Hi,
April 2024 is a special time for me, since it marks the twelfth anniversary of sending my first novel off to be evaluated for publication. It was, or is, called Daddy’s Hobby, and is the first in the Behind The Smile series of seven novels totalling at least 725,000 words. I was 58 at the time, and it had taken me eight years to write, although it is just as accurate to say that my first novel took me 58 years to write.
It took so long not because it is a lengthy book (112,000 words, which is considered fairly long nowadays), but because there were times when I thought I was revealing too much about myself.
I found that very scary!
Anyway, the convention in those days was to try to get a literary agent, who would take you on and forward your book to a publisher. If that failed, some agents and publishers would accept unsolicited submissions to their slush pile - a heap of books that they could refer to if they were stuck for something to do. I chose that route.
Another convention, was that an author should write to only one agent/publisher at a time, and allow them three to six months to reply!
It was rare for agents and publishers to accept electronic submissions in 2012, so I had to print off my 350 pages – double-spaced - and send them in a box to Curtis Brown in London from Thailand. Printing and postage was £55.
I waited seven months and nothing happened, so I wrote to the agent. A few weeks later, I received a very short letter, saying that the book was unsuitable for them as it didn’t match the type of novel that they had become associated with.
Eight months wasted!
I wrote to three more, but only waited a couple of months for each. Again, I received no reply.
I had naïvely thought that writing the book was the hard part It is not, believe me – that is the easy part!
So, having wasted a year or more, I self-published, and became an indie-publisher.
I would like to have an agent, and methods have changed vastly, because it would have made my life easier. I would have been able to concentrate on writing, and had to do less self-promotion, but I have also enjoyed being involved with each stage of my 50+ stories’ development from conception to getting them read.
Don’t be put off – have a go!
Link to Daddy’s Hobby: https://bit.ly/BTS1-Eng-TT-ebook
Owen Jones is the prolific author, from Barry, South Wales, of over fifty novels, 130 self-help manuals and thousands of articles, most of which can be accessed from his blog at: https://meganthemisconception.com
My Entry into the World of Publishing