Just that basically. Is there any reason not to send queries out to other English speaking countries? I am based in England and was thinking that after all the agents and publishers in the UK had rejected my work, it would be unfair if all the publishers and agents in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and, possibly, India - didn't get the opportunity to do the same. Do people do that or does it not work like that for tax reasons or something?
I think there's nothing to stop you ... but I've seen agents and publishers in other countries saying (albeit mostly in forums and on websites) that they tend to assume, if getting query letters from the UK, that the sender has already tried extensively to get publication inside the UK first - so their expectations for the material may not be too high. Mainstream UK publishers tend to have branches/partners/arrangements in other English-speaking countries anyway. I don't really see why there should be tax complications. For myself, if every UK agent and publisher had rejected my work, I'd expect to have learned quite a bit, one way and another, during that long process, about some of the reasons for its universal rejection, and perhaps be better equipped to modify/re-write my work as a result, rather than trying people in other countries without/before doing that.
I agree with DrWhosit. If it's been rejected by more than one or two, with a standard rejection sheet you're probably making what they see as expected new writer errors. This is more likely in England, because Agents there seem more likely to make a personal comment, with some suggestions as to what needs to be addressed. You might post a chapter in the workshop here for comment to see if others see something you've missed. And talking about rejections, here's one way of responding.
Sorry but that sounds like a really dumb idea. If you do that and it really does turn out that your novel is not publishable, you've just shut every door around the world in your own face and jeopardised future books because some of these publishers may well remember you and toss out the work based on their experience. I've often read advice that says basically, don't send your manuscript to all the best agents at once. Send it out only to two or three, and if your book is rejected, EDIT IT AND MAKE CHANGES, and then send it out to the other best agents. In so doing, you haven't wasted all your best agents in one go. @Albirich - while that's true, that says nothing of whether Rowling had been editing and improving her manuscript between rejections. Very likely she did do that.
And you know for a fact that she didn't take steps between rejections to improve the manuscript and increase the chance of sale? Don't mind me, just a stray thought.
Would they really remember one name out of all the hundreds or thousands of submissions they recieve each year? (I really hope not) I mean, how likely is it if the ms got a standard rejection? But then again, why take the risk?
Never said she didn't, I'm quite sure she did. My point was that one shouldn't lose hope after being rejected a few times.
I found a couple people that instead of going the two most popular ways of publication, either as an e-book or through an agent, they started a Kickstarter account to raise money to self publish and do their own leg work for distribution. Keep your options open.
True lol I guess it depends on how you approach it. If you just really send one MS to everyone, you're like probably at least 99% right that they won't remember. But the OP sounds desperate. If they're willing to send their MS to EVERY publisher/agent there is AROUND THE WORLD, I'll bet they won't stop at the standard rejection. They may send updates, other emails to plead with the publisher/agent, bombard them with more MSs. Of course these are all just assumptions. But if you do do that, you're gonna become infamous I think. One agent starts moaning about this creep who's been attacking you with MSs and then the other agent goes: OMG you too? Is his name XYZ? Hell yeah, how...? You've heard from him too? How many manuscripts? 7? Well I got 12. Third agent comes along: tell me about it. Word can travel fast and I think if you become famous enough for bad writing or a difficult client or an annoying pest, your name would certainly get passed around.
Well, in that case it's probably true. I know a person around here who's been doing just that, more or less... I also heard about another one who even got a suggestion that she'd write a book about being rejected. And she did. And got it published! The novel? She self published it, at last.
It was her agent who got the rejection. She secured an agent only on the second try but that agent, Christopher Little, had a hard time selling it. He actually told her when they finally got a deal to "not quit working because there is no real money to be made in children's books"... He is, of course, eating those words right now...and washing them down with Dom Perignon.
If you're seeking publication on your own, and not going after an agent, I see no reason at all not to submit to publishers on both sides of the pond. The idea that they'll assume your book has been rejected en masse on your side is a bit silly. How on earth would they know? There are some EXCELLENT publishers that would be anyone's first choice on both sides of the ocean. I write children's books, and I can think of publishers in the UK that I would submit to first over publishers in the USA. Don't just throw your book to everyone who accepts submissions, but by all means, submit (IF you are not seeking an agent! if you are, stop submitting to publishers). And the idea that they're going to remember you is a bit out of touch with how things work. If you get past the first two rounds of consideration, which is usually intern, followed by assistant acquisitions editor, and actually land in the lap of an acquisitions editor, them remembering you is probably a good thing. They'd think, "Oh, yeah, I remember him. He wrote that book that we almost picked up. Let's see what he has now." Good luck!
