Thursday, August 13, 2009

How not to impress a publisher

* Update: None of the following is fictional or exaggerated. These are all things that I have personally encountered in little more than a year at a publishing house. Letters, emails, phone calls, strange parcels, some mild stalking. Queries full of bad grammar and spelling come in all the time. But these are some that truly stand out.
  1. Your father calling four people in the office everyday and telling them about his 'intimate relationships'.
  2. Sending unsolicited emails with baby pictures of yourself and details of how and why they were clicked.
  3. Sending, as proof of writing ability, 24"x18" framed printouts of your excruciatingly bad digital art.
  4. Having your agent send them swear-word riddled email saying that their Booker-winner is a crap book.
  5. Addressing them by the name of a rival publishing house.
  6. Asking them personal questions. Again and again and again.
  7. Asking them to commit to publishing without sharing manuscript because you're afraid they'll steal your idea.
  8. 'XXX is a fictitious and psycho thriller story. It contains 71 pages, 26,190 words, with 105,496 characters.'
  9. Picking up email address from submissions guidelines page and asking them to mail you submissions guidelines.
  10. Asking them to mail you academic qualifications so you can judge whether they're fit to evaluate your work.
  11. As follow up to query letter, sending updates regarding property purchases.
  12. Abusing them because they don't remember your first name and ask for surname and name of manuscript.
  13. Asking for mobile number in order to call post work hours so that they can concentrate on your book alone.
  14. Sending query letters about the same manuscript seven times in two days.
  15. Offering bribes to editors when you're told that they are not a vanity publishing outfit.
  16. Beginning a query call with the words 'I want to tell you about myself.'
  17. Saying 'You are duty-bound to publish my book because I am also a Bengali like you.'
  18. Clogging their inboxes with photographs of 'my scenic tour of Kerala'.
  19. Asking them to commission your idea without revealing what your idea is.
  20. Calling every day and ranting about how their rejection has ruined your life.
  21. Calling to say, 'I have a book idea which will be a bestseller. Can you tell me how to write the book?'
  22. Offering to stay awake for two weeks in a row and recording your thoughts in order to publish them as a novel.
  23. On being told that your book is not something they feel strongly about, yelling 'But that's YOUR problem!'
  24. Asking them to create accounts on social networking services just so that they can be on your friends' list.
  25. Sending them details of a rival publisher and ask them to forward the hard copy of your manuscript to them.
  26. Telling them how you've been published online and linking them to your blog.
  27. Asking for money to send them your manuscript.
  28. Sharing anecdotes of your visit to a monastery once graced by the Dalai Lama and why this makes you special.
  29. Calling them and asking for phone numbers of other publishers and literary agents.
  30. Asking if your manuscript can win a competition.
  31. Responding to 'I wasn't able to take your call because I was ill and out of office' with 'You are lying'.
  32. Saying 'This book has been greatly appreciated by the target readership. My wife and daughter really liked it.'
  33. Telling them how your manuscript could not be auctioned off at the London Book Fair because it was under consideration with them.
  34. Having your father's minions harangue them day in and out saying 'I'll be fired if you don't say yes'.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

:-)

Pradipta said...

Just checking if this works. Had done something strange earlier that disabled comments, I think.

apu said...

so crazy this is...much enjoyed reading!

Aditya said...

Awesome :)

Anshuman Mohan said...

Cool!
Let's just hope I didn't do too many of those thing!
Cool blog, by the way.
"Come, sit. Have a cup of tea" LOL

Pradipta said...

Anshuman: Thankfully, you did none of these. :D

Shefaly said...

Fiction may be fab but real life is endlessly amusing. Which is why this post resonates. (Got here from Nilanjana's).

Amitava Kumar said...

Wonderful.

And someone bringing you a packet of mithai with their MS., explaining, "Because you are a Bungali, Madam, I just bought this for you from Bungali Sweets. Small gift..."

Kristan said...

Oh WOW... It's unbelievable what some people think is acceptable! (Here via Bibliophile Stalker, btw.)

Pradipta said...

Apu, Aditya: Glad you enjoyed this.

Shefaly: It is a strange world that we live in, indeed.

Amitava: I don't have much of a sweet tooth. If that were not the case, I might have been open to persuasion!

Kristan: What is amazing is that all of them were quite in earnest. I put this post up in exasperation, yes, but I also hope that at least one person in the world takes something out of this regarding what is acceptable behaviour when you're sending in a proposal!

I shall go say thank you to Nilanjana and Bibliophile Stalker for linking. :-)

Diana Dang said...

LOL!

Radhika said...

Great. Now I at least know, what NOT to do.

Karen M said...

Jeysus! It's unbelievable what some people will do to get published.

Pradipta said...

Diana, Radhika: :-)

Karen: A lot of people are desperate to be published, yes, but I don't think they do any of this intentionally - I just think that they don't realize what is acceptable behaviour, and how the lack of it can weigh against them. I wish it were somehow possible to explain to them why these things are not done, and what they should actually do instead!

Brightshadow said...

Totally believable. Alas. In fact, it reminds me of a character in the novel I'm writing ...

Mr. D said...

Aren't even a single one of these made-up? exxagerated?

It's hilarious nonetheless.

March Hare said...

on a completely different note, that is a kick-ass picture on your header. :D

respect the hat indeed.

Anonymous said...

Explains why publishers act so superior - towards ALL prospective authors:-)

Pradipta said...

Brightshadow: It sounds like an interesting book!

Mr D: Nope.

March Hare: Thank you :)

Anon: Not all of them do. But I guess it depends on perspective and personal experience.

Mer-curial-maiden said...

On being told that your book is not something they feel strongly about, yelling 'But that's YOUR problem!'

-- xD Aww.

Heathcliffs Girl said...

That was all so ridiculous!!
who would behave like that! funny,neverthless.

kaichu said...

orey, we demand newpost. this was so louely that you needs must provide us with more writing soon.

Shubhodeep said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shubhodeep said...

And now I think I'm too scared to contact you regarding my "book" :)

And may I invite you to drop by my blog sometime? I promise I won't ask you to publish the stuff on it.

Aman said...

Thanks! This is fun, echo Radhika's sentiment :)

Saurbh said...

Deja vu...now i know what all i did wrong..wish had chanced upon this post earlier!

chatterbox unplugged said...

funny post !

souljhol said...

So is there another article on how to impress a publisher? Clearly my kerala photo album is not going to cut it.

Bishwanath Ghosh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.