Hiya, I was wondering if anyone knew any good publishers to approach for a teenage, existential, type novel. It's basically, in a nutshell, about a boy who leaves the country village where he grew up and backpacks to London to try and find out what he wants to be in life. It's all about the people he meets and what he learns along the way. Are there any publishers who are better to approach then others about this kind of story? Thanks a lot, Dave.
I'd recommend getting hold of either the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, published by A&C Black, or its rival publication, The Writer's Handbook, published by Macmillan. Both titles do the same thing, in that they are both essentially a book of listings for all kinds of resources of interest to the writer or artist. They contain information on which publishers cater for which genre, how they accept submissions etc, the address to send it to, whom to speak to on the phone - a bit like the BRAD directory you find in advertising agencies, but nowhere near as costly! More importantly, they also list agents, which is useful since it is generally better to have an agent approach a publisher with your manuscript, as opposed to simply firing it off and crossing your fingers. An agent will be 'mister ten percent', but losing ten percent of a lot, is better than keeping one hundered percent of nothing, which is a distinct possibility if you go it alone. Getting an agent means that you will have someone who has a vested interest in seeing you succeed. It's also worth noting that the former of the two titles also includes articles and tips from famous artists and writers, such as JK Rowling and Terry Pratchet, which makes it a little bit more than a glorified telephone directory, and as a result, adds value. So of the two, that's the one I choose. Al
excellent advice... for which al instantly made himself known here... a most welcome addition to our site, indeed!
ask anyone who knows me... they'll tellya i don't do 'nice' without just cause!... if i say it, you can bet yer bottom euro it's true... ;-) what's your writing background, if you don't mind my asking?
If you meant what's my background, rather than Dave the original thread starter, then it is in newspapers, and prior to that in advertising. I started writing copy for adverts, brochures etc twenty-odd years ago (because I'd originally been a designer of those ads and brochures), from that, I went to the crossover skill of sub-editing, and then to writing at a daily newspaper, mainly features, but some news and business stuff too. Now I tend to do all kinds of writing on a freelance basis, as well as working for a training company in the UK, where I present writing courses in addition to various other courses on design and related bits and pieces. And from developing all that, I got into writing fiction. So, a fairly circuitous route to the land of fiction! Talk to any journalist or feature writer at any publication, and you often find they are frustrated novelists. Actually it was a discussion I had with some fellow writers, whom I was working with, on that very subject, which kickstarted it; the phrase many of those writers often used was 'I can easily write a fiction novel' to which I would reply, 'no you can't', meaning that if you don't get off your ass and do it, then clearly, you can't. Thinking about that, I did not want to be among those writers who could 'talk a big fight' and so I did some fiction writing and got it in print. That said, I'm not in any rush to get my current fictional writing published, prefering to work on it for a long time to ensure it is very finely honed. Having seen stuff I've written in print many times, the excitement of that is not a spur any longer, rather, my motivation is wanting to produce something of real quality on the fiction front. How about your own background, what is that? Al
