When I read this story in the Daily Mail online last April I assumed it was some sort of hoax: a writer left her manuscript on Richard and Judy’s doorstep in the hope of getting herself a book deal and as if by magic, she landed herself a deal with Orion.
But no: the article was published to coincide with the book’s publication: Ruth Saberton’s book Katy Carter Wants A Hero was published on April 1, in both paperback
By chance I just landed on Ruth Saberton’s website, where she explains how she really got her book deal. And it’s a much less extraordinary story than the one the Mail reported:
This manuscript attracted the attention of literary agents and I signed with the lovely Eve White
…who subsequently sold the book to Orion. And Ruth Saberton was no newcomer to publishing: she also writes under the pseudonym of Jessica Fox, and is under contract to Headline’s Little Black Dress imprint for five books, the first of which was published in May 2009.
Now, I have no beef against Ruth Saberton (in fact, I rather like the look of her books): but I do find puffery like the Daily Mail article more than a little irritating. It feeds into the myth that one has to be extraordinarily lucky, or have contacts in all the right places, in order to get published; and it patronises us, as readers, by feeding us a nice little happy-ending story in order to promote the book. What it’s done to the state of Richard and Judy’s doorstep, I hate to imagine.
However, there is a good side to this. Not only am I now following Ruth Saberton on Twitter, and am likely to buy a copy of Katy Carter Wants A Hero in the very near future, I’ve just discovered a rather splendid competition on her website which is open to all until the end of September. There’s a chance to win a holiday (or at least part of one) in the glorious Polperro, in a cottage right on the harbour. It looks just gorgeous, and I want to be there now.
“There’s a chance to win a holiday (or at least part of one) in the glorious Polperro, in a cottage right on the harbour. It looks just gorgeous, and I want to be there now.”
Hmm, looks lovely, Jane, and I might enter, but is this the new way forward for marketing books? Would it work if I offered B&B and a day in the Heritage Railwway Loco Shed with the lovely Morley? Or a cuddle with the fat cat and the very, very old blind one?
Hello Jane and thanks for setting the record straight on this one. I’m sure I saw the story in more than one place and it prompted just the aspiring-writer-heart-sink moment you describe. But like Nicola I’m only partly comforted. I don’t have to be plucked from the darkness by a celebrity – but it might help if I make the story up?
Oh well, I suppose fiction is something I can do!
AliB
First the Mirror with 23 book boy; now the Mail with R&J’s doorstep. Yes, there may be some credence to the theory that someone’s put something in the water at Fleet Street
Nicola, I think that offering a cuddle with the lovely Morley is enough to promote ANYTHING, even a completely useless book!
AliB, I can’t see anything which suggests that the writer was to blame for this particular story (although I’ve not seen anything to suggest that her publishers’ marketing department were involved in it either). I suspect that good writing is still the best way we have of getting published.
And Dan, I could give you a whole list of stories which turned out to be suspect, but there are far too many of them and you’d get bored. I think that too many people overstep the lines of what’s acceptable fluff and what’s out-and-out misleading, but then I’m like that.
Visions of rearrangement of the Titanic deck chairs spring to mind. The desperation of book promotion to (and from) traditional publishers will only intensify as fewer book retailers reduce the path of print books to market. Like it or not, self publishing of ebooks is the unstoppable tide. Deal with it.
Alex, why are you being so snarky? And what on earth does your comment have to do with the story we’re talking about here?
I recognise your sort of rhetoric: I’ve heard it lots of times before. I’ll bet you a doughnut that you’re self-publishing your work in e-book format(s).
True fact that I (prowdly) publish my work in e-book formats so you win the bet, Jane. Relevance? Gosh, I thought the theme was getting books to readers and electronic publishing is a growing part of that issue. Sorry if my post came off as ‘snarky’. Didn’t mean to offend. PS: I am also in discussion with agents regarding print possibilities.
Alex, apology accepted. You can send the doughnut to my home address.
I’ve read SO many comments about how “traditional” publishing is “merely rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic” until self-publishing and/or e-books take over the market that your comment was a big red flag for me.
But I still don’t see how your comment addressed the topic of this particular post.