Contrary to my original dread, I can’t possibly claim that the process of approaching commercial publishers has been dull and predictable…
I explained my strategy in a post on 18 January. I had just sent the advance party out and was waiting for an answer before working down the publisher-list in descending grandness, aiming for a decision willy-nilly by 30 June about whether we would have to publish ourselves in order to get the book out by Christmas. Unfortunately, we were well into February before it was clear that the advance party had been, er, exploded. I could see myself having lost a month, then being unable to reach that decision by 30 June, and if I hung on for replies after that it would be difficult to get the book out ourselves by Christmas. But completely unexpectedly, I appear to be back on track.
In March I started sending proposals over the top in tens and by 1 June I’d tackled all 31 publishers on the short list. I have had 7 rejections, 5 of which were after asking to see samples; 3 requests to read the whole typescript; 1 publisher is still reading the sample they asked for; and the other 20 haven’t yet replied. Presumably some will reply (they can take up to three months), but to have the whole thing being read by three publishers now means that the publishing future of the biography might be settled by mid-July.
There is, of course, an infinitude of things that can go wrong… Two developments, concerning the publishers currently ‘reading’, are so unexpected and unusual that I can’t possibly describe them here. However, one’s worst fear is always that a contract will be offered conditional on massive cuts. That, certainly, would mean adopting the advice of various writer-friends to self-publish ‘because you get what you want’.
I don’t think I’m inflexible in the matter of publishers’ editors requirements/demands, but I’m more used to cuts in the theatre, where you accept them pronto because you see they are pragmatically necessary; and move on. I don’t feel that way about the 450-page George Calderon: Edwardian Genius that I have spent the last six years writing…
I hope I shall have a positive decision to announce by the middle of July about publication in 2017. If not, may I point out that 2018 is the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of George’s birth. That’s got to be a good marketing opportunity, hasn’t it?
A word of advice: publishing is only half the story, in many ways the easy half, marketing being the other half. Good marketing starts with good design. It looks like you have made a good start with the Calderonia blog, but I’d be doubtful about your aim of publishing in 2017; at least not if you want to publish and market, as the latter takes at least six months. I can recommend a good publisher who markets worldwide if you want one.
Cheeky, sir, as chairman of Unicorn Publishing Group! But thank you.