And my 36th on Monday, too! I’ll be beating the offers away with a yard broom!

:-D

This is great reading, Rob. Thanks for sharing.

A couple of points that struck me - it's good to see a majority of authors were picked up by submitting to publishers directly. I had a number of conversations with large and small publishers/ prolific editors etc. at the World Horror Convention regarding the role of agents. I still remain unclear as to what an agent can do that one can't do for themselves.

'Do they sell foreign rights? Movie rights?', I asked.

'Maybe', came the reply.

The only clear answer as to what role an agent may play came from a larger publisher who suggested that were they to have a disagreement with one of their authors re: editing, the agent would be called in to mediate. Personally, that didn't seem a strong enough reason to pay someone 15% of my earnings - but there you go. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the idea of having an agent, but I need to be clear on how they are to earn their cut.

The second interesting point was the role of POD and self-publishing. I'm surprised it was seen as one of the less prolific ways of entering the industry. In the underground horror world, I've seen a lot of writers start out as POD small press or self-published, only to be picked up by a trad press later on. I wonder is it a route specific to genre circles?

Oh, by the way - forgot to say happy birthday, Wayne B! :)

Cheers, Wayne S!

(Really, after reading that article I’m beside myself with anticipation for my cake. You know, one of those HUGE ones whereby a naked agent pops out with a strategically placed contract. Or publisher. Or both. Hell, who’d care when you’re trying not to puncture the paper with your pen?)

I'm 42 and sold my first novel when I was 41 :)

'I was twenty one years when I wrote this song, I'm twenty two now but I won't be for long...'

:D

Me, too, Sean! 'Cept I'm 43, now.