30 Years of Not Being Published

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with 30 Years of Not Being Published. In over three decades more than ninety published works have appeared on the shelves. This talk is not as negative as it may first seem. During this period I have amassed a vast number of rejection letters, but still managed to average three books a year and more than one article each and every week. Listen to the experiences, the mistakes, the ideas, the tips and advice on how all writers have something to learn and also to contribute to the literary world. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required.

When it comes to finding a publisher, possibly the best piece of advice I have is simply to find a published book that is as close to yours as possible, then pitch it to that publisher. The reason? Because an editorial department have the job of producing something new, but sales teams want what is selling .

Interesting verbs are seldom very interesting. — Says Jonathan Franzen, who fails to remember ‘very’ is a word which Oscar Wilde advised writers to edit out and replaced with ‘damned’ as the publisher will then cross out every example and thus make the ideal manuscript.

“Write what you know about” – Brilliant advice. Except for the advice on how to check every fact, research every snippet, and all the rest of the baloney. And there’s also the fact that people (yes even writers) are sometimes mistaken and what they “KNOW” is incorrect. If not, nobody would ever get divorced, have unwanted pregnancies, jobs they can’t do, or ever make a mistake. As a little pointer to how stupid this advice is, do some research into all these HOW TO books for writers and look at how many books they’ve had published previously – you’ll be amazed at how often it is their FIRST and perhaps even ONLY book .

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

Yes it's me on your Television

Follow the link to this CrowdFunding site, as I do my bit to raise money for a venue for our local Literary Festival. Speaks for itself although worthwhile just pointing out this chap is on Countdown being broadcast November 4th 2015.

Any authors, publishers, poets, editors, et al out there who would like to come to Tamworth and take part in any of our future events just drop us a line, we are always glad to hear from you.

Thank you for your time and your help!

Never Judge a Book

I recently sent off a synopsis for a book idea to a publisher I had not dealt with before. Said publisher specialised in the both the area concerned and the subject was also appropriate. It seemed my research had been spot on when the response at first seemed positive, they liked the idea, my CV was admired, but then came the final paragraph.

It seems this individual had checked with Amazon to see I had not exaggerated any of the statements. It was then they noticed the only reviews of any of my books had just one star and would therefore not be interested in pursuing the idea further. I was not overly disappointed by such a comment, this simply showed I was lucky not to have to deal with someone with such weird ideas, but I was dumbfounded that a professional with a proven record could be so naive.

As stated in my blog post A Matter of Opinion two reviews can be poles apart. The review they read was on Amazon.co.uk where only one star was awarded. However another buyer across the Atlantic purchased their copy at Amazon.com where a very different five star review followed. It is a shame the two sites cannot be combined to show an average. Incidentally I later found another one star review of my books from the same buyer and it struck me as odd that a man who had clearly disliked his first purchase should ever consider buying another by the same author. I later discovered the reason, which was not entirely in the spirit of the idea.

Hence to base a decision not to publish seems a little odd. Incidentally, within a few days of receiving the email I discovered two new reviews on Amazon of another two of my books, this person being quite pleased with his purchases and resulting in four star reviews.

Perhaps this publisher should take note of some reviews of books which went on to sell quite a few copies!