Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Wanted: Connections

Want to hear a great way to light a fire under your arse? Get an early morning tip off from a friend that someone else is working on THE EXACT SAME PROJECT THAT YOU ARE!!!!! And by someone, I mean a certain website where I discussed my book and found volunteers to help me out with it. I'm sure that this is merely a coincidence of course and that they're not a bunch of GREAT BIG IDEA STEALERS!!!

Either way, it definitely got me moving and had me looking up agents quick haste. It was while looking up said agents that I came across this article in the Irish Independent in which one of the country's few literary agents explains that, 'recommendation has become increasingly important nowadays. "We have a lot of personal recommendation, word of mouth, or established, but unagented, authors approaching us." '

Hear that splushing sound?

That was my heart hitting the floor.

I know nobody.

I have no connections.

Zero.

Zip.

Zilch.

what's worse is that I'm (gasp!) not even Irish.

So how is an unconnected, transplanted Canadian supposed to get a foot in the door of the Irish publishing world?

Buy a pair of reeeeeeeeeeallllllyyyy long shoes :)

5 comments:

  1. No seriously? I don't believe it. You have been posting stuff up there about this project for ages - like since 2007. Oh my god! But don't fear... you have tons of connections through rc and through your blog and certainly some of your readers/ participants might have some connections in publishing. I don't know if I can be of any help - I don't know any agents and would have heard things about academic publishers in Ireland. But let me know! You have to get your book out first!

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  2. Not rc thankfully(I love them) another site. On the bright side it has me moving! Thanks for the positive thoughts, I figure if I put it out, who knows? Something just might come back :)

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  3. Oh, I hear your frustration. I'm in the middle of submitting to irish agents and everything I write and say sounds so bloody English (probably because I'm English!). Hopefully our sheer talent will shine through the annoying obstacles...........!

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  4. Hey! If I get an agent, then that gives you a connection :) Being foreign really sucks sometimes. I can't write about Canada because I haven't lived there in years and over here, well... same as you hcm! HEre's to our pure talent shining through :) Nope, we're not the least bit over confident;p

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  5. Oh good glad its not rc. I would have gone mad if it was. But this will work out M I know it. x

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