Irish Publishers firmly stuck in the 1940's

donalh087

The world has change immeasurably over the past few years - particularly in the world of the media and publishing. These changes and the possible future for the industry have been well discussed here.

Why is it then that a large section of the industry remains in an almost Luddite state? Today, I went to submit a piece to the Irish Pages and the submissions guidelines say "The Editors aim to respond within eight months." And of course they do not accept emails - you must print it out and post it to them (remember post?). And you can't submit work under consideration elsewhere.

Most Irish publishers won't respond for three to four months and most require you to post it to them. If you submit now to the Stinging Fly you will be considered for next October's issue. Their is an air of exclusion with all Submission Guidelines.

I submitted a piece to the Newer York recently and they have a great system. You can submit for free and wait 3 months or pay $12 and get a response within a few days. Bearing in mind that the editor will read it anyway then it's easy money. And if you are a submissions junkie then you pay the price.

I emailed the Stinging Fly suggesting this as a possibility but, needless to say, they did not respond. Maybe they needed it to be hand written.

Hedgemeister

Irish Publishing is, in my opinion & experience, a rancid cesspool run by ignorants using bad manners for fuel.
People should try the USA or GB. Nothing guaranteed, but at least they have manners.

StewartGriffin

Of course you could always try an Irish Literary Agent, except that the are even less professional than the publishers.
It's a small country, an even smaller industry. Everyone knows everyone else in the business: lunches, award ceremonies, etc.
A bit like the tv/radio media, they stick with their stable no matter how bad they are at their jobs.

Listening to talk radio, Pat Kenny, Moncrief, etc - every second literary guest has a posh English accent and has just written an obscure book about Rabbits on the Hebrides, or Kissing, ... Who buys these books? How do they get published?

I suspect it has something to do with lunches with friends who are editors leading to commissions.
Unfair, but was it ever any different?

Probably not.

Watch Ryder

For me I've gone the self-publishing route via Amazon along with print-on-demand.

More and more folk are doing this, you won't get the bookstore on the street publicity or anything like that but more people are shopping online.

Your prices won't be as high as the high street typically but the royalty and commission can be up to 70%!

BuskyChowChow

From what I have seen there are a few agents in London who only accept printed manuscripts so it's not just Irish literary agencies who are asking for them I agree however that on the whole, the Irish publishing scene does seem more than a little outdated, none of the Irish agents appearing to be with the times and up to date with the web 2.0 world we live in.

Personally if I am ever going to be looking for an agent to help publish my work, I'll be looking outside of Ireland which is sad to say, but I imagine is necessary to do.

EileenG

Well, one advantage of asking for printed manuscripts is that it will cut out a lot of messers. Any gob****e with a few thousand words written is willing to e-mail them. You have to be a bit more committed to print them out and put them in an envelope.

And of course, an agent's job is looking after the clients she has. Very few of them are actively looking for new clients, so they are not spending hours reading unsolicited MS at their desk. A printed MS can be read on the bus.

Danpad

I think even if you etched your manuscript onto several planks of wood or completed your novel on the backs of beer mats and sent them in, if an agent/publishing house thought they were onto something they wouldn't hold it against you. The business is as straightforward as that. However, the Irish network certainly does have its share of annoying hurdles to get over. I once made a submission to a publisher as per their requirements in which they stated that they accept email submissions. I received an email from them informing me that they'd prefer to see it in hardcopy. Frowning, but undeterred, I compiled the manuscript and sent my submission in, again as per their requirements. Then, they emailed me again to tell me that they were closed to submissions. A couple of days later, after I had scratched them off my 'publishers to approach' list, they emailed me once more, to tell me that they had received my submission and it would perhaps be at least six months before they responded due to the amount of submissions they receive. I'm not sure I could ever trust anyone as incompetent as this with my work.