Published on 12, July, 2020
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.
Pardon my French, Tom but if publishers have gotten so lazy and risk-averse, f*** 'em.
The process you and BlueRay have both outlined is rather like an echo chamber.
FWIW it does seem that MSM has gone the same way. They want to have the latest, up-to-the-second stories, but they don't want to actually do the investigative journalism and would rather just rehash stuff from Reuters, AP or indeed a competitor.
Publish it yourself. Maybe the NAS magazine might be interested in using it as an example of what people on the spectrum are actually capable of?
My sentiments exactly, DongFeng. With a very big, sharp stick!
Yes, I'm going to explore alternative options. Generally, I've preferred to do things that way.