Protocol

by Annette Greenwood
12th December 2013

Having had a no thanks from a publisher and one line of feedback about my synopsis.I am seeking to improve on what I have written. I want to find out exactly what the feedback means as I am not sure.Is there a protocol that says it is inappropriate to go directly and ask the question of the publisher if the agent who sent it to the publisher is not forthcoming with the info?

Replies

Thanks both for your helpful advice.

Dor I will follow up the writers groups.

Sonya I am very happy and confident with story line however, I can see room for improvement in POV.

Work in progress!

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Annette
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Annette Greenwood
17/12/2013

Thank you both for some very valuable advice. Dor I will follow up the writers group you suggest.

Sonya I have great confidence in my work however, I can see room for improvement on Otherwise I am very happy with the story line.

Work in progress.

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Annette
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Annette Greenwood
17/12/2013

Its a chicken and egg problem and boils down to your own confidence in your work. Are you satisfied enough with it to resubmit to other agents/publishers without editing, or do you want to review your work again?

I doubt publishers will give feedback on why they won't take a work forward- sometimes it is an opinion that they can' t clearly explain themselves.

I must say that critiquing is a very personal viewpoint-I am just reviewing another writer's work in my genre to understand her technique for presenting her work and there are errors-unnecessary words, abrupt changes in POV, many things that I have tried to weed out of my own text. Her characterisation, on the other hand is very vivid. When is it perfect? Perhaps never. Is it good enough? I think it needs to good enough, but likely every manuscript at submission stage will still have errors.

if you feel you have nothing to lose, ask for more details.

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Sonya
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Sonya Kar
17/12/2013