Long arsed, Oscar-style thanks pages really piss me off.

Hooray! Someone who agrees with me on this. It looks ever-so-humble, and actually it's saying 'look how many people think I'm wonderful enough to help'. In non-fiction it's fair enough, and arguably in fiction if you get help from a professional who would expect a credit in return. But all that 'auntie ella's pies and the dog' crap...

And in Oscar and Lucinda, they're at the front, and because Carey thanked someone for lots of help about Philip Gosse, I knew Oscar's father was based on him. I couldn't help reading this whole - extraordinary and beautifully written - character watching and wondering about the mechanics of the conversion of Gosse into fiction. I can't help feeling that was part of what stopped me getting into what is clearly a fantastic book. Never got beyond Chapter 3 or so.

The point about © is that you don't need it. Your work is copyright when you write it, and it's not that hard to find this out. If an agent is feeling slush-pile-sea-sick and/or is the sort who bristles agressively with booktrade knowhow, with absolutely no insight into what an aspiring writer will or won't know or understand, such things as © or PSBR or dedications may put them off. If they're not that kind of agent, they probably won't even notice. But you can't tell from WAAYB which they are, so why risk it?

Snowbell, your point about reading scripts makes sense.

Emma

Eek - At risk of sounding horribly naive and unprofessional - what is PSBR? Oh no its slushpile death for me, I think...

Don't scream, it's my inattentive typing: I meant FBSR, which means First British Serial Rights. PSBR, I've just remembered, means Public Sector Borrowing Requirement. God knows why that came out of my fingers. It isn't exactly my usual kind of conversation.

But of course we could start a thread on whether putting PSBR is an automatic rejection every time, or only if you're doing an electronic submission...

Emma

I think it's meant to be FBSR: First British Serial Rights (as applied to magazine submissions), as opposed to Public Sector Borrowing Requirements, but I could be wrong :D

<Added>

Oops, sorry, cross-posted with Emma.

But of course we could start a thread on whether putting PSBR is an automatic rejection every time, or only if you're doing an electronic submission...

hehe

At least I know what PSBR stands for now and will be able to impress people at...financial workers christmas parties...

But of course we could start a thread on whether putting PSBR is an automatic rejection every time, or only if you're doing an electronic submission...

hehe

At least I know what PSBR stands for now and will be able to impress people at...financial workers christmas parties.

Don't know why that happened. Sorry