Right from the beginning i've been a fan of this venture, could never understand all the cynicism and Roger has proved what an opportunity NM is for new writers finding it hard to get a foot on the publishing ladder.

And yet, i'm aware that i see it as a kind of last chance saloon... a kind of "oh, i'll submit there once i've been through my list of agents" attitude. When really, considering Roger's success, i should question this.

I'm just interested if anyone else is considering /has considered submitting to them, and whether you rate NM equal to submitting to an agent. Obviously the financial rewards - initially - may not be equal, but from an exposure point of view, i don't know now...

What do you think?

Casey

I think it sounds like a brilliant scheme. You've still got be good to get taken on, so I don't think there's any element of "fooling" yourself into taking it as some kind of second-best. In my opinion, it's much better than a fall-back.

I'm definitely planning to submit to NM *as well* as agents once my novel is ready (which will be quite some time still!) as I regard them as being more or less equal options. I think that the opportunity for exposure is definitely the sort of thing that would be immensely useful for a debut novel - especially as I don't see myself writing the kind of blockbuster that's likely to get a huge advance, anyway!

Yes, i think many of us have an unreal idea of how much money we would earn anyway, from a debut novel.

I wasn't dissing the scheme in any way and certainly don't see it as an 'easier' way to get published, i just wondered if WWmembers saw it as something they would consider, equal to agents.

It's a pity other publishers haven't yet followed MM's wonderful example and set up similar projects.

Casey

If they were publishing children's fiction I'd submit in a heartbeat. That's based on the quality of Roger's book; wouldn't mind being in that sort of company at all!

Emily

(Roger, I really liked your book, can you tell?)

Yeh, i certainly don't think the quality of what they publish is any different to anywhere else, and i seem to remember that this was one of the criticisms initially, the worry that they would end up selecting authors who deserved to stay on the slushpile.

Casey

I think anything that broadens the range of quality fiction is a good thing. I also think they should release their novels in paperback to make the range even more accessible.

JB

I rate it highly as a way of enabling excellent writers to be published, when their first novel for one commercial reason or another isn't going to sell in the quantities that a mainstream publisher with its normal business model needs. As Roger's example shows, it's not in the least that the writers aren't good enough - it's not every day that you become Faber's latest literary crime star!

If it had come along a year earlier, I would have been in their like a shot.

Emma

Ah another mnw thread! As one of their authors, I may be biased but I rate them very highly. They are a great team, small but very dedicated. Very friendly, very approachable and very hard-working. (They also give good parties - as a Pan Macmillan editor enviously said to me once.)

The whole idea was to discover new authors who they could nurture and bring on as Macmillan authors. They designed a business model to reduce the risk to them. I don't think you can blame them for that. They could have not bothered doing anything and invested that money in bonuses for the directors. But they saw a real problem in fiction publishing - an ever dwindling pool of writers to draw on, with the big names becoming more and more dominant. They thought this was bad for them commercially (although it is also bad for 'the culture' in a wider sense). So this is what they came up with. If you believe what they say (and I do) it is closer to the way things used to be done. And it's very similar to the way academic authors are published (ie without an advance).

When I was sent the contract I showed it to my agent. He was aware - as I think everyone here will acknowledge - how fiendishly difficult it is to get a first novel published in this country. Macmillan is a great publishing house (despite being Jeffrey Archer's publisher!) and they wanted my book! He didn't waste much time telling me to sign.

And haven't you done well, Roger...

I think i will submit, now, whilst i'm submitting to other agents, bring MNW towards the front of the queue...

Casey

If they were publishing children's fiction I'd submit in a heartbeat

Agreed, Myrtle. Maybe they could be persuaded to take on YA fiction, and set a minimum word count.
<sigh> One lives in hope.

In my hungover state I missed Myrtle/Emily's post. Thank you for that lovely comment! I really appreciate it! I've got to eat something now, as I'm entering the phase in a hangover where you start to feel nauseous because you're hungry. But what? Beans on toast, I think. And maybe a fried egg.

(This is still related to MNW as I got my hangover because of them.)

Ooh choose wisely, Roger - there is nothing worse than eating food that doesn't quite touch the hangover...if I remember correctly...not having been pissed for three and a half long, miserable years.

I ended up having a Covent Garden winter vegetable soup with toast.

But I was still hungry, so I had a corned beef sandwich.

I left it a bit, but I was still hungry.

So I had a kitkat.

Still hungry.

Could anyone tell me if there's a closing date/deadline, or is it just a open-ended scheme for new writers, kinda thing?

http://www.macmillannewwriting.com/Contact%20Us/displayPage.asp?PageTitle=Submit%20Manuscript

<Added>

Roger, soup and corned beef?? Very questionable hangover cures. But it really depends what kind of hangover it is. Some hangovers respond well to armfuls of sushi laden with wasabi. Others require a steaming bowl of pasta. I've never heard of a hangover being cured by corned beef.