This is my story - had no trouble getting an agent - in fact got two and felt rather pleased with myself....however first novel was sent out a few years ago and no publisher picked it up. So I wrote a second which my agent was pretty excited by and i have been rejected by about ten or twelve in the last two months. Still a few more to go but there is a note of despair in my agents e-mail. She is a very well respected agent with lots of well known authors.
At what point do you just give up? I really believe this book could do well ...or am I compleatly deluding myself?
Anyone else got simular story to tell - happy or sad ending.

Love
Sophie

I think you've come a long way in a relatively short time, so certainly don't give up. If you truely have the writing bug all you can do is keep churning out the novels and hope that at some point the publishers will bite. There are fashions in publishing and hopefully your novels will be the next hot ticket - unless your agent is trying to catch the already rolling bandwaggon, in which case s/he will have to wait for it to come round again. Meanwhile, all you can do is keep writing.


- NaomiM

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ps, although you have an Agent, you can still sebmit your novels direct to several small presses and, eg, Macmillan New Writing.

Dear Nmott

Thanks - that is really helpful... true, I should stop whinging about it and get on with trying to write another. Thanks so much

Love
Sophie

Yes, more than one WWer has got a contract with a small publisher for One, which their agent gave up on, while their agent is trying to sell Two to a big publisher - MNW, Snowbooks, Two Ravens, Comma, Salt etc. etc. And meanwhile they're writing Three, and so on...

Emma

<Added>

Sorry - realise that looks like I'm describing Snowbooks, 2 Ravens etc. as the big publishers, which wasn't what I meant...

Everyone's allowed to whinge, Sophie (WW doesn't really stand for Write Words, you know ), so whinge away. I presume that one advantage of being with an agency is access to an editor, so even if your agent fails to find you a publisher, you can still have help polishing up your novels before subitting them yourself.

- NaomiM

Yeah, you're streets ahead of a lot of us on WW - still struggling to find representation! It is indeed a sad story though, because all us hopefuls secretly think that the second we get signed up by an agency, the ££ will start rolling in.

I wish I hadn't read your post now.

No don't get depressed...I think that it is usually the case...I have the sneaking suspicion that my agent is the only person who will ever really like my books.

I had the same situation with Book One - it was rejected by ten or twelve (or maybe even fifteen, I lost count) folk in the mainstream. It was, though, taken on by Snowbooks, a small independent publisher, and is coming out in a couple of weeks and will (I think) be in all the major bookshops and stuff.

There are lots of people who turn their noses up at small publishers - kind of, 'If it's not Faber, I don't want to know' - but lots of very good books are passed over by the mainstream for lots of reasons (risk, mainly) and I'm as happy with Snowbooks as I would be anywhere, and can't imagine a big publisher doing a better job of selling it. Obviously, to hit the big time and sell a million copies, you need the advertising budget of a mainstream publisher behind you, but not many people hit the big time with their first novel, so a small publisher with a good sales record is a really good place to start. The only thing you don't get so much with a small publisher is reviews in the broadsheets, but I'm not sure how brilliant they are for sales, anyway (compared with getting in Three for two and Buy One Get One Half Price offers).

My agent is hoping to sell Book 2 in the mainstream. I don't know yet whether that will happen as I'm still working on it, but his sales pitch c an now include, 'First novel sold xxxxx copies' and I won't be entering the mainstream as a complete unknown, so will be less of a risk this time.

If it weren't for the fact that the mainstream is where the money is and I want to do expensive things like buy houses and bring up children, I'd be happy to stick with SB forever.

Erm . . .I can't remember what I was going to say now. But try the small publishers. Some of them are brill, and Snowbooks is particularly brill. Plus they have a lovely snowflake printed on the spine, which I think looks even nicer than a penguin.

I would agree re. the snowflake. Very spangly.

Sophie, can I ask what genre you write in? I think the rules are so different for something like, say, literary fiction, compared to sci-fi, for instance. Perhaps it's harder to break into the mainstream market as a genre writer - I don't know - but at least there's a chance that if you do so you'll be a big money-spinner, whereas if you're writing general fiction, the chances are you'll never be a cash cow for a major publisher, and maybe they're less willing to take risks on you.

From what you've posted, it sounds like your agent is willing to stick with you, even if she is getting a little despondent. I'd definitely echo the advice of everyone else to try the small publishers.

As someone who is (hopefully) hovering on the brink of getting an agent, your post is a timely reminder that it ain't all over til the fat lady (or in this case publisher) sings!

God you are so nice ........honestly I was feeling a bit sniverly today on the way to work...thinking all this breadwinning (my husband doesn't do that - but then that's another story) and slog and childrearing (actually that is lovely) would be fine if only the novel got picked up. i've taken your advice about snowbooks - i would be thrilled if a small publisher took me on - i think as you said in many ways it is better. Well done --- you sound so calm and level headed. You have made me feel so much better.

Thanks so much

Sophie

Sophie, if you're thinking along those lines this is a list I put together for someone recently - I hope the links translate:

Salt
Comma
Seren (the big English Language Welsh publisher)
Bluechrome
Two Ravens
Snowbooks (biggish these days, but welcome a direct approach)
Flambard
Maia Press
Iron Press
Tindal Street
Arcadia Books
Long Barn Books

and everyone listed on today's roundup in The Bookseller of small publishers to watch:

http://www.thebookseller.com/in-depth/feature/50748-new-year-new-lists-to-watch.html

You could also have a look at the Independent Publishers Guild list of members here:

http://www.ipg.uk.com/cgi-bin/indexer?showmembers=true

and this round-up, which is really meant for librarians, but has all the links

http://www.branching-out.net/independent/default.asp

Emma

I bought an interesting novel today published by Old Street Press. It was 3 for 2 in Borders in Covent Garden. I haven't heard of them before. Maybe worth a look.

<Added>

Thanks Sapph, yes it's Old Street Publishing

Hi Sophie, your experience sounds very like mine. When I was first taken on by an agent, many many years ago, she was very excited and confident about placing that particular book. It didn't get taken up. Nor did the next one. Or the next one. Or the next one. Or the next one. Or several other next ones. But, madly perhaps, I kept at it. Finally, the publishing industry decided to take pity on me. I managed to get not one but two publishers within a short space of time.

If there was an award for peseverance I might make the long list - along with a good number of other ww-ers, I dare say!

Roger, I'd fight you for that award...

Emma

That's a stressful and depressing situation, but a common one too, I should think. You got this far - don't give up.