I received a reply today from a publisher regarding a memoir I submitted He said he read my manuscript and enjoyed it. Whether there is a commercial book there is another matter, he said. It needs a bit more work, there's some repetition between the stories. Also it is written as a series of anecdotes and now that it's done probably would benefit from some work to give it more of a story arc. There isn't a lot of (the name of my town ) history beyond my family and a sketch of the character of the town and the region might not be out of place since there has been so little in print. The town was booming for awhile with the mine, logging going full tilt and the cannery serving a healthy fishing fleet--all gone now. He said maybe that is getting too far from my personal story but a bit of background would give the story more marketability. As it is, he called it “ a well-written, sensitive slice of coastal life” and said he could see some parts fitting into a future edition of a regional stories book and said “congratulations on a nice piece of work.” Is tis good or bad?
Why speculate? Write him back and ask if he'd like to see it following the revisions you now plan to make, or if he'd like to see a shorter piece that would fit into "a future edition of coastal stories."
Yeah, that sounds ambiguous to me. Usually agents will directly say "this is a pass" if it's a pass, I feel like. I agree with Catriona's advice about asking for clarification.
I came away from reading that with a sense that it is positive, and an open invitation to revise and resubmit.
If you are not sure, it is better to ask. When potentially dealing with contracts, I personally prefer when people write strong verbs implying agreement and action, like "I will", over "I can see this in/as...". He definitely enjoys it and offers suggestions and tentatively wants to work with you, but it is far from sounding sure like "if you make these changes, I will represent your book." I am inclined to think his choice of wording (the way you edited) seems to suggest he wants to see more of where your book is going and how willing you are to make changes before committing. It is understandable--he needs to make sure your book wilhe finds a market for your book first. But that is just me. At any rate, he gave you directions in which to take your book, which is a great start! Well done!
