"Personal" question(s) to John Jarrold

[I, Brian]

John's had some serious moving headaches, but hopefully things are settling down a little better now.

[John Jarrold]

Okay, I'm back now. A problem with back pain, which has made sitting at the computer very difficult, followed the move. What larks. Still a bit painful, but improving. If you've sent me your work - nudge me by e-mail. Otherwise, ask away...!

[scalem X]

Let's hope your back pain doesn't come back like you did.

Anyway good to have you back, John.

[The Bloated One]

John,

For fear of deluging you with manuscripts, could you outline how you like to receive manuscripts, e.g. type face, spacing, number of chapters.

The Bloated One

[JDP]

TBO, if you take a peek at John's web site (you can get there through his profile here on the chrons), there's full submission guidelines I think.

[John Jarrold]

Originally Posted by The Bloated One

John,

For fear of deluging you with manuscripts, could you outline how you like to receive manuscripts, e.g. type face, spacing, number of chapters.

The Bloated One

Yes, as JDP says, take a look at the home page of the website: JOHN JARROLD - LITERARY AGENT AND SCRIPT DOCTOR for submission guidelines. This holds true with any agent or publisher to whom you are submitting material.

[The Bloated One]

Ta!

TBO

[John Jarrold]

See, I come back and you all go quiet!!!

[JDP]

Ok, John, you asked for it...

I'm relatively new to writing, and don't have any publishing credits to my name. How much will this disadvantage me in trying to get an agent? Would it be beneficial for me to spend some time submitting my short stories to magazines to try and get some credits whilst I finish editting my MS?

[Kissmequick]

Originally Posted by John Jarrold

See, I come back and you all go quiet!!!

I'm giving you the time to read my MS before I nudge you!

[John Jarrold]

Originally Posted by JDP

Ok, John, you asked for it...

I'm relatively new to writing, and don't have any publishing credits to my name. How much will this disadvantage me in trying to get an agent? Would it be beneficial for me to spend some time submitting my short stories to magazines to try and get some credits whilst I finish editting my MS?

It's far more important how good your novel is. My clients, for instance, are a mixture of some authors who came up by writing short fiction and others who went straight into writing novels. If I have an extremely good novel by someone who hasn't had stories published and one less good by an author who has had a dozen stories published, I'll always go for the former (assuming it really is special, not just 'good', which isn't good enough). Publishers, the book trade and the mainstream readers don't give a stuff about short stories. Writing them can be a way to learn the trade of writing, for some authors, but it ain't necessary.

[Coolhand]

Hi John.
First of all, welcome back.

Secondly, here's a question that's bugged me for a while but I can't seem to find an answer to:

Do writers get any kind of payment for public library loans? I remember reading somewhere that "such and such" an author was the most rented person in the UK, and thinking to myself that it wasn't actually such a good accolade if all it means is that people read their stuff for free but don't want to buy it.

I mean, I love libraries and use them all the time but I’m suddenly worried that I’m screwing writers out of sales because I get their work for free. And also that if I ever get published then vital sales will vanish!

So how does the whole library thing work out for writers, especially those who aren’t best selling titans and who really need the sales?

[John Jarrold]

Yes, in the UK (and various other countries) there's Public Lending Right - PLR - and various libraries around the country are used to calculate national loans per book and author, up to a maximum payment level. Here is a the Wikipedia entry:

Public Lending Right - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Havlen]

I don't believe there is a PLR in the US, but I think libraries can help authors sell books. Just my opinion here, but I think most people buy books they either see in a bookstore while browsing or heard about through friends. The more you are read, the more you are bought, so the people who read the book from a library will tell friends who might buy the book (and who might not have otherwise heard of it).

I think this is the same reason why some publishers give away free e-books -- generating readers can generate sales.

In 1983 there was a movie called Eddie and the Cruisers. It bombed at the box office, but when it came out on cable the soundtrack went through the roof. This was before a lot of people bought movies on VHS, but I think its an example of what seeing something for free can do for sales (though more on the extreme side).

Anyway, I'm sure John can let us know if I'm way off base, but those are my thoughts on it.

[John Jarrold]

Basically, there are many ways of skinning a cat! As I recall, FLASH GORDON also bombed at the US box office, but the video sales were massive. So all forms of word-of-mouth are Good Things...