So, I’ve said for some time that I am no longer sending my novels out. Long long boring refrain of mine. Sorry

But someone said to me I shouldn't give up sending my novel out - I haven't tried any publishers yet.

so I thought ok ok so's not to be defeatist I'll give the small pubs ago.

so this morning I took a look at

Serpents tail
Canongate
Arcadia
Do not Press

All these guys say they are committed to outside the mainstream, to new voices - they hate big publishing.

ok

Great
let's try.
yup
AGENTED ONLY

you heard.

AGENTED ONLY

committed to outside the mainstream but only from agents.

yup

agents won't make enough money sending books to these people so unless they think you're going to be big or they know you or something - how the fuck are they going to take you on to send to these guys?

I found Dedalus open to subs - great but I'm not sure I am suitable for them.

oh yes absolutely no point giving up yet.

Defeatist? Me? Jamais.

Jai, don't give up, there are other good independent publishers - Dewi Lewis, Piatkus, Flambard. And there's always self-publishing...

Nell.

Or another course is to accidentally make friends with people who work at the publishing houses. That's how Monica Ali got straight in front of the editors without agents or slushpiles or ANYTHING.

Or have sex with them. Sorry, that was a joke.

Or have sex with them.

Cath, did I mention I work for the William Morris Agency?
That whole car salesman bit was just a front to have you guys pity me.

Silver, I reckon you do a site search on the word 'sex' every day - possibly every hour.

Cath, have you heard the saying that a dog has one thought for each paw… food, food, sex and food.

I bet Adam only eats once a day…

Jai,

Have you looked at any small US publishers?

Jai, these publishers – with a welcome on the mat and locked doors - should be asked to explain their philosophy.

I’ve just read your story in Bonfire and thought it superb. It’s classy and stylish and a joy to read.

Before you get too downhearted, pick up your copy and turn to page 119. Read what Carrie says about this issue’s contributors.

heating up the contemporary literary scene.

You CAN write. It’s not you that’s lacking. It’s the system. Don’t give up.

Dee

Jai, I've not read much of your work, but the bits I have seen have a lyrical intensity that reminds me of how I felt the first time I read Angela Carter. It's good, and you know that.

I know it seems like sometimes there is no hope: I'm just coming out of one of those periods which has lasted over a year, this time. But I am beginning to send my work out again, and even though all I've had is rejections, it's feeling good to get comments back (they aren't all bad!).

If it is too disheartening for you to do the rounds of submissions, then I quite understand. It's horrible at times, ESPECIALLY when you know the quality of your work is good and it still gets rejected.

If you can distance yourself from that miserable, shrinking rejection-feeling, though, and cope with all the associated administration which goes along with submitting, then do it.

My feelings are that your work is good, and if you can get your work out there, it will find readers. There are people (and lots of them) who will seek your work out, given the chance.

Agents can be terrible, I'll agree (you and I have discussed this before!). But there are some good ones out there, waiting for your mss to drop into their laps. Keep trying, if you can bear to. But if not, then don't. So long as you keep writing because that is, after all, the important thing.

I hope that's not patronising: I didn't intend to be, but this online thing can be difficult. What I am aiming for, in my clumsy way, is to be encouraging and understanding. Not things that I can transmit easily across the ether, but I'll try!

Oh Jai, it's a heartbreaking scene, we all know that, and day to day we feel better or worse about it. Publishers write back saying they're not even reading anything, agents play hard to get, as if they are so cool and knowledgeable, and then you wander into a bookshop and pick up at random the stuff on the front table and you open up and you read the first page, and skim through to give it a chance and you think: this got published? And you look at your own work and think: how come this isn't taking yet? Then you wonder if maybe not being at school or college with the right people is the problem. But what can you do except carry on, because the business changes constantly, often for the worse, but somewhere there is that reader who is in maybe just a humble position, an intern who comes in once a week to look through the 'slush pile' at the agency, and you can see this person constantly in the corner of your eye, and they are the one who one day will pick up your submission and think 'this is different, this is good' and they'll pass it up the chain of command, and then the agent will say okay we'll fly this particlar kite and then a publisher will say 'I love it, it's original, it's brilliantly written, but how can I publish it successfully ...' And then just at that moment they will say 'okay, I'll take a gamble' and it gets published, and maybe it's only here that your troubles begin, as Waterstone's turn round and say, 'can't do anything with this' ... but maybe, just maybe the work will break through and find its readership.
Not much help, more of a rant than anything constructive, but you're such a good writer ...

Joe

Hi Jai,

I can't speak for the others but I have a friend who works at one of the publishers above who is in a position to suggest and put forward manuscripts, and because of this gets a ridiculous amount of unwanted grief and attention.

His job is stressful enough without it, but he's actually had a number of people stalk him with the sole intent of trying to get their work published.

Despite the fact that they state quite clearly that they do not accept unsolicited mss they still receive tons of them. And believe it or not they do from time to time have a read through some of them.

The problem is that today there are so many people writing and sending stuff to agents/publsihers that it just becomes unpractical to accept them. Having to wade through so much stuff, 99% of which will be total shit not even worthy vanity publishing, must be a nightmare.

The very fact that these publishers do publish stuff that is outside the mainstream means they receive unbelievable amounts of attention from people who have been rejected by agents and publishers. Some simply because it is radically different from what most people are interested but predominantly because its totally unreadable shit.

So all I guess I'm saying is that it's easy to criticise publishers saying that they don't care or they're acting in a contradictory fashion but they are not they're simply doing what we all do and trying to make things a little easier and less stressful for themselves.

Now I'm not having a go at anyone posted here, and as yet I haven't read anything of yours Jai but I think it's very easy for people to have a go without understanding.

Geoff

Just a small point, but when a publisher says 'no unsolicited manuscripts' it doesn't always mean don't send them anything. It can mean they don't want to see your whole book unasked for, but they will consider a query letter and synopsis.

Terry

Thanks everyone for your encouragement - will reply fuller tomorrow - right now battling with a problem wisdom tooth - impacted or an abscess dunno yet. but painkillers and a bottle of wine have made it a bit easier! get back to you soon

Poor Jai - You have my complete sympathy. A long-impacted wisdom tooth caused the tooth in front of it to go off, and so I had to have that tooth yanked last week Saturday. Just now recovering. Hope you do better. By the way, rinse your mouth with vodka. It's better than aspirin. (I learned this trick from the Russians, and it works.)