Honest Critiques
No, I mean it. REAL honest. Email your excerpts or full stories, up to 1000 words or so, to honestcrits [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk. Synopses would also be welcome. My backlog is so daunting now that I recommend not submitting anything you are not prepared to wait a couple of months for a response on.
Click here to find out what this blog is all about.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Slight hiatus
Nope, not in a Superman-induced time-warp, buried under manuscripts, or in a ditch - just incredibly busy. It's Sales Conference this week and I'm too snowed under to do much in the way of reading when I get home from work. Sorry to Emmet and Michael, who have been very patient.
If you're interested, there are two of these conferences every year. What happens is, the sales reps come in and sit at a long table, and then us editors get up one by one and present our books for the next six months (or, actually, the six months from February 06, in this case.) The idea is to get the sales force clued up about the novels they won't have time to read and the picture books they won't get finished copies of in time to sell, so that when they go into their local Borders with their sample case of proofs they can talk intelligently and persuasively about them. (This is one of the biggest hurdles any book has to get over.)
What it means for me is a week or two of chasing around after proofs, sales figures, biographical tidbits, hilarious jokes and fascinating morsels of trivia to whet their jaded palates. As you can imagine, this is a far cry from my usual routine - dozing off gently in my hammock, a glass of Dom Perignon in one manicured hand, with only the occasional trip to the telephone to sneer at an author, or outside to toss red-hot pennies to orphans in the streets.
Anyway: very busy. I'll be finished on Friday, and hope to be back on track at the weekend. Thanks to everyone who's kept reading.
If you're interested, there are two of these conferences every year. What happens is, the sales reps come in and sit at a long table, and then us editors get up one by one and present our books for the next six months (or, actually, the six months from February 06, in this case.) The idea is to get the sales force clued up about the novels they won't have time to read and the picture books they won't get finished copies of in time to sell, so that when they go into their local Borders with their sample case of proofs they can talk intelligently and persuasively about them. (This is one of the biggest hurdles any book has to get over.)
What it means for me is a week or two of chasing around after proofs, sales figures, biographical tidbits, hilarious jokes and fascinating morsels of trivia to whet their jaded palates. As you can imagine, this is a far cry from my usual routine - dozing off gently in my hammock, a glass of Dom Perignon in one manicured hand, with only the occasional trip to the telephone to sneer at an author, or outside to toss red-hot pennies to orphans in the streets.
Anyway: very busy. I'll be finished on Friday, and hope to be back on track at the weekend. Thanks to everyone who's kept reading.
Torgo, 6:10 pm
12 Comments:
Good to hear from you..but "back at the weekend?" With the cricket on ? I hae ma doots, jimmy.
I'm praying for at least three days of rain, y'see...
Dom Perignon in a manicured hand...Hey, I don't have time to get a manicure! Get to work! (She says wryly as she taps away at the keyboard with ragged, bitten from too much stress fingernails.)
Ah Torgo, I just saw honest critiques listed on the blog 007Agent. Looks like you're in for more trouble. Sorry about the bad news and no killing the messeger.
Torgo, I've been enjoying reading your comments. I sent you the first thousand words of my novel for your review and wondered if you notified writers when you review their work.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Hi Torgo, Have been visiting this site to get an editor's insight. Great reading.
Hello there. Sales conference is over and rain is falling at the Oval; the lark is on the wing, the snail is on the thorn, and all's right with the world.
Lydia, welcome and thanks for reading.
Stephen, I don't tend to email people to let them know when it's going up, but I'll drop you a line when I get to yours. I've got a few to get through this weekend, so hop to get to it in the week.
Lydia, welcome and thanks for reading.
Stephen, I don't tend to email people to let them know when it's going up, but I'll drop you a line when I get to yours. I've got a few to get through this weekend, so hop to get to it in the week.
Ah ha, Torgo. In the post you said you'd be back on the weekend. Now in the comment, you'll be back next week.....Are you sure it's raining? Or are you watching watching bug reruns (cricket)?
Hi Bonnie - no, I'll be posting today, just won't get to Stephen this weekend.
Any way of finding out where we are on "the list"
Knock, Knock...Torgo, are you home? After some of these comments, you probably ran to a bug match. It sounds like it's turning into a job. Ha, ha...and you started this site just for fun...WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? I know, it was during a Dom Perignon induced coma that you came up with this idea. Makes you wanna' stay on the wagon, huh?
Stop blogging right now!
