If All Else Fails, I Could Always Offer It To PublishAmerica*

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I recently sent off some sample chapters of my novel 'Human Noises' to a literary agent, asking if they'd like to represent me.

They replied quite quickly, and this week I got a nice polite e-mail back saying that it wasn't for them. Which is fine - in fact, I was rather pleased that they added a note to the effect that this sort of thing is very subjective, and that I should see what other agencies thought of it. I was planning on doing so anyway, but it was nice of them to add that it's a subjective thing - which, of course, it is; one man's Da Vinci Code is… well, okay, my Da Vinci Code, but you know what I mean - there are countless schadenfreude-filled reports of the people who rejected The Beatles, Fred Astaire, Joanne Rowling, and so on. Not that I'm saying my work is of that calibre, of course, but there's some reassurance for the rest of us in the fact that even those folks knew what it was like to get a 'thank you, but not for us' reaction.

So I'm undeterred, and will find another vict- er, I mean agent to send it on to. It may well be that it's going to be rejected by every agent in town until I'm forced to face the fact it's unpublishable because it's a load of garbage (you can reach your own conclusions by checking out the sample chapters here - feel free to let me know what you think), but until then I'll be sending it out and hoping for some good news… and, of course, working on 'The Body Orchard', my next novel.

Well, it's important to keep the words flowing, wouldn't you agree?

*PublishAmerica very nearly published Atlanta Nights, so I like to think they might consider me.