places accept unsolicited
manuscripts anymore (that is, things from people that either they've never
heard of or don't have an agent), so a smaller publisher may be your best
bet. If you're rich, you may want to do what they call a `vanity
publishing' - a private publication, or one in conjunction with a place
like Minerva Press in England (who will print your book but will ask you to
contribute something like $5,000 of your own money towards it) but on the
whole this isn't advised, because it sends out a message of `None of the
other publishers would print it so I had to'.
I've been hawking the same manuscript for over 2 years now, and have had a
couple of extremely frustrating near misses. I submitted it to Pan
MacMillan and they held onto it for a year, only to ditch it in the very
last stage of talks, which was heartbreaking (another thing - develop a
very thick skin NOW, as you're certainly going to need it later!) I've had
so little time in the past year or so that I've practically given up on
having it published but I keep promising to send a few chapters to a lot of
smaller publishing places (I've pretty much exhausted the larger ones). I
really need an agent, but I'm of two minds about it - I've gotten this far
without one, so why should I surrender 10% to someone who does what I
could've done anyway? On the other hand, I could get a lot more work if I
had one. Like a lot of things, I'm leaving that til next year, after I
graduate.
Like everything in this business, it's all a matter of the old phrase, 1%
inspiration, 99% perspiration. You've really got to stick to your guns and
never allow yourself the luxury of `why me???'
All that said, I'm not a published writer, so maybe Will or Scottie would
be better to ask on this subject - they're two bananafishers I know for a
fact have been published.
By the way ... anyone out there own a small printing company willing to
print up a wistful coming of age story set in Woodstock??? (:
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE
www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
THE INVERTED FOREST
www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest