The omnipresent FLAPJACK! They're everywhere, many many pre-packaged brands, along with lovingly hand-made ones in bakeries and restaurants. A flapjack is a small granola bar, but more moist and yummy than USA granola bars. The point of a flapjack is to TASTE GOOD, not to be au naturel and save the planet and promote healthy bowel regularity like USA granola bars.
WGC is addicted to them. Squirrels love them too!
I'll cut to the chase on the kids' books, since hemlockman asked. No, I did not sell anything. But I did get packages in to most of the publishers who swore they would not accept packages. And most were very polite and welcoming in person. Of course, that is just at the front desk. I was not surprised to find that editors could not just drop whatever they were doing and have tea with Mark Martin! But I did get material through the frontlines.
I actually DID meet with one very successful packager for a large major publisher, and unexpected things seem to be developing there. More about that later, but on the subject of infiltrating the publishers that have the "GO AWAY" mat in front of their door:
There is one publisher in particular that makes it very clear that they will absolutely not under any circumstances look at anything new - PERIOD! EXCLAMATION POINT! So I made it one of my goals to get a package in to them.
And I did! It was EASY! The lady at the front desk said "sure" and even gave me some good tips on making sure it went to the right people.
Then came the odd part. She said I had to take the package back outside, down the street and around the corner, down an alley and to the building's loading dock so it could be scanned for security reasons "like all packages have to be in London now!" I did all that, and the package got in - but nowhere else was I asked to do anything remotely like that.
Since I got home, I have received a letter saying that my package was received, but regrettably they only look at new material from agents now.
A - so they DO look at new material!
B - the Agent Mafia is apparently very strong in UK!
I gotta go, but quickly I'll add this on the subject of publisher-crashing. One of the small publishers that I thought I could really fit in well with, and that I thought would be one of the most approachable, turned out to be the least approachable, most unwelcoming of all! Their address was hard to find, so I called the phone number from the website. A lady said "we only do their marketing here."
I said "So where are the editorial offices?"
She said "( sigh... ) You can leave a package here and we'll forward it to them."
"That's OK, I can take it to them. What's the address?"
"It's a private address."
"But I can leave it with you?"
"You can ring the door buzzer and I'll send my associate down for it"
So I finally located the door and the buzzer, rang the buzzer, and her associate came down and curtly accepted my package.
Who knows? I may get a call from them begging me to let them publish my books soon!
3 comments:
When I saw your title "british food" and then the photo right below it, I thought you were feeding the british food so that you could get it close enough to bash it in the head. I used to eat the American version of that when I was a kid. My dad would stew them with rice and pepper.
Why don't you have an agent? You need one. You certainly have the credentials to land a good agent. They don't cost you anything up front; they do all of the leg work, for which they earn their per centage, but you generally can't operate without one, these days.
Yes, I sold my first novel without an agent, and I pretty much sold the movie rights to that novel by myself. But my agent negotiated very good terms (more money) for the movie deal and gets my work seen by far more publishing houses than I could ever hope to crash on my own.
you guys should like this, and why isn't mark martin working with these guys?
http://www.dummcomics.com/index?sid=14
I double down on the agent suggestion. Maybe while you're there you can look up literary agents in England? Couldn't hurt.
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