Kipling may have written: ‘… If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same…’ but I’ll bet his novel hasn’t just been declined by a major UK publishing house. Of the two imposters, I know which one I’d like to write to me!
There are several positives, despite their decision. The editor in question had generously allowed me to resubmit an excerpt from Standpoint after a full edit. And she'd passed it to one of their senior commissioning editors, who specialises in crime and thrillers. So I can’t say my manuscript hasn't been given a fair opportunity.
There was some useful feedback as well: ‘…although she thinks you write well and clearly have potential in this area, she did not think that the material was strong enough yet since it is extremely tough to break out a new author in the thriller market. She complimented the pace of your writing, but felt that the beginning of the novel was confusing and that Miranda’s role did not flow naturally.
Her advice would be that, rather than submitting direct to publishers, which is a notoriously difficult route, you should find an agent to represent you and to work with on your writing.’
Naturally, I'll heed the advice of the professionals. I'll take a fresh look at the opening scenes and ponder what could be done about Miranda, and what she'll let me do. And of course, I'll review my trusty spreadsheet of thriller literary agents; I might even chase up the one who's taken 5 months to not respond to me so far.
And I'll do all this with a clear sense of purpose, trying to ignore that inner critic's voice, which whispers, 'What if your novel just isn't good enough, whatever you do to it?'
Right this minute though, having waited six months for news, I can't help feeling like the contestants in Bullseye who lost out in the final round, when Jim Bowen puts a fatherly arm around them and says, "Come and have a lot at what you would have won."
Meantime, if you know of any literary agents looking for thrillers, point them in my direction.
Chin up, Derek. . . you WILL get Standpoint publisihed, but obviously not as soon as you'd like. Just my gut feeling.
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Hi Nancy, and thanks for the vote of confidence. I think I'll get there too. The challenge for writers without an agent (and even afterwards) is the wearing of many hats. I enjoy the writing hat, I quite like the rewriting / editing hat, but I'm less keen on the book promotion hat at the moment. Maybe I need a sorting hat!
ReplyDeleteGod, this sucks. I don't have any advice, because I've never done what you're doing or waited six months to hear about a manuscript (much less written one). I can only think of what my dad, who's a cartoonist and fine artist, says about living off your creativity, and that's that you have to get over your discomfort at being a relentless self-promoter. My grandfather was a cartoonist, too, and he saved every one of his rejection letters in a file as a sort of cosmic SO THERE when he became famous(ish). And he did become famousish.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts, Sofia. You're quite right, you have to treat it as a business and seize every opportunity. And always keep a rabbit's foot close by, in case you need a nutritious snack.
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