Hi – things look different I know! That’s because in my writing world they are different. I’ve spent a lot of time this summer thinking about my building frustration with the soul destroying world of agents, editors and publishers and how this makes me unhappy and takes me away from what’s important – the writing itself. As a result I’ve come to some big decisions about the future. I’m going to write about these decisions here on the blog and about this whole journey as I know there are other writers out there feeling like me, so here goes – it seems the best place to start is the beginning: The Sweet Track, my first novel... an unusual and beautifully written book – Diane Scully, Somerset Life
I wrote the book in just over a year and sent it out to agents (synopsis, first 3 Chapters and a letter). An agent asked to see the rest, liked it and took me on. She told me it could win prizes, she talked of film rights, and then attempted to auction it to six big publishers at the same time. But the auction didn’t pay off and things went very quiet. She didn’t like my second novel and I knew I just couldn’t work with her (although I am always grateful for her enthusiasm for the book). I got another agent who said she didn’t think she could sell The Sweet Track but liked my second novel The Orchid House. It came close, very close – Headline said they thought long and hard, Bloomsbury said they thought one day I would write something very special and wanted to see my next book. But still no deal.
Then along came Flambard Press looking for a previously unpublished North East novelist and inviting submissions and I was fortunate to be the one they chose. I say fortunate because everyone needs some luck – everyone needs to find that person who loves what you do. It took time to reach publication stage, I got a token sum, but most importantly I had a book – and it’s impossible to quantify what that means – because when people get to read what you’ve written and they enjoy it and feedback to you – then that brings your writing to life! Flambard did that for me and I am sad to know that they will no longer be in business after 2012. Good, small publishers are hard to find and life just gets tougher for many writers but there are solutions which I will be talking about here, especially e publishing, so please don’t give up!
Next post: Is Getting An Agent the Answer?
If you would like to purchase a copy of The Sweet Track – you can do so here at amazon
