I have written 35,500 words about my life and experiences while living in Afghanistan for nine and a half years (2003 - 2012). I think this is a unique and topical issue and my work brings a new and personal perspective to readers interested in the daily lives of ordinary Afghan people.
I would ideally like a literary agent to take it and interest a publisher to publish it in both physical and e-book format. Can anyone suggest who or how I can move forward with this?
Hi Elizabeth,
I am sure that most agents in W&A yearbook will consider your unsolicited submission, unless they are currently overwhelmed, you might check their website for this. A few may state in their listing that they are closed to any submissions so just ignore them and try the next. Publishers often do not however, requiring an agent go-between.
An agent often requests exclusivity, which means submitting once and waiting six weeks for a reply, and if you get a rejection submitting to the next agent. This takes ages. I would consider having 50 copies printed by a print shop and sending them out all at once. If you state in your cover letter that this is the case it should not be a problem.
Golden rules - make sure they deal with your genre (non fiction then), spell the agents name right, they are very uppity on this, follow their submission guidelines precisely - good cover letter, better proposal, perfect sample etc.
Good luck.
My problem in approaching literary agents is that many will not accept unsolicited manuscripts, and I am an unknown author.
Also, as Jonathan points out, what genre is it? It is not autobiographical because the subject matter is Afghanistan not myself. It is not travel or history because it is set in a contemporary and specific location and time. It is not written only for women, even though I am a woman but the subject matter is wider than that. The only category I can apply to it is 'non-fiction.'
That's a pretty topical subject and I'd have thought you'd get a lot of interest.
The best source of agent/publisher details is the Writers & Artist's Yearbook. Just follow the individual's list of submission requirements. Placing it in a genre might be awkward - an agent would be best placed for that.
Best of luck!