Self Help
Summary
Blogger: NiiRole: Senior Editor
Area: Fiction & Poetry
Original Career: Scientist
Editor of the main poetry imprints until 2007, now focussing on fiction. Editor since 2001 » »
Books
As Editor:14-2: twenty eight love poems
Dance the Guns to Silence (with Kadija Sesay)
x-24: unclassified (with Tash Aw) mouthmark series
waterways poetry
lubin & kleyner
As Author:
eyes of a boy, lips of a man (1999)
Today I got a self-help manual sent for consideration for publishing. <inhale> No, I didn’t get mad; I wondered. First, the e-mail was clearly forwarded – technology has a way of adding these little arrows or coloured lines beside forwarded text that make it clear if the message is recycled – that, already, is minus 20%. If you are going to use the same text for different publishers by e-mail, at least make the effort to copy it from Notepad, Works, or Word – that way the text will look fresh, PLUS it helps to address each e-mail differently rather than forwarding the same <Dear Editor> <your company> creation to everyone. Secondly, please research publishers before you send work out – we make it quite clear that we don’t do non-fiction, but somehow we keep getting non-fiction manuscripts – minus 50%. Suddenly it’s going to be difficult to make even that weak pass mark of 40% that UK universities allow you to get away with… See? Bottom line is, if you want to do self-help help yourself first »»
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