Which Publishers Are Worth Approaching?

[Bridewell]

I have been working for some months on a Jack the Ripper book (& previously unconsidered suspect). I have a copy of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook, but many publishers won't consider "unsolicited manuscripts" by which, i gather, they mean those not submitted through agents. I have been in contact with one of the latter who has decided not to take the matter on because he feels that my evidence, though strong, isn't quite strong enough. Are there any publisher's out there whom anyone can recommend?

[The Grave Maurice]

Have you shown your manuscript to anyone who could comment on it objectively? (Good editors are worth their weight in gold.) I also suspect that few people who write about JtR have literary agents: 20% of very little is considerably less than very little.

[Bridewell]

Thanks for offering your advice on this, Maurice.

The book's been read by a friend who is a published author, and proof-read by a Minories-based shipping lawyer, both of them people whose judgement and integrity I trust implicitly. The former thought it a potential best-seller; the latter thought it on a par with Robert Harris (none of whose books I've ever read!). I'm not sure either has much prior knowledge of the subject matter though.
I'm interested in your comments about agents. I confess that I wouldn't have approached one in the first place, were it not that so many publishers in the Almanac refuse to countenance unsolicited manuscripts.

[The Grave Maurice]

Hang on, Bridewell. Quite a few published authors frequent this website. Sooner or later, one of them will notice this thread and offer you invaluable advice.

[Stewart P Evans]

Not a good time...

Now is not a good time to be approaching publishers with unsolicited new works but, then, some might argue it's never a good time.

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Bridewell,

Not a criticism, but I'm curious that if the agent you approached felt your evidence wasn't strong enough, do you think perhaps that Ripper readers - probably more familiar with the case than the agent - would feel differently? Incidentally, self-publishing is no longer only for the vain and the crank, so you might start looking at that. Chris Scott, John Bennett, and many, many other Ripper writers have traveled this route and done well. They end up getting my money, anyway. Since there are almost no bookstores left, I'm not entirely certain what a publisher's job is any more. Put the book on Amazon? A writer can do that himself now. But like you, I want to seek a major publisher for my book.
But if you do have faith in your theory and book (because if you do not, why should a publisher?), I would recommend trying harder to find an agent, and let them get you the best deal they can.

Stewart,

What is different about now?

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Stewart P Evans]

The Economic Situation

...
Stewart,
What is different about now?
...
Tom Wescott

The economic situation and the willingness of commercial publishers to accept untried authors. However, if you are not pursuing the commercial publisher route...

[Supe]

Bridewell,

Tom Wescott makes some very good points in his post that ought be heeded.

Moreover, you might profit from his example as well. That is, he is hard at work on a major book on a hitherto relatively unknown suspect, Charles LeGrand. While still keeping a few hole-cards hidden, Tom sprung LeGrand on most of Ripperdom last year with a lengthy magazine article. The article was generally well received and certainly whetted the appetite of Ripperologists for more on "LeGrand of the Strand." At the same time, it also helped Tom by pointing out weak areas of his argument (or as he would put it "only slightly less persuasive areas").

Indeed, though I might have a bias, magazine articles are the initial testing ground for most new Ripper ideas and serve as vehicles of peer review, albeit after the fact. They also serve another function for the hopeful author and that is to guage reader interest in your prose. To keep readers turning pages without their suffering the deadly MEGO (Mine Eyes Glaze Over) is a talent that goes beyond simply putting the right words in the right order, even for the most important of ideas -- has anyone but a non-professional yet read Hawking's A Short History of Time cover to cover? And again, a magazine article can help uncover such problems while the manuscript is still malleable.

Don Souden
Editor New Independent Review.

[Stephen Thomas]

were it not that so many publishers......refuse to countenance unsolicited manuscripts.

Hi Bridewell

Which is fair enough if you think about it. Nearly 20 years ago I worked for a few months on reception for a big London publisher. Part of the job was checking fax messages and an awful lot of them were from authors promoting their potential books. I presume that they had people to react to these blurbs who would contact the author if their 'pitch' was successful.

All the best with your book.

[Adam Went]

I asked a similar question not so long ago as well and the advice I received then was, along with what has already been mentioned in this thread, to just write, write, write. Get as many different stories sent out to as many different publishers and agents as possible and hope that somewhere along the line they get picked up. Once you get into the good books (no pun intended ) of a certain publisher for work you've sent them that they've enjoyed, and your name is out there in the field, it becomes much easier to get published again in the future.

It is true that major book retailers are starting to close their doors because of the economic climate from the past few years, but that doesn't apply just to the publishing industry, it's affected everyone - sign of the times and we have to learn to live with it.

Best of luck in any case, Bridewell.

Cheers,
Adam.

[John Bennett]

Without wanting to sound all doom and gloom, things are pretty tough in publishing these days as Stewart points out.

Bigger publishers with clout, who have good distribution and who could do justice to the material, appear to be terribly hard to break into - smaller publishers, who are more likely to take on an unsolicited manuscript, have become rather parsimonious when it comes to a good deal for the author. I think Bob Hinton had a remarkable situation a year or two ago when he was offered no advance and an embarrassingly small royalty - and it was they who approached him, not the other way round!

Unfortunately, this is becoming par for the course it seems. Having an agent will get the foot in the door, so to speak, but I think even they have a hard time convincing the powers that be to make it worth their while (and the author's).

As Tom notes, I went down the self-publishing route as the publishers I approached were being very careful or just plain capricious. In the end I did it myself on Blurb just to get the damn thing out of the house. I don't regret it, but it does have its disadvantages (limited exposure, postage costs to buyers etc.) That said, you do get 100% control over content without an editor who wants an angle interfering.

[mariab]

Don Souden's advice for attempting a breakthrough with an article in one of the Ripperological mags before your book, making your new suspect known to Ripperology, is a very wise idea.

Another possibility not yet mentioned by anyone here is approaching a University Press, if you have previous experience or are close to your alma matter. University Presses offer no advance (unless one is hugely well-established, generally at the end of their career), but they offer royalties, and for alumnis sometimes Universities help up with publishing costs. (I got 1.400-€ for publishing my dissertation from the FU Berlin.) University Presses generally go for a high number of exemplaries, they supply to libraries around the world, provide the author with at least a dozen free exemplaries, and there's no hussle with an editor, unless the book comes out in a specified series.
Pertaining to royalties, there are several writers' societies where one can become a member and arrange for yearly royalties. One of the best ones in Germany is VGWort. Last year I only got 250-€ in royalties, but for 1 single published article. (The rest is stuck at the editor's for different practical reasons.) There must be something similar to VGWort in Britain.

[robhouse]

There are some good avenues out there for self publishing. I was looking into this one called Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/) which was bought by Amazon. On the plus side, the book is listed by amazon and you dont have much of any out of pocket costs. This is a print on demand operation, and you get a percentage of every book sold (a larger percentage than you would get from a publisher.) Also, you have total control over the content and editing (a double edged sword.) I even think Hulu now has a service where you can have your book distributed in actual bookstores, but I am not quite sure how it works. On the minus side, there is no marketing and no publicity... you have to do that yourself. I.e blog about it, make a website, fund your own book tour, promote it via social media etc.

If you want to go the more traditional route, I would suggest trying to get an agent. (This is what I did and the choice I was faced with.) It is indeed a pain because you need to write a book proposal, which is about 20 pages all told. Also, you will want to write a shorter form of that (I forget what its called)... essentially a one page overview of your proposal. Then you have to send sample chapters. The hardest part is that different agents have different requirements, so it is a pain to have to custom fit each one you send out. But this is really the best way to get a traditional publishing deal. You can buy a book on that describes in detail everything you need to do to get an agent, with a list of current agents and the types of manuscripts each one is interested in... then send out quite a few proposals (I sent just under 50) and hope for the best. If you can get an agent then there is a good chance you can get a publishing deal. As noted, the majority of publishers do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

Still, in the long run who knows. It might be better to just self publish. Publishers are out to make money after all. I believe in my case, the publisher has not made any money on my book because the sales have been a bit under par. The whole publishing industry is struggling a bit now, because people do not read so much any more from what I gather. And those that do, read books about vampires.

Rob H

[Bridewell]

A big thank-you to everyone who has posted on this thread for all your help and advice, especially to Stewart, for contacting me by private message. I have one more iron in the fire, but am drawn towards self-publishing in the first instance, if only to get an ISBN Number and establish my copyright. I certainly intend to submit something to Ripperologist in due course, but am undecided as to which to do first.

[Trevor Marriott]

A big thank-you to everyone who has posted on this thread for all your help and advice, especially to Stewart, for contacting me by private message. I have one more iron in the fire, but am drawn towards self-publishing in the first instance, if only to get an ISBN Number and establish my copyright. I certainly intend to submit something to Ripperologist in due course, but am undecided as to which to do first.

Take my advice dont self publish the cost is so high on a good book well made and printed for 200 copies the overall cost would be £5.00 per book to print.

The major retail outlets will not entertain authors and then only recognised publishing houses. If you put it on Amazon they will want 60% discount so if you sell a book at £10.00 you are out of pocket.

If you find an agent you are still not guaranteed to get a deal

You dont need an isbn number to prove copyright

Its as Stewart said its tough out there at the moment publishers are finding it difficult as far as a Ripper books are concerned there has to be a new angle before most will even look at it. But there are some that will take it an offer you a pittance in royalties with no advance, you finish up with a yearly royalty of £10.00 and a bag of toffees.