Oshk, bloody hell. Help!
I've applied for a grant from Arts Council England, in order to take a few months off work to finish off 'Alex.' (For the uninitiated, 'Alex' is the working title of a novel.) Arts Council England *do* fund authors writing novels, and they *have* funded people's debuts in the past. So presumably there *is* a way around the following, but I could do with someone pointing it out to me:
Got an email from one of them, and it says this.
"We need more information to demonstrate there is a demand for your novel, for example written confirmation from interested publishers willing to read a draft, or any market research you have done to suggest there is a market for your novel.
Please submit this information by Monday 29 January."
Well you know, I have a little experience of submitting work to agents and publishers, and I've never found there was much point in approaching them with a work-in-progress. In fact I suggest that if you wrote to ask them if they would be willing to read your manuscript, if you sent them one, you may be wasting their time.
As for market research, I'm not sure what I might send that would be very...evidential. I have explained in my proposal that I *believe* there is a market for a neurotic love story between a 20-something chica and a 12-14 year old boy. Um, I'm not sure what *evidence* I can send to that effect, though. You either believe it's going to sell, or you don't, I think!
You'll have noticed there's a pretty tight time limit on me producing this evidence. They want to see things in writing, not just on my say-so. Seriously, can anyone suggest anything I might send?
I've applied for a grant from Arts Council England, in order to take a few months off work to finish off 'Alex.' (For the uninitiated, 'Alex' is the working title of a novel.) Arts Council England *do* fund authors writing novels, and they *have* funded people's debuts in the past. So presumably there *is* a way around the following, but I could do with someone pointing it out to me:
Got an email from one of them, and it says this.
"We need more information to demonstrate there is a demand for your novel, for example written confirmation from interested publishers willing to read a draft, or any market research you have done to suggest there is a market for your novel.
Please submit this information by Monday 29 January."
Well you know, I have a little experience of submitting work to agents and publishers, and I've never found there was much point in approaching them with a work-in-progress. In fact I suggest that if you wrote to ask them if they would be willing to read your manuscript, if you sent them one, you may be wasting their time.
As for market research, I'm not sure what I might send that would be very...evidential. I have explained in my proposal that I *believe* there is a market for a neurotic love story between a 20-something chica and a 12-14 year old boy. Um, I'm not sure what *evidence* I can send to that effect, though. You either believe it's going to sell, or you don't, I think!
You'll have noticed there's a pretty tight time limit on me producing this evidence. They want to see things in writing, not just on my say-so. Seriously, can anyone suggest anything I might send?
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It's been a while since I wrote enough of a novel to have it rejected (getting close now though, yay) but most publishers willing to look at unsolicited material ask to see a sample chapter or two and a synopsis, don't they?
But that takes time to type up and you'd be unlikely to hear back for a few weeks.
What I suggest is that I write you a letter from my company (we're back in Brum in mid-March for that show again yays) and I get my mate Andrew Kenrick to write you a letter from his company (Kenrick publishes RPG books) both saying, in effect, ZOMG.
I'd avoid the self-publishing route in any funding application, although it's becoming a valid way to get your work seen, it carries a lingering stink of the vanity press and it is expensive - my reaction would be 'if she's got 3k to spooge on self-publishing, she can damn well use it to write the bloody book'.
We don't publish fiction, and neither does Kenrick, but, and how can I put this, we ARE publishing companies, and I'm totally prepared to lie for you smile I think you've met Kenners as well, and he's usually happy to help out a fellow struggling writer. In point of fact, I've been pitching a short story journal to the director for some months now, so it's not a huge stretch of the imagination.
"We are looking for fresh brilliant writing to kick off our new modern literature imprint and would love to see more of your story" sounds pretty convincing to ME...