I wasn’t aware until I read it in the Wall Street Journal that the success of the “Twilight” series of books came about because of a mistake. Here’s how WSJ’s Katherine Rosman tells the story:
“In 2003, an unknown writer named Stephenie Meyer sent a letter to the Writers House agency asking if someone might be interested in reading a 130,000-word manuscript about teenage vampires. The letter should have been thrown out: an assistant whose job, in part, was to weed through the more than 100 such letters each month, didn't realize that agents mostly expected young adult fiction to weigh in at 40,000 to 60,000 words. She contacted Ms. Meyer and ultimately asked that she send her manuscript.
The manuscript was passed on to an agent, Jodi Reamer. She liked what she read, a novel called "Twilight." She signed Ms. Meyer, and sold the book to Little, Brown. The most recent sequel in the series, "Breaking Dawn," sold 1.3 million copies the day it went on sale in August 2008.”
The article actually is about the death of the slush pile—the fact that many publishers and most producers now will not consider work that is not submitted to them by an agent. As publishing continues to suffer economically, an easy place to cut back is readers who considered unsolicited material.
The manuscript was passed on to an agent, Jodi Reamer. She liked what she read, a novel called "Twilight." She signed Ms. Meyer, and sold the book to Little, Brown. The most recent sequel in the series, "Breaking Dawn," sold 1.3 million copies the day it went on sale in August 2008.”
The article actually is about the death of the slush pile—the fact that many publishers and most producers now will not consider work that is not submitted to them by an agent. As publishing continues to suffer economically, an easy place to cut back is readers who considered unsolicited material.
However, some writers are still discovered that way and others have found new approaches. The article suggests some tips for overcoming the slush pile problem—you can read it in its entirety here.
(These days it helps to use unconventional methods to market yourself and your work. In my book, "Do Something Different" (Virgin books) you'll find 100 case studies of people who did just that--not just in writing but in many different fields--and from whom you can take inspiration. For a fuller version of how to create a marketing plan in just one hour, see my book, "Marketing for Entrepreneurs" (Pearson Publishing). Both from Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)
