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22.2.12

writing abroad

So here's the thing. I'm a writer. A good one. Unpublished. This is not a contradiction in terms, or blowing my own trumpet without cause. Many of my rejections have contained a personal comment praising my work.
  A couple of years ago an agent liked one of my books enough to sign me up, and copied me in on every refusal she got from publishers. "Liz writes well but..." was one common theme, and the other? "As Liz lives abroad, publicity would pose problems."
  Last year a literary critic read another of my books and wrote that it was "an extremely readable novel". I added his quote to a submission, but the reply was -  "Peter's recommendation counts for a great deal. Unfortunately we are only considering writers based in the UK."
  We can't afford to move back to England, so what's the answer? I wish I knew.



2 comments:

  1. That's a poser, for sure. No answer, I'm afraid, but one day someone will be so wowed that the little matter of 2000 miles WON'T matter ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Of course 'unpublished writer' and 'good writer' aren't contradictions. All writers start out as unpublished.

    I don't have an answer to your problem except to keep trying.

    ReplyDelete

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