I put this in the Private Lounge, but decided to repost it in a more public place because I thought it might be of interest. Not strictly related to getting published, though it is an indicator of how tough this is becoming:

A friend of mine, the author Lee Jackson, who has 6 published novels, and two published non-fiction books to his name, did not get his contract renewed by Random House. He has therefore chosen to make his latest book - Diary of a Murder - available through online for free. It's an interesting, brave - foolhardy? - decision. Interestingly, the book has found a French publisher, and actually Lee is much bigger in France than he is in the UK. You can read all about his reasons here: http://www.victorianlondon.org/diary/index.htm

Lee also runs the Victorian London website, which is an invaluable resource for anyone who writes fiction set in the victorian era - histfic-ers check it out! http://www.victorianlondon.org/

Should just say that Lee is very good - he gets great reviews and was once shortlisted for the Ellis Peters Historical Crime novel, lost out to Andrew Taylor's American Boy.

Thanks for posting, Roger.

I will definitely check out the novel and good luck to Lee!

Sarah