Dear Fellow Members

Being an aspiring writer myself I saw a need and opportunity within the market, which would assist writers in promoting their work, and for publishers/literary agents to discover new talent, clear advantages for all.

I would be extremely grateful if you could spend a few minutes to read and reply to this market research. To make it as simple as possible, it would be appreciated if you could respond to the following few questions (any further feedback would be great).


As an undiscovered/discovered author

- do feel there is a need for such a site?

- would you have used the site to promote your manuscript with the goal to attract the attention of a publisher/literary agent?

- what fee is attractive or prohibitive?



This Spring will see the launch of website for new writing talent designed

· to promote potential authors and their manuscripts in the form of only one chapter,

· and for publishers to discover new talent online.

The simplicity of this website is that it benefits both the author and the publisher in a simple and effective way.


The author is ...

- being pro-active in promoting his or her work
- major alternative to sending unsolicited manuscripts with the inevitable rejection
knowledge that publishers are viewing their work
- superb potential opportunity to get their work published
- simple concept - only one chapter and synopsis of their book, online
- has worldwide exposure
- national author competition - winner has their work published by a major publisher
- guarantee that all submissions are read and reviewed by a literary agent


and for the publishers ....

- great opportunity to discover new talent online
- major cost and time reduction involved in receiving and replying to both unsolicited and solicited manuscripts
- view manuscripts that are specific to their area/focus
away from the traditional submission of unsolicited manuscripts
- potential to reduce the number of unsolicited manuscripts, especially if the publisher directs the writer to the site in correspondence to the writers



How it works?


…. for the author

The author will be charged a fee (tbc) for the year per manuscript to present only one chapter, a synopsis and a mini-biog. Each part of the submission would be controlled and designed in a format that would ensure consistency and quality. The author will be asked to categorise their work and their chapter will be listed within that particular genre, eg Contemporary Womens Fiction. The "free to access website" is interactive, allowing users to grade each chapter in a simple way and resulting in a top listing per category. Within the fee the registered author would also receive:

- guarantee that every submission is read and reviewed by a literary expert
- entry into a national author competition, the winner receives a publishing contract
- free worldwide acclaimed novel writing software


…. for the publisher/literary agent

This represents a fantastic opportunity to discover new talent and to use the site as a source. In essence this is in the publisher's interest in order to discover new talent that is specific to their area.

Our goal is to encourage authors to publish their work online here instead of sending unsolicited work, which will in fact reduce the time factor that all publishers face with regards to receiving and responding to unsoliicted manuscripts.

Value is key and it is envisaged that the publisher would use the site as a preferred source, thereby delivering value to both parties. This is critical as it would encourage writers to register and promote their work, safe in the knowledge that there would be a distinct possibility their manuscript may be read by a well-known publisher.

] has been designed purely for the benefit of both the author and the publisher. To achieve the desired success, we need your support and feedback on what elements are crucial and beneficial for you.

The site is under construction and will be altered to accommodate your thoughts, so we would be grateful for any comments that you have, both positive and negative.
will be heavily promoted and authors and publishers will be made well aware of the site. We have the commitment from over 15 publishers including Little Brown Book Group, Tindal Street, Maia Press to name but a few, and Hodder Headline, Harper Collins and Virgin have expressed interest.

I fully understand that this is a snapshot, but as a concept that is soon to be promoted, I would really look forward to hearing your thoughts as an author.

I look forward to receiving your feedback.

Regards






[Edited by Anna Reynolds at 12:48:00 on 28 February 2007
Reason: We've removed the url from this as our terms clearly state:

The forums and archive are not a venue for advertisements in any way.

-so please don't do this again.
]

Alex, I'm afraid I really can't see how these plans are beneficial to writers. Assuming your site fee is more than a few pounds, I don't see how it's buying any real advantage. There are other sites out there that do this already - The Friday Project is involve with one, I think.

- major alternative to sending unsolicited manuscripts with the inevitable rejection

Rejection by the normal route is not inevitable if the work is good enough. If it isn't, no amount of web exposure is going to land representation or a publishing deal.

- knowledge that publishers are viewing their work

Most publishers don't need to go looking for work, and have no time in which to do it. They get more than they can cope with as it is. I can't see that this site would easily have a way of guaranteeing that writers are getting their work looked at. If it hasn't, any fee would be a waste of money.

- superb potential opportunity to get their work published

In what way is this an opportunity, given that legitimate publishers are unlikely to bother visiting?

- has worldwide exposure.

Why is this valuable? Most authors will first be published in their country of origin, given the promotional demands.

- guarantee that all submissions are read and reviewed by a literary agent

In the normal way, authors can get their submissions read by agents anyway. It's called a submission, and only costs paper and postage. To make aspiring writers pay for this service by way of the site fee is extremely unethical. Editorial Assessment agencies are the legitimate way to get a full, paid-for report.

- and for the publishers - great opportunity to discover new talent online

Talent comes to find them, mostly via agents. There's no shortage of talent coming through their doors as it is, they don't have time to go elsewhere. Most agents and editors hate reading things on-screen anyway, which is why very few of them accept electronic submissions. In publishing, paper still rules.

- major cost and time reduction involved in receiving and replying to both unsolicited and solicited manuscripts

I doubt if the time involved is very different, especially since paper can be read anywhere (and often is - on the way home, in the bath, in bed), whereas a website has to be read at a desk. The costs of returning rejected submissions in an SAE are negligible.

- view manuscripts that are specific to their area/focus away from the traditional submission of unsolicited manuscripts

See above.

- potential to reduce the number of unsolicited manuscripts, especially if the publisher directs the writer to the site in correspondence to the writers

It would be EXTREMELY unethical for a publisher or agent to direct an aspiring writer towards any specific service that costs the writer money, if the implication is that by spending the money, the writer is improving their chances of being published.

The author will be asked to categorise their work and their chapter will be listed within that particular genre, eg Contemporary Womens Fiction.

Many authors actually mis-categorise their work, in which case it's a disadvantage to them to offer them this facility.

The "free to access website" is interactive, allowing users to grade each chapter in a simple way and resulting in a top listing per category.

If I were a publisher or agent I wouldn't be interested in other aspiring authors' ratings of work. Plus, there's evidence from other sites that some authors deliberately rate rival work low, in order to boost theirs up the ratings.

- guarantee that every submission is read and reviewed by a literary expert

What is a 'literary expert' in this context?

- entry into a national author competition, the winner receives a publishing contract

Is the site fee on a par for other novel competitions? i.e. £10 or £20?

- free worldwide acclaimed novel writing software

Presumably site members have already written their novel. For any writer who might find such software useful for their next novel, there are plenty of programs available at less than such a site fee would be.

www.onlyonechapter.com has been designed purely for the benefit of both the author and the publisher. To achieve the desired success, we need your support and feedback on what elements are crucial and beneficial for you.

The site's developers aren't planning on reaping any benefit, then?

www.onlyonechapter.com will be heavily promoted and authors and publishers will be made well aware of the site. We have the commitment from over 15 publishers including Little Brown Book Group, Tindal Street, Maia Press to name but a few, and Hodder Headline, Harper Collins and Virgin have expressed interest.

What form does this commitment take? And who are the other 12 who have made it? Tindal Street and Maia, for example, are absolutely tiny.

Sorry, I don't get it, as you may have realised by now.

Emma

I expect Emma has already raised the point, but to reiterate there is one major flaw in your premis:

Agents and publishers do not read submissions online.

I did, but only in among all my other reservations about this plan, so thank you for making it so devastatingly clear!

Emma

Well said, you two!

I had an email about this, and found it all very dubious. I didn't read it properly, but I did say I'd rather do it the traditional route, via an agent. Apparently, publishers are hugely interested in this, but, as has already been said so eploquently above, how on earth can they be?

Emma, you are a gem! Well done, girl. You’ve managed to raise the points we all would, given the expertise.

I’m agog to hear the response…

Dee

The author will be charged a fee (tbc) for the year per manuscript to present only one chapter, a synopsis and a mini-biog. Each part of the submission would be controlled and designed in a format that would ensure consistency and quality.

Hmmm… how is this charge decided? Who decides and defines the ‘consistency and quality’? How do you propose to control ‘each part of the submission’? How can you possibly ensure consistency and quality?
What are you offering? Any writer can submit their work to an agent or publisher FREE OF CHARGE. What are you offering to justify your fee? Really? I would seriously like to know what it is you are offering to inexperienced writers that isn’t there already?

Dee

Someone told me about the email, but I wasn't sent one. If anyone could copy it to me, I'd be interested - for instance, I think an actual fee was mentioned... And rather more publishers...

Emma

More generally, can I make the following observation?

It's a common misconception among aspiring authors that there is a huge pool of publishable talent out there, which agents and publishers are determined to ignore.

This is not true. It isn't in publishers' and agents' interests to ignore talent, wherever they might find it.

There is a very small number of terrifically talented writers who for complicated reasons don't ever quite get their work to a finished stage and properly submitted.

There are rather more excellent writers whose work at the moment just doesn't quite make it over the bar - which is set very high - into publication. Many of these, given perseverance, will get there.

There are more still good writers who may get published, given hard work and perseverance and perhaps a spoonful of luck, in that what they write best is, just at the moment, what publishers are looking for.

And the other 95% of submissions are clearly un-publishable to anyone reading the first paragraph.

It is true that the bar is set very high, so that there are excellent writers who don't get over it, for reasons which may not be anything to do with the quality of the writing. That's really hard on them and it's deeply frustrating to people with real talent. But the fact that they're not published isn't that the usual channels aren't set up to notice them. It's because the commercial imperatives of publishing are ferocious, and that includes the amount of time (or lack of it) that agents and editors can spend on unsolicited submissions.

As far as I can see, a website like this doesn't make the slightest difference to any of the above. I certainly can't see how it increases the chances of an aspiring writer being published.

Emma

This is also about the fifth such website I have seen proposed this year alone. It it was a workable proposal it would have been done already.

Added.....and it would have been set up under the auspices of a respectable publishing house and/or literary agency



Added

The YouWriteOn Arts Council website is currently the 'best' on offer.

The YouWriteOn Arts Council website

Thanks, Naomi, that's the one I was thinking of. And yes, I had a powerful sense of déja vu about this. But there are always new people coming along who haven't seen the earlier ones...

Emma