Hi Keith,
Thank you so much for letting us take a look at your proposal, WORK ETHIC, but I’m sorry to report that we’re going to pass. This is a great concept, and some of the stories are hilarious, but I’m afraid we didn’t feel that there were enough common threads that wove the collection together. And so we just weren’t convinced we could publish this successfully.
I’m sorry not to be more enthusiastic about this project, but thanks again for sharing it with us. I wish you the best of luck in finding a publisher!
Best wishes,
(her name here)
I decided to send the following reply, figuring "Hey, she already said no, what could it hurt?"
(her name here)
Thanks for taking the time to read 'Work Ethic?' and I'm glad to hear that you found some of it hilarious.
I will take your comments into account as I continue to work on the manuscript. If it makes any difference, please know that I would be open to working with you on making the book more marketable.
At any rate, I appreciate your time, and I hope you will not mind if I send you a rewrite of this manuscript in the future or perhaps a query letter for my next manuscript.
Thanks again,
Keith
I am willing to work with a publisher on making my book more "marketable". Does that make me a sell out? The way I figure it, I have the original. It exists and will always exist. If I have to make small changes that are not artistically objectionable to me in order to break into the publishing game, that's fine.
If I manage to sell some books, I'll have more say in the future.
Besides, my work for the News and Review is run through an editor and I'm often quite pleased with the changes they make.
2 comments:
If you need to tweak your stuff to get invited to the dance then thats fine. Like you pointed out, once you get there you can make it your own. Compromising after you're already there is a sellout.
You and I are complete opposites on almost everything. Yet I dig your style and have read and enjoyed your stuff for years. I would buy your book without hesitation and would refer to this site to get the inside scoop on which stories were juiced.
Thanks Diesel.
Yeah, I'm willing to consider changes for sure, as long as I get to stay in the loop ya know.
And really, even if they wanted to totally trash my book, whatever, I'll still have the original and the money to write another book. Yeah.
Hopefully I find the right publisher or agent soon.
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