Literary agents

Today I sent off my latest submission to the next literary agent on my list; a pitch letter, a synopsis, the first three chapters and summaries of the remaining chapters of "Martha's Vineyard". Each time it is an act of hope over expectation but, as always, I still felt a thrill when the postmaster dropped the bulky package into the sack, to be opened in London by a stranger, someone who might see the potential of the story I've spent the last three years crafting into a final version, using only my own imagination, some excellent software and the generous, wise, considered, thorough, sincere and intelligent counsel of a large number of dear and valued friends.

I was going to do it last Friday but there was a postal strike. As agents prefer to exclusively consider the work, I am sending to each one on my list one at a time. They can sometimes take as long as three months before responding or sending you their rejection letter ( I can sympathise there a lot of hopeful writers looking for agents out here) and so it is quite a frustrating business. That is largely why I have felt compelled to start this blog, to allow me to continue to develop an interest in my work, create the "buzz" while waiting for the endorsement and support of an agent. Who will, even then, still need to find a publisher to have sufficient faith in my project.

Also to make it easier for my friends to read, proof, crit and correct it, I have signed up to lulu.com an internet publisher, well an internet printer really. Lulu will print your manuscript, or make it available as a download, at a reasonable per unit cost and also give you a "storefront" on their website but the writer is responsible for their own promotion and marketing, although it must be said that the Lulu community is a very supportive one. It obviously has yet to break through to the mainstream and constantly fights the prejudice of POD publishing, (Print On Demand) but I am sure it is certainly past of the future.

That aside it is, after all, imposition enough to ask you friends and colleagues to agree to read your novel without expecting them to fight their way through a bulky manuscript printed out on 300 sheets of A4. (You can't read that in bed, can you?) This however has subsequently become another central plank of my marketing strategy. (See link buy or download the book)

I must confess though that I was quite excited, well extremely excited at the close of last year when the first proof copies arrived through the post looking to all intents and purposes like "proper", already published books. I guess that's why they call it "Vanity" publishing. It is of course in the interests of the publishing industry to call it this and to pooh-pooh "vanity" press, it is after all their term. I assume the vanity is to have the cheek to have a manuscript published before a publisher has given it the green light. This dismissal of alternatives methods of publication, of course allows them to keep control of trends in the literary market and to keep conditions right for their own stables of writers. It is also why the industry has been so quick to dismiss the POD revolution and identify it as "vanity" publishing. It may be that this is not so and that I'm paranoid but just in case I haven't mentioned my Lulu experiment to any of the agents I am submitting to. So shh! That will have to be our little secret.