With a publishing contract pending for one of my recent novels, I’ve been wondering what to do with old ones, written years ago. They mostly ‘did the rounds’ of rejection by agents and publishers, to an embarrassing degree, and are now committed to dusty drawers and forgotten files. I recognise that these novels probably demonstrated the faults and shortcomings listed as reasons for rejection by literary agents and individuals. For example, Gary Smailes: 'What to do if your novel was rejected' website here provides a comprehensive account of reasons for rejection, as well as a step-by-step strategy for moving on from this. Jericho Writers also has plenty of advice here. However, I haven’t found much about what writers could do with novels that haven’t made it to publication but might still be a good read.
When one or two of my novels started attracting agent interest and were longlisted and short-listed for competitions, I thought there might be hope of publication. Looking back at two in particular, I considered that they might still be worth a read, in spite of their failure to make it to the marketplace. I love telling stories and devising plots and my main motivation for seeking publication was to provide readers with entertainment, perhaps an element of escapism and a little insight into particular historical periods and events.
With this in mind, I decided to offer my novel TheBookbinder’s Daughter freely on my website. It was produced after much research, multiple drafts and edits, expert input and was short-listed for the Historical Novel Society International Award in 2013. Now as it gathers dust, I have nothing to lose and hope that others might enjoy the story. And perhaps readers might help me discover the reasons it was continuously rejected. Please let me know!
http://www.clarehawkins.co.uk/
Really enjoying reading The Bookbinder's Daughter - thank you for posting it.
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