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p.d.r.lindsay - writer and tutor.
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For those of you readers who do not know the agonies of the publishing world here's an explanation of how I became involved with a writers' cooperative, Writer's Choice.Writer’s Choice started because a group of us, linked through membership of an online writing group, were beginning to question the traditional publishers’, agents’ and writing experts’ comments that if our books were good enough we’d find an agent and then a publisher. We were tired of being told that our novels were ‘lovely but...’ and to try again. We were tired of being told it was all our fault when there were strong indications that something other than the quality of our writing was at work.
The more I queried and dealt with the traditional system the more it seemed to me that there was a strong whiff of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ about the 21stC world of agents, traditional publishers and publishing. It seemed there was a greater emphasis on money making and publicity than on the quality of the books. George and Sharon had agents but ‘difficult subject matter’ the agents couldn’t sell. I had a novel which had been short listed in three novel competitions, won a crit from an agent in the biggest UK agency which was complimentary and helpful. The agent also said I’d have problems finding an agent as I lived in New Zealand and was old. He wouldn’t take me on because he wanted only one new writer that year and was looking for a CJ Sansom type writer, and I lived in New Zealand and was old!
It was the figure of one writer per year which started me thinking. That agent told me he received between 6,000 to 8,000 queries a year. Other agents, the few polite ones who responded to my carefully worded and personalised queries, made similar comments. It seemed that most of them received at least 2,000 to 4,000 queries per year. Even allowing for the Slush Pile rule that only 10% of those queries were readable/publishable then it still meant that an agent dealt with 200 to 800 publishable novels and only chose one or two. Did that really mean that those 199 to 799 not selected novels were not good enough?
Well, I didn’t think so, and now I could do something about it. The digital revolution meant that authors could self-publish and were doing so with ease. Already established authors were cutting out the 15% fee to an agent and then raising their miserly 10% from the publisher to take in all the profit from their e-book sales. There were ready markets and buyers, established groups to sell through. It seemed that there was a new publishing world out there which I could take advantage of. However a lone author has a difficult time being visible enough to make sales. What I needed was the clout of a group, a logo, a brand, and writers who would only publish their novels if they had been well written, edited carefully, proofread, and selected by the group. I put the idea to my online colleagues and several jumped up to say, “I’m in.” So our experiment began.
Calling ourselves Writer’s Choice (because it was our choice!) we set up a website, started PR in blogs and social media, and worked like crazy to sort out how the heck we produced quality e-books and print copies when most of us were not techy people. We are aiming to produce ‘Quality Fiction’ as well turned out and edited as the best of traditionally published books. It has been a struggle and a fascinating learning experience, but we have four books out and two more getting ready. We have linked with another similar group and our quality seal means something.
Best of all our work is being read!
Very interesting post, pdr. I love the concept of Writer's Choice. Also, I totally relate to the "old and live in NZ" thing. I am off to the US in April to attend an Immersion class with Margie Lawson and then, back to back, a week of workshops with Donald Maass, lit agent and breakout novel guru. This is totally an indulgence on my part, but my reward for finishing my first novel - which in the end will no doubt be e-pubbed by self (or group).
So interesting to read your experience.
How kind of you to come and chat. One nice thing about Writer's Choice is that the actual selection and editing and publishing of a novel or anthology takes a few months, not two years the trad publishers take.Enjoy your writer's classes. Donald Maass's is very good, I went to a one day one. If you write popular/genre fiction as opposed to the rather arty farty 'literahary' stuff encouraged by NZ tutors you will get a lot from him about 'tightening up' and 'raising the stakes'. He's worth listening to.
I shouldn't be so rude about the rather pretentious stuff new Kiwi writers churn out. I write literary short stories myself but I do expect that whilst the idea is important the story itself should also be entertaining.
My novels are historical in the honest sense of the genre. No kings and queens or known name people anywhere except as passing mentions. The characters are just people of the time struggling to make sense of their world as we struggle to make sense of ours.
I've put up all the links to books and my website and other websites where I work. It's hard to be me to an empty space!
prof pdr lindsay-salmon
e-mail: pdrlindsay@slingshot.co.nz
pdr lindsay Author of 'Blokes Muddling Through' and 'Women Waking Up'
Sample or purchase 'Blokes Muddling Through' and 'Women Waking Up'
at Smashwords:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/... and
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
or at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blokes-Muddli...
books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352664449&sr=1-1
and
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Women-Waking-...
ks&ie=UTF8&qid=1360526013&sr=1-1
rowanlindsay@rowanlindsay.co.nz
website: www.rowanlindsay.co.nz
https://twitter.com/#!/RowanLindsay
Publishing Co-operative: www.writerschoice.org
Reviews at: www.thedeepening.com