Good and disappointing news for 2009. The good is that I'm offered a two-book contract with Severn House UK, something that will keep me employed this year in these financially troubled times.
The disappointing news is that the small UK literary agency which has successfully been handling my book sales over the past decade, has decided to call it a day. I won't go into details, except to say that for the past year two hard working people have been doing tasks once shared between three. My heartfelt thanks go to them for the role they've played in my writing career, and for always being there for me when needed. I do wish them well in winding down the agency, and for many reasons will find them hard to replace. However, that said, I'll now be looking for a new agency to represent me in the months to come. I hope I find one. Or one will find me, perhaps.
I stopped making New Year resolutions fourteen years ago. Just to prove that persistence does pay off (and persistence is one of the ingredients that writers need an abundance of) that was when I achieved the object of a a long term series of resolutions that I'd quit smoking. When I did give it up (after a health scare kick in the pants) I promised myself I wouldn't become an anti-smoking evangelist. As a smoker I resented non-smokers making rude and pointed (or pointless) remarks about my addiction. It's like telling an overweight person that they need to lose weight. They already know - and know that saying it is easier than doing it.
Apart from two books waiting to be written, I had a submission to prepare for an e publisher. It was saved in the format they wanted, but couldn't be opened at the other end. They say it's because I burned the story to disk. Then again it might be a Mac incompatibility thing.
I didn't think burning to disc would prevent the file being sent as an attachment. After many tries I withdrew the submission. I also withdrew a short story after it was accepted because of the low advance. Not that I'm too proud to accept it. It's just that it didn't cover the cost of banking the cheque. I would have ended up owing the bank money.
3 comments:
Congratulations on the contract. Pity about the rest though. May you find a new agent soon.
Janet, Its nice (for me) to hear my favourite author is planing a busy year creating masterpieces. Knowing you gave up smoking some time ago is easy on me. Gee I struggle to be sympathetic to people who blow smoke my way, or smell like a cigar.
Hope the agent hunt is a streamlined easy affair. --- Oh and wish a happy birthday to the ground under your feet. ------ Eric
Oh -- I forgot. Saving (burning) files to a CD-ROM disk can cause a small problem because the disk is set to read-only (by default) and sometimes doesn't like changing the file location when it's copied back to the computer disk drive ready to create an e-book. Doesn't sound like a particularly hard fix if you’d like some specific input drop me an email and I’ll see what I can come up with (anything for a non-smoking, clever, lady who finds an attraction in old seadogs). ---- Eric
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