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'I'm not sending it out any more.'

30 September 2013

'I didn't know the first thing about publishing, I didn't know anybody in publishing, I didn't care about having anything to do with publishing during those six years I wrote it... I did it (self-published) for my mental health. The frustration was starting to get to me. You think, "Gee, I spent three years of my life sending letters to agents - three years of my life, for God's sake." When you sit down and do the math, its' depressing. Many of them just said no, or didn't answer, which apparently is acceptable behaviour in the agent world, but nowhere else, right? I think I just had to say, "You know what, it's over, I'm not sending it out any more. I don't care...

'I remember one (friend) said, "So, are you waiting for the reviews?" and I looked at him and said,."There's not going to be any reviews, man. I hate to break the news to you - other than the people in this room, nobody's ever going to know that this happened."

Sergio De La Pava, author of A Naked Singularity, which won the 2013 $25,000 PENSupported by eminent writers, this is the English branch of International Pen, which has centres in nearly 100 countries. It fights for freedom of expression and against political censorship. It campaigns for writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes murdered for their views. http://www.englishpen.org/ Literary Award for a debut novel.