THE NOVEL isn't going all that great. I've had another change of plans with how I want it to move. I can still keep much of what I've written up to this point, but I'm finding it difficult to really crack on with it at the moment. THE NOVEL is my failed NaNoWriMo piece. Love the big concept but I'm finding the actual, y'know, plot, pretty hard to nail down.When Rabbit visits, life changes. A friendship grows and this mysterious girl seems to be
changing a young boy’s life for the better. But things begin to turn ugly as Rabbit’s
obsession with understanding how everything works results in dire consequences.
I wouldn't send off something unsolicited. It just ends up on a huge slush pile where people read it with low expectations.
A much better plan is to find out the name and interests of a person in a publishing house (or, much better, an agency) and email them pitching the idea and attempting to interest them.
At least then
a) you don't waste time and paper sending off something they're not interested in.
b) you've got a name of someone receiving something they've actually asked for.
With a novel it's much better to finish the whole thing before sending it out - even if a publisher liked it they'd want to see the whole thing before making a decision (again this is a reason why you should get an agent involved possible - they can read it and edit it and know exactly which publisher you send it to).
Don't be discouraged to do it - it's by no means impossible to get an agent and a publishing deal if you convince them you're serious and you can write but I definitely don't recommend just sending it in for the slush pile.
To be entirely honest, your chances are very, very limited.
Yes, some small publishers will read unsolicited work, but bear in mind that publishers that small are very limited organisations - so even if they loved it and wanted to take it on, don't expect to see it on the shelf in Waterstones (there are exceptions - a very small Scottish press has just got a book on the Booker longlist, which is cool).
The standard way of putting out a novel is to get an agent - they are the people to send your book to. Think which novelists you like and who you think your work fits alongside, find who represents them (should be pretty straightforward on Google), look up their submissions procedures and go for it. Lots are very forthcoming about how the process works. But again, the chances are still very, very slim, it's not a boom time in publishing and debut literary novels are becoming increasingly rare.
The other thing I'd say is, there may not be a whole lot of point submitting an unfinished novel. These people don't want to see your potential, they want to see a marketable product. They don't want you to give them a cliff hanger, they want you to tell them how it ends (a full synopsis will be standard with any submission). I have heard of agents picking up unfinished novels, but the chances are if they inquire about it and find it's not written yet, yet they have better things to do than wait for it.
Sorry if this sounds like a downer, obviously agents are still in the business of finding talent and getting it out to publishers, and it's all out there for you, but it ain't easy. Best of luck!
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