Markets, Agents, Publishers
a
atima srivastava
As a writer does one need to be pragmatic? Agents only take what will sell. Getting the right agents, how do you know they are right? Is there anything writers can do regarding publishers or are our hands tied? Marketplace is crowded, how to find your place? Overview of what sells, what will get taken up, how to balance your artistic obsessions with what they want.
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atima srivastava
It goes without saying that a writer must write what they want - but the 'market' seems to make a difference if you are a person of colour. I have a UK perspective. I find (and I hope this is not question of vanity - ones writing must be good enough) that what is wanted are tales of how bad/good it is to be Asian, that world, those 'problems' ..rather than say a book that has Asians as a side subject, or worse, as villains. Or invisible. I'm a published writer but for instance I wrote a new book, it found an agent, but publishers kept saying I love it but perhaps if it was more like this (quoting various books about Asian dating, Asian problems, celebratory stuff) it would be easier to sell. Now, maybe the book is just not good enough but it concerns me that I should or even could factor this dreary subject (the market) into the work. My solution was, put it away, write another. Fail better. My question is specific I know, but any webinar responding to any of the above would be a boon to me. Thankyou so much and apologies for the too long comment.
Vikram
atima srivastava: Did you watch the recent webinar with Laura Mazer? It’s available for viewing now at https://granthika.co/webinars. Might answer at least some of your questions.
And I agree–it’s infuriating to have agents and publishers enforcing a kind of fence around what Asians can write about. Not sure how to solve it, though. I hope it’ll slowly become easier to engage with other themes.
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atima srivastava
Vikram: I did watch it, she was lovely but I can't say it told me anything I didnt already know I'm afraid.
Vikram
atima srivastava: Yup, going to happen sometimes with webinars, I’m afraid. She was pitching it to people at with all sorts of levels of experience.