My agent has finally sent email proposals to contacts at Allen & Unwin, HarperCollins and a letter submission to Harlequin Teen in New York .
In the email telling me this, Debbie said, ‘Harlequin Teen looks like as good a possibility as any. It is very tough at the moment and demon stories seem to be out of fashion.’
Out of fashion! Sheesh, what a reason to be rejected.
I replied to this by saying ..
‘It might be good to point out, if anyone gives you the chance, that the demons in my story are not based on a western idea of demons with heaven & hell & angel mythology, as other demon stories are. My demons are based on the eastern view of demons as a metaphor for negative emotions. To a reader, the world in the book looks quite different to the world in other demon books.’
Will any of the publishers get so far as to notice that? Or have they all just decided demons are out. They weren’t when I wrote it. In fact I hadn’t even read a book about demons until it was finished. Are readers totally sick of demons? Is the timing just too wrong for someone to publish Lethal Inheritance?
Even if all this is true, I just need a publisher to read it, love it, recognise its potential and convince the rest of their publishing house to publish it. I think it would be perfect for Harlequin Teen, it fits right in with the other kind of titles they’re publishing.
Anyone want to help out by praying that one of these publishers will love it? What else can I do ? These are my last chances at a big publisher.
Are readers sick of demons? I haven’t seen any indication of this, though there’s plenty who say they’re over vampires and there’s still vamp books being published. Is this, ‘out of fashion’ idea just a brush off?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of these questions.
Unfortunately, publishing is a business and subject to market forces and whims of trends and fashions. I also heard that angels are going out of fashion too.
Never give up though.
Yeah, I know. I figure there are still plenty of people who won’t not buy it just because it’s a demon book, especially if it’s publicised as different to the others.
Good luck Tahlia. I agree with Debbie (your agent?) – it’s tough in book publishing right now. At least you know it’s nothing to do with the quality of your writing.
Cheers, Cathryn
Hi Cath. Yes, Debbie is my agent, and yes, I console myself that the fashion thing is a reason to believe that if these guys reject me, it’s not the quality of the writing. I figure I’ll hire my own editor and publish on ebook if this doesn’t come off. I’m not sure I can be bothered hitting the small publishers. We’ll see.
Sorry to hear that Tahlia – but I agree that the quality of the writing would be the bigger problem. Nevertheless, it is so frustrating to hear these things, as nobody can tell better than I do … fingers crossed your agent will be successful with your submissions!
And if not, an ebook is not the worst thing. I found working on mine an unexpected pleasure, actually. Lots of freedom. And I am sure, the readers aren’t sick of good stories and they never will be. Good luck.
Thanks for your support, Eva. I do like the idea of having the control over my work that ebook publishing offers, but I’d love to have my book on the shelves of stores where people can find it by chance.
Hi Tahlia,
Bookshops are becoming scarce in Australia. My local shopping strip lost two out of three recently (Borders and A&R). And I have to say, I prefer browsing online to visiting a mall bookshop, where there’s shelves and shelves of the same sort of stuff (tween vampire section, celebrity cookbook section, …)
Have you seen what is being published in ebook form in your category? I know that kids and tweens’ fiction is doing really well.
Cheers, Cath
There’s a lot of stuff in this genre being published on ebook, so it’s an okay way to go, for sure. Kids in Australia aren’t into ereaders yet, but with the disappearing of the brick and mortor bookshops, it’s only a matter of time. I plan to go that way, if nothing comes of the other route.