A kiwi writer

Not all agents are like that. If I were you, I'd go to agentquery(dot)com and try to find a list of agents there that represent your genre. Visit their sites, dabble a bit and figure out what suits your needs, then query. Finding an agent is probably the hardest part of the whole process, so don't stress it out. You're definitely not alone on that subject here.

Hi Lyndeedee,

Firstly welcome aboard, I'm from Taranaki and still relatively new here myself.

I can't answer your question, but it is something I'm extremely interested in myself, so please PM me or whatever if you do get more information regarding this.

Something I'm grappling with a little is the location of an erotic thriller WIP of mine. The nature of what I'm writing probably means that the location could quite easily be tweaked if I had to, it's not very integral to the story. Your question makes a whole lot of my own resurface...
(1) How would a wider audience relate to a story located in NZ?
(2) If I was deliberately targetting the home market, would there be a market or pubisher? (well, I need to reseach that don't I)?
(3) If I change the location, how many complications does that introduce? I mean in terms of the nuances of my style and language, the accuracy of that location as I portray it.

In terms of the problem you encountered with the overseas publisher, could it have to do with different copyright laws? I ask this because, nothing to do with writing, but recently I noticed a "create a video for a soundtrack" competition for a major US rock group. But it was only open to certain countries, and apparently that was because of the copyright laws in the excluded countries (of which NZ was one). I couldn't get my head around what the problem was, but apparently there was one.

I'd love to see any informed opinions on this from other writers on this board.

But Lyndeedee, please keep me in the loop if you get further information. Feel free to PM me. And if I get further information, I'll let you know.

There are a lot of Kiwis here. Long story short, most publishers and most agents are pretty indifferent to what country you are from or in or how often you change it. If you look at New Zealand writers of genre fiction most are represented by and published by Americans.

veinglory said:

There are a lot of Kiwis here. Long story short, most publishers and most agents are pretty indifferent to what country you are from or in or how often you change it. If you look at New Zealand writers of genre fiction most are represented by and published by Americans.

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Thanks veinglory. Nice succinct answer. Strange, though the web opens up the wide world, one can feel oddly isolated in little old kiwiland. As though the real world's happening out there somewhere, LOL. And your words are very reassuring. The whole publishing thing is something I haven't attempted yet, and the help on this board is absolutely fantastic, thanks to all the experienced members!

All my rampant opinion:

On your specfic questions, I don't think there is much to worry about. I am most familiar with romance where New Zealanders are pretty successful across the board with mainstream (NY press, Harlequin etc) releases every single week. Many write books set in NZ, for an overseas audience. If anything this is probably a selling point. Copyright, contracts etc are pretty much the same except in very minor details. Potential sales via a US press are astoundingly larger in scale. No one will every make much money catering only to the NZ market (and the local publishers only want non-fic and literaure for the most part anyway...)

In terms of a NZ publisher for thrillers, expecially erotic, I doubt there is one. If there is they would be a very small press. I would suggest aiming for the US. If the book is published there is is accessible most everywhere else one way or another. Although I am currently ex-pat and so out of touch with what is happening with the UK-monopoly on supplying chain stores.

veinglory said:

Many write books set in NZ, for an overseas audience. If anything this is probably a selling point.

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That answers a really big question I've always had tucked at the back of my mind. Given the hours in a day, finding sufficient time to write let alone research all the other stuff, you have absolutely no idea how helpful that kind of insight is! Thanks again.

Hey, Lyndeedee! Welcome to AW.

Heya Lyndeedee! Welcome!

Howdy, Lyndeedee! Welcome to AW.

to AW, Lyndeedee! All the best with your search for a publisher. Keep us posted.

Hi Lyndeedee! I can't offer any help on your situation, but I will say welcome, and good luck! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

to AW, Lyndeedee!

Hello and welcome

Howdy...glad you found us---stick around...it gets better

Hello Lyndeedee, and welcome to the Cooler. I'm from Belgium, but I still haven't given up the hope of finding an agent/publisher in the UK or USA (perhaps it will be easier in the USA, because the English are so chauvenist.) I do hope some books in publication, but they were mainly self-published.


Nickie

Hi Lyndeedee, and welcome! I'm a kiwi, as well, and I came up against the 'must be based in/about NZ' problem myself when looking for publishers a couple of years back.
Of course, then I moved into Fantasy and found a whole new problem: there aren't many publishers in NZ who publish fantasy.
So, yes. I'll probably be trying US/UK with my next few novels. Haven't got there yet. We'll have to see how it goes. As far as I know, however, not all agents/publishers are concerned with the country the writer lives in.
Once again, welcome.

Lyn,
Welcome to AW! I'm sure one of the other writers can assist with your dilemma. Good luck!