Good for her! I just looked it up and I'm getting a copy on principle, if for no other reason (though I'm not that fond of the snake, I have to say). In there with the likes of Roddy Doyle, Miranda July, and Murakami - ain't that somethin'? as Bob Dylan said. Well, Roddy Doyle first self-published his Commitments - didja know that?
Here's from an interview with Roddy. Thought you might find it interesting...
You self-published The Commitments. Did you try to get that published?
No. I had written a novel earlier [Your Granny Was a Hunger Striker] and now I know, with hindsight, it was absolutely dreadful, but I sent it off to a lot of publishers and what struck me was--not that it wasn't accepted--but that it wasn't opened. Myself and a friend of mine, John Sutton, to whom The Van is dedicated, did a bit of investigating and found out the prices [to self-publish]. It wasn't extraordinarily expensive. I didn't have an agent. Agents didn't want to know one unless one was published. Publishers didn't want to know one unless one had an agent.
Here's the interview: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-56184292.html
7 comments:
Good for her! I just looked it up and I'm getting a copy on principle, if for no other reason (though I'm not that fond of the snake, I have to say). In there with the likes of Roddy Doyle, Miranda July, and Murakami - ain't that somethin'? as Bob Dylan said. Well, Roddy Doyle first self-published his Commitments - didja know that?
Did not know that.
True story. I've seen it in a couple of places, but go here: http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,,-60,00.html
Here's from an interview with Roddy. Thought you might find it interesting...
You self-published The Commitments. Did you try to get that published?
No. I had written a novel earlier [Your Granny Was a Hunger Striker] and now I know, with hindsight, it was absolutely dreadful, but I sent it off to a lot of publishers and what struck me was--not that it wasn't accepted--but that it wasn't opened. Myself and a friend of mine, John Sutton, to whom The Van is dedicated, did a bit of investigating and found out the prices [to self-publish]. It wasn't extraordinarily expensive. I didn't have an agent. Agents didn't want to know one unless one was published. Publishers didn't want to know one unless one had an agent.
Here's the interview: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-56184292.html
Seems that James Waddington created Ogo Press himself too, so that's another self-published book in the Frank O'Connor longlist.
http://www.ogopress.co.uk/
http://www.examiner.co.uk/leisure-and-entertainment/arts-news/2007/11/26/james-is-a-man-of-many-words-and-writing-styles-86081-20162424/
The downloadable story starts with some overwritten passages about waves, then moves on to counting sheep. This is a finalist?
I have to say it wasn't my favorite opening paragraph, but maybe the rest is brilliant.
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