MAKING SALES

Yes, the mantra of agents is "In this current shrinking competitive market, HF does not sell." Yet the Historical Novel Society magazine has many pages of HF releases in each issue. Some US publishers seem to wait for HF to be published first in the UK and other countries, then take them on.

After 14 years trying to sell my non- US-Brit-Roman HF and coming close, I have at last found a royalty publisher sans agent willing to go all the way with hard cover and a late spring 2008 release.

Never give up.

www.donaldmichaelplatt.com

donroc said:

Yes, the mantra of agents is "In this current shrinking competitive market, HF does not sell." Yet the Historical Novel Society magazine has many pages of HF releases in each issue. Some US publishers seem to wait for HF to be published first in the UK and other countries, then take them on.

After 14 years trying to sell my non- US-Brit-Roman HF and coming close, I have at last found a royalty publisher sans agent willing to go all the way with hard cover and a late spring 2008 release.

Never give up.

www.donaldmichaelplatt.com

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Fourteen years. Wow. That's...disconcerting. But good for you not giving up!

Thank you, c.e. lawson, and I have defied two other bits of conventional wisdom, age and length of ms. I am 75, and the ms is more than 150,000 words.

www.donaldmichaelplatt.com

For anyone who is not aware - many publishers (and most of the best publishers) will not accept unagented queries. Hence, the agent conundrum. Puma

?

wee said:

What kind of HF is it, and do you mind saying what time/subject? Are you querying agents that specifically handle historical?

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I'd classify it as Adventure, Elizabethan era (so basically Tudor).

As to the second question, um, I think I'm a little insulted.

Actually...

I think it's the same in the US. But please go up to the Novels board and read Uncle Jim's Novel Writing Thread because a) he'll know and b) it's one of the most practical and best writing fiction handbooks around

BUT
whilst most publishers do not accept unsolicited and/or unagented manuscripts, a letter of query selling your book and yourself is NOT an unsolicited manuscript, and is acceptable. If you can convince the publisher your book is of interest, they will ask to see it, an agent will take you on straight away if you have a publisher interested, and you can send the manuscript as a solicited one with a possible agent.

Why is the Tudor era so popular? Why, there's nothing sexier than corset ripping and head chopping! In all seriousness, no offense to anyone else, it kind of bothers me when people romanticize certain relationships in history. A teenage girl seducing an old man for the sake of power is not sexy.