I read someone's work last night - someone whose work I haven't read before. And I got the jitters. You know that feeling when you're reading something you know you're going to love? Something that's just beautifully written? The writer is as yet unpublished.This got me thinking : If she's unpublished, what the hell chance have I got?!
Which got me thinking : Surely there's a lot of talent out there being missed?
Which led to: Well would YOU like to read through the slush pile?
The answer, of course, is No. I don't want to have to read through the mounds and mounds of manuscripts received by any one or every literary agent in town. HOWEVER, I am lucky enough to move amongst a world of writers, some published, some unpublished. And I can think of at least five or six of these who in my opinion (for whatever that is worth) should be published on the strength of their writing, story telling and sheer grit. Hell, if I make the number six or seven, I may even include myself.
Which got me thinking: How exactly does one become a literary scout? I mean I'd be providing a service to these agents/publishers who are all looking for the next big thing?
How would I go about it? Because I've just bought the domain... http://www.thenextbestthing.co.uk/
Alright. A mere moment of madness. I'm not really going to try and be a literary scout. I'm a writer. It does make me sad though, that there's so much untapped talent out there.
Anyone got any other ideas for my new website??
7 comments:
Love the domain name, clever of you to buy it. I know nothing about scouting, I'm afraid so can't offer any useful help at all.
This is SUCH a good idea! I feel like that about YOUR novel, so if you do become a scout you should be your own first client :o) I'm not sure how you become one - there are scouting agencies out there - do you already have connections?- or you could just go freelance and big yourself up.
That's not professional advice, you understand.
Ooh, maybe aspiring authors could post excerpts of their novels on the site which readers could comment on and, and ... oh I don't know where I'm going with this. It would be a good way to get feedback if nothing else, and might lead to bigger things?
Fionnuala, you clever, mad thing - Simon Cowell/Richard Branston would hug you with pride! What a brilliant idea - can I come work for you? I can spot talent a mile off - and we've got it in bucketloads (that's visualisation not arrogance - honest)so we should snap ourselves up! I like the suggestion Karen makes about aspiring authors posting excerpts, in fact that's where we met all those years ago, wasn't it? And look how far we've come since!
Hi Debs, Karen and Debs R!
Its funny how a sort of rambling thought process inspired a web domain purchase and a post! Alas, I wouldn't know where to begin to do the literary scout thing justice...so I'll carry on writing eh?
Or... you could write a book about a literary scout called 'The Next Best Thing' :-)
Ooh, I love Jacqueline's idea!
Crumbs, you'd be a great literary scout... seems a shame to waste the fabulous domain name. Karen's idea of posting excerpts and whatnot... am going to have a little think about this while I walk the hound.
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