The Desperate Writer Acts Out

Aspiring novelists know the rules. Wait, wait, wait. With hat in hand and heart in throat. Keep fighting the good fight, and paste on your best "Next stop, victory!" smile after each rejection.

Is it any wonder the writer hungering to be heard grows desperate? Sometimes, desperate enough to resort to desperate acts. Some lash out with inappropriate communications directed toward the editors and agents they see as gatekeepers. (Don't try this at home, kids! And always remember, you catch more flies with honey-flavored professionalism than death threats! And bribery is not only useless, it makes your submission seriously suspect.)

Others look for "shortcuts" involving those they believe might help them. I suspect every editor and agent out there grows expert at deflecting recommendations from well-meaning relations and acquaintances trying to give some friend (or friend of a friend) the proverbial leg up. Published authors are often asked to read and recommend unpublished manuscripts (something we have to be very careful about due to concerns about our own writing time and potential lawsuits.) And occasionally, the truly frustrated reach out to anyone they think might be sufficiently famous to make some gatekeeper listen.

According to the London Telegraph, one such Hail Mary actually worked for British writer Ruth Saberton, 37, after she met nothing but silence regarding her romantic comedy manuscript, Katy Carter Wants a Hero. As the Telegraph puts it:

The college tutor sent the manuscript to several publishing houses but had no reply and was on the verge of giving up.

But when her mother-in-law mentioned that Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan had a country retreat nearby she decided to take them a rough copy.

Mrs Saberton drove to their secluded house and placed a 400 page manuscript on the doormat and a note through the letterbox asking them to read it.

Now here's the amazing part, Richard Madeley, who hosts a TV book club along with his wife, actually read the thing. More amazingly, he loved it and offered to write a positive review and a foreword. Three months later, the British publisher Orion bought the book, which was released today in the UK and will come out in the US on Sept. 1st.

Am I advocating desperate acts? Not especially. As is the case with nearly every author I know, I broke into print via the usual channels: agent slush piles, contests, and gobs of perseverance. But I do understand the Ruth Saberton's desperation. And I can't help smiling at the idea of a literary Hail Mary paying off.