Dispiriting day...

Having finished my book - a memoir centred around the six months I cared for mum in her final illness, but also covering growing up with Asperger's, family dynamics, the state of social care, and love! (all relevant topics for society today, I'd have thought) - I decided to check around for an agent to send it to.

I now discover that for most literary agencies, narrative non-fiction works shouldn't be written first!  What you're supposed to do is submit a proposal - anything between 25 and 50 pages long - plus a report showing how you've analysed the market with similar books, then pitching your 'proposed' book in terms of how it competes with those books!  Then, if they like that, you get commissioned to write the book!

I rang a couple of agencies, but they confirmed they refuse to handle narrative non-fiction submissions in the same way as for fiction.  Don't send an excerpt, because it won't be read.  Write a proposal.  I spoke to a one-time literary agent friend about it, and he went on about how agents will barely look at unknown writers any more (even if they've been published), and how bleak things really are out there for writers in general.  He also thought the book was too long for a memoir, at 150k words.  That's a nonsense, I think - though attention spans aren't what they used to be, of course.  I need to say what I need to say, and I need that number of words to say it.  There's not a word wasted, either. 

Self-publishing - Amazon for Kindle, etc - is probably the best route.  But then you have to be sure of your legal footing with content, and have to do all your own promoting, etc.

I'm not surprised so many writers give up in despair.  It's always been hard, but it's now much harder. 

It's been a labour of love, though, and it's the only thing in my life that I had to write.  I always said I was going to do it no matter what, for that very reason.  I should try to focus on that.  I think it has a lot to say to other people... but maybe it'll just have to be for me after all. 

And mum, of course.

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  • Hi Tom. Well done on completing the book and taking action. That's a massive achievement. I went on a two seminar in London a couple of years ago, with Hay House Publishing. It was incredible. Tons of information. I'll certainly fish some of it out for you if needs be. They confirmed more or less what you said above, but there are other ways other than kindle to get your book published. However, Hay House Publishing run these seminars. They're not expensive, especially considering what the event consists of. As part of the deal, you get to submit a proposal. In short, you write the chapter titles of the book, you submit your best chapter and a couple of pages for each of the other chapters giving an outline of what they will be saying. They choose a winner, who wins a book deal. The information received on the days is worth more than what you paid for the event and you also get the opportunity to put forward a proposal. You get editors etc to help you and they go through all this on the days. 

    I thought I would submit a proposal but I am no way near that stage yet. However, I still highly value the information that I received and will happily pay again when I'm ready. It would be well worth your while going to an event just for the information. I still receive podcasts etc, from the event. I also have contact details of a small two women publishing company who support and publish unknown authors. 

    Dont be dispirited, this is a wonderful day. You should be very proud of yourself, crack open the bottle, let's have a toast. Cheers. 

    Your book will be published, you just have to learn the different ways you can go about it. Creating a 'platform' as they call it, is often necessary, but you can learn that as well and get help with it. It's all doable if you take it one step at a time. The hard part's over. You not only wrote the book but you completed it. You can now enjoy exploring the options of publishing. Including using the law of attraction, one of the natural laws of this universe. Well done. 

  • Thanks, BlueRay.  I think I needed some encouragement after yesterday!  Relaxed

    Hay House does sound interesting - and that small publishing company. I think the book will have a lot of appeal for women, actually.   I had my first novel published by a small company in the end (though the company concerned rather turned me over, unfortunately).  I've spent so many years fighting my way through the literary 'jungle' with agencies, publishers, etc., that my recent experience is hardly surprising.  It was a little easier, though, about 25 years ago.  At least you could get a foot in the door with some of these people.  I've been picked up, then dropped, several times.  That novel actually caught the interest of a London agency - but they turned it down finally because it wasn't 'commercial enough'.  Not enough sex, dragons or wizards, probably!  History is littered with 'not commercial enough' novels that have broken through via self-publishing and word-of-mouth: these 'experts' really don't know everything.  I once wrote and illustrated a series of children's stories.  Agency after agency said they weren't 'targeted' enough:  it's really rigid now with 'age bands' - which is basically doing a disservice to the intelligence of children.  I took issue with one agency, saying that - on the basis of what they'd told me - if Winnie The Pooh was written now, no agency would touch it and it wouldn't get published.  'Absolutely right it wouldn't', they replied.  What kind of idiocy is that?  Then there's the famous (and tragic) case of John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces - an absolute classic of American fiction which still sells in huge numbers almost 40 years after it was first published.  A year after publication, in 1981, Toole was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for it.  Posthumously.  He was so dispirited at having it rejected by just about every agency and publishing house that he committed suicide.  And it was only after he'd done this that it was 'discovered'!

    It's much tougher now, in the internet age.  It's more cut-throat than ever.  With these people, it's all about commercial viability, marketing proposals, unit-shifting rather than unit-content.  So we get flooded with trash... but it sells!  E L James, Dan Brown, Lee Child, etc.  Sure, they can spin a tale.  But their writing is, frankly, crap.  And crap always sells.  Reading habits have changed drastically, too.  Here are some interesting stats collated by The Guardian and The Times:

    * 20% of 2,000 people polled by the Royal Society of Literature couldn't name a single author, and 25% said they hadn't read a book in the past six months.  Many were hooked on Game of Thrones - but couldn't name the author of it.  Many more didn't even know that the TV serialisations of it were based on books.

    * 1 in 10 people - 1 in 5 in the 18-24 age bracket - don't own a single book.

    * By contrast, the average household has 8.2 devices connected to the internet.  By the time they leave primary school, 40% of children own a mobile phone.  And 56% of children say they're on the edge of addiction with social media!

    Well... we all know about stats.  Even so, it doesn't bode well for books and reading...

  • Yes, the internet has changed the way we read etc. The Hay House event taught me that publishers aren’t marketers so they want to know, before even considering the book, that you’ve got a target audience that want to read your book. The marketing is now largely done online, so people build a social media following, known as your ‘platform’, and tell the publishers, as part of their proposal, how many followers they have. If they have a big following, the publishishers may then consider looking at their book but if not, they won’t consider you. From their point of view, they want to know that people are going to read the book. They suggest going to a book store and looking at the books in your niche, getting ideas about what people are reading etc and considering how your book fits in/compares. With the Hay House competition, it’s great if you do have an audience, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t. They will consider your book and if they like what they see, they will work with you to do whatever you need to do to get your book out there. It often takes a couple of years. 

    My mentor self published his book, which has been hugely successful, but he already had a platform and a great marketing strategy. My friend published her book, via the two Women company I mentioned but she also has an active website and social media platforms etc as her book is connected to her work. 

    The event would be beneficial as you get to hear from several great authors and you get lots of great beneficial information which helps you to clear about what you want for the book and how to go about it etc. I think I paid for the online course as well, which I haven’t really looked at yet because this was at a time as I was already starting to breakdown/breakthrough, but this is an example of emails I receive regularly, I don’t usually open them. 


    Hi there,

    I’m hosting a call that is LIVE NOW and I want to personally encourage you to join me. You’ve heard me say this many many times—you have a special message to share with the world, and the world needs to learn from you. The fastest way to help others and get your message into the world is to Publish Your Book.

    And I’m here to help you. Just do this one thing…

    Join me on this live call going on NOW - January 16th, from 4 pm to 5 pm PT/7 pm to 8 pm ET.

    I want to personally answer your question – you can call in to talk to me by following the steps below. My goal is to answer as many questions as possible.

    I can’t wait to hear from YOU personally…

    HOW TO CALL-IN or SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION:

    - Click this link: Ask Reid Tracy a Question
    - Login to your Hay House U account.

    -Live Call-in Number will also be provided once you log in.

    I look forward to talking with you,

    Reid

    P.S. If you need help getting access please contact Hay House Customer Care by phone: US (800) 654-5126 or INTL CC +1 (760) 431-7695 or chat with us live during regular business hours (Monday-Friday, 7:00 am - 5:30 pm PST/PDT).

    Reid Tracy was working at Hay House at its beginning and is now in charge of the whole thing. They also have their own self publishing branch of the business, a dedicated team in the U.K. and they’re the biggest personal development/true stories publishing company in the world, so they know a thing or two. 

  • I think it’s different for all of us. We all get our inspiration and ideas etc from somewhere. Maybe as you’re changing, your tastes in what you read etc are changing. I know I’ll be influenced by what I read and I want to be, I just feel like I want to at least get a skeleton version of what I think I want to say, down first. But who knows, I’m currently unable to read a book, listen to one or write one, so who knows what I’ll do first when I feel ready to get back into it. I’m still very much in recovery mode just now and not even recovery mode actually. I’m still winding down from the last 50 years of trying to be nt. and when I feel I’ve finished with that, I’ll move into recovery mode. 

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  • I think it’s different for all of us. We all get our inspiration and ideas etc from somewhere. Maybe as you’re changing, your tastes in what you read etc are changing. I know I’ll be influenced by what I read and I want to be, I just feel like I want to at least get a skeleton version of what I think I want to say, down first. But who knows, I’m currently unable to read a book, listen to one or write one, so who knows what I’ll do first when I feel ready to get back into it. I’m still very much in recovery mode just now and not even recovery mode actually. I’m still winding down from the last 50 years of trying to be nt. and when I feel I’ve finished with that, I’ll move into recovery mode. 

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