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From The Times

July 19, 2007

How A Laydee showed that First Impressions really are misleading

Simon de Bruxelles

A frustrated author has confirmed what other unpublished writers have long suspected: even Jane Austen would have difficulty finding a book deal in the 21st Century.

But what really astonished David Lassman was that only one of 18 publishers and literary agents recognised her work when it was submitted to them under a false name.

Mr Lassman, 43, had spent months trying without success to find a publisher for his own novel Freedom’s Temple. Out of frustration – and to test whether today’s publishers could spot great literature – he retyped the opening chapters of three Austen classics: Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

He changed only the titles, the names of the characters and his own name – calling himself Alison Laydee, after Austen’s early pseudonym “A Lady” – then waited for the offers to roll in.

Instead he received yet another sheaf of rejection letters, including one from Penguin, which republished Pride and Prejudice last year, describing his plagarised chapters as “a really original and interesting read” but not right for Penguin.

That was one of the gentler rejections. But Mr Lassman said: “Penguin neither requested to see the rest of the novel nor did they recognise a work they already publish.

“I wasn’t surprised that the publishing process rejects people out of hand, but I was staggered that no one recognised the work. Here is one of the greatest writers that has lived, yet only one recipient recognised them as Austen’s work.

“At best their letters were mildly apologetic about declining the material and at worst completely indifferent to what they had in their possession. If major publishers can’t recognise great literature, who knows what might be slipping through the net.”

Mr Lassman concocted his plan after returning from the Greek island where he had been writing his own novel and found himself facing a brick wall. “I was having a hard time getting it published and I was chatting to friends about it, saying I wondered how Jane would have fared today.

“Getting a novel accepted is very difficult unless you have an agent first, but I had no idea at the scale of rejection poor old Jane suffered.”

The literary agency Christopher Little, which represents J.K. Rowling, regretted that it was “not confident of placing this material with a publisher”. Jennifer Vale of Bloomsbury publishers turned down Northanger Abbey,renamed Susan, saying “I didn’t feel the book was suited to our list.”

The one publisher to recognise the deception was Alex Bowler, assistant editor at Jonathan Cape. His reply read: “Thank you for sending us the first two chapters of First Impressions; my first impression on reading these were ones of disbelief and mild annoyance, along with a moment’s laughter.

“I suggest you reach for your copy of Pride and Prejudice, which I’d guess lives in close proximity to your typewriter and make sure that your opening pages don’t too closely mimic the book’s opening. After all, there is such a thing as plagiarism and I’d hate for you to get in any kind of trouble with Jane Austen’s estate.”

Last night a spokeswoman for Penguin admitted that Mr Lassman’s submission may not actually have been read. She said: “We don’t take anything that is not agency-led, so I doubt the person would even have read it. I can’t comment on this individual case but I don’t think we have done anything bad.”

Neil Blair at Christopher Little said Mr Lassman had received a standard response. He said: “As you can imagine we get hundreds of submission each week – some from genuine writers or would-be writers, but also some from cranks. Our letter was a polite note declining representation and provided a standard response.

“However, our internal notes did recognise similarities with existing published works and indeed there were even discussions about possible plagiarism. We chose an approach was designed to end the chain of communication with this person and not start a whole new one. Sadly, we have had experience of where accusations of plagiarism can lead to.”

Bloomsbury declined to comment.

The verdicts

First Impressions (Pride and Prejudice)

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of wife.

Penguin’s response: Thank you for your recent letter and chapters from your book First Impressions. It seems like a really original and interesting read. Unfortunately we are unable to accept...

Susan (Northanger Abbey)

“No one who had even seen Susan Maldorn (Catherine Morland) in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her.

Blake Friedmann: All material received is considered carefully... In order to take on a new author, several of us here would need to be extremely enthusiastic about both the content and the writing style. I’m sorry to say we don’t feel that strongly about your work

The Watsons (Persuasion)

“Sir Walter Watson (Elliot), of Steventon Hall (Kellynch Hall), in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour and, consolation in a distressed one . . .

Christopher Little: Many thanks for sending in a sample of your work The Watsons for consideration. I’m really sorry but as an already very busy agency we need to be extremely highly selective with new writers. This is not for us I’m afraid as I’m not confident of placing this material with a publisher

It's just as difficult here. Far easier to get a small-press publisher to look at one's work, than to get an agent.

The last time I queried an agent, I got my MS back with a grammar and punctuation "glossary." There were actually no grammar errors in my work--there were only items on which our opinions differed. Yet with four books published to date, and one in the pipeline, I cannot get an agent to take me seriously.

Things do need to change--I doubt that will happen until authors band together and simply withhold their product from the market--which is about as likely as my becoming the next J.K.

Deborah, Chicago, USA

I heard of your article via a friend and have now read it on-line. It confirms what I feared from the moment I got my own manuscript returned with a standard rejection letter. The former was pristine after four months with them. It had been freshly printed off my computer and looked precisely the same when it was returned to me.

I have to now ask whether agents only work for the first few years after their conception, then take a life-time break and rely on their back-catalogue?

I initially thought that going with a well-established agency was the best route. Seems the opposite or self-publishing is more sensible in the light of what's happened.

Hollis, Cardiff, UK

What I find surprising about this incident isn't the fact that major publishing houses rejected consideration of works which are generally regarded as literary masterpieces, but the reaction of the public. For major houses, literary merit is nearly inconsequential; the title of the work, significant only in terms of sales projections. If Mr. Lassman had simply facilitated the name of a silly, though wholly marketable celebrity, such as Paris Hilton, his most difficult decision would have been in which deal to sign.
In my experience, major publishing houses respond to literary conventions, such as theme and structure, only in terms of how successfully they can be interpolated into balance sheets and profit & loss statements.
Subsequently, I started my own publishing house - Linden Park Publishers, Ltd - as the vehicle for not only my own literary efforts (Christmasville, et. al.), but for other authors as well.

Michael Dutton, Newport, RI

If you look at the passages that were sent in, they frankly don't fit in with a modern reading mind-set. Anone who would have taken them wouldn't be able to sell them onwards for love or money. They just don't scan or read well, anymore.I'm sorry to all thoise that learnt and loved it at O ,level but it frankly isn't all that enjoyable to read. It would've been more effective if it had been a modern classic or a lesser known work by someone else. I vaguely remember this being tried by someone a year ago? with one of Naipul's books with a similar result.

Peter wisniewski, Cape Town,

No wonder.

Why should writers be treated better than others seeking a professional employment?

Michael Kerjman, Melbourne, Australia

How much faith should an aspiring writer have in a literary agency that says it has to be "extremely highly selective" in its considerations of work?

Adam Lovick, London,

Oh please...this was a pointless time-wasting exercise by a wannabe the last few times it was rolled out to supposedly show up publishers. By doing it the unpublished writer made it perfectly clear how little he understood.

Benjamin asks what gets you published if it isn't ability? How incredibly simplistic. What's ability got to do with whether anyone will buy your book?
When was the last time a friend gushed about the 'ability' displayed in the last book that genuinely hooked her, or you saw a rave review that's highest praise was 'this writer has ability.'

Janey, London,

Well, it's pretty well-known that you have to be a 20 something, photogenic graduate to stand a chance of being taken on by an Agent, let alone a Publisher... Don't any of them realise that the public doesn't give a toss what an author looks like or which school they went to? Nor does the public care to whom they are married... Maybe this will make Publishers and Agents take a long, hard look at the current lists... Cotswold Cosiness, Tuscan Twee, Islington Angst and Third World Woe. Chick-Lit has apparently had its day. There's nothing else. Who wants to read all this misery? Now look at the American lists - fantastic. (Check out Grove/Atlantic). I would suggest, if I could, that Publishers reinstate reading departments like they used to. It's also time Agents stopped harping on about consultancies - especially when they're affiliated to them. They are costly and useless. I think Alex Bowler will be Chief, World Domination Dept. - Hurrah! Maybe he'll save us all from the great unread.

Kay Fenton, Brentford, UK

I'd like to share my rather unique experience with all struggling writers.English is my 3rd language&I've published 89 books in Asia,yes 89.Ten years ago I gave up my prosperous career to write in English,mind,I was post-graduate educated in US&read&speak English since teens&now 43.I'm Australian&have an agent here in Sydney.After 2 novels that my agent couldn't place with a UK publisher,I tried to find an agent in UK&began to write a trilogy 5 years ago.50 agents, yes 50,returned my sample pages without even reading them, except one did bother to read my first complete MS&was interested,who even took it to another top agency when she had a career move,held it for 2 years without rejecting it,then read my second novel; but eventually didn't want to take the risk with a new writer(in my case,to the English market).I'm still awaiting my sweet revenge.Perhaps I should name names of the 50 agents in my acknowledgement when I get published.Struggling?Yes! Is it because I can't write?Not so!

Jay, Sydney, Australia

I don't think it's TV, film or books 'dumbing down'. People want to watch/read this stuff and you have to go with what the people want, if people want to watch terrible reality TV then give them it! Make money, make cash!

I seem to remember being told by my English teacher that Austen had the same reputation as 'chick lit' does now at the time when it was published, and 'Dracula' was popular fiction, now these books are 'classics'. I wonder what people will consider 'classics' in the next two hundred years.

Steph, London,

As an editor in a publishing house, if some idiot was wasting my time like that (you don't even have to be literate to recognise it, the lines are in the TV series) I wouldn't want to spend more than the 3 seconds it took to print out the form letter.
And a lot of stuff that isn't published really doesn't deserve to be - just look at some of the internet forums where people post their work, 99% of it is rubbish. Self-publish by all means, but don't expect any return on your investment.

G, Marlow, UK

I am not surprised that agents and publishers don't do more than scan some of the work submitted by would- be authors when it contains so many grammatical and spelling errors. Diane and Mark - a little proofreading before you commit yourself to print would be helpful.

Vivienne, Colchester, UK

Very funny to see such a pompous and self preening industry shamelessly caught out, I'd be interested to know that if ability doesn't get you published what does?

Benjamin , Gloucester,

It's highly likely that they realised they had a time waster on their hands and sent out a standard rejection letter which is all it deserved. As to needing to know someone on the inside to get published (first comment). I was a stay at home mum with 2 small children and not a clue about the publishing industry when Blake Friedmann picked my manuscript off their slushpile and subsequently sold my work round the world.

Elizabeth Chadwick, Nottingham, UK

I think this is a job for the Internet. Own website publishing; supporters promoting.

Henry Percy, London, UK

Many people in UK must assume that "Pride and Prejudice" was originally written as a screenplay. Always said that the humourless, hard-wired, two-dimensional rubes in positions of authority wouldn't recognise genius if it came up and bit them in the arse.

Andrew Milner, Yokohama, Kanagawa

As a strugling writer, one must understand the "mechanics" of the writing industry. Part of that process is writing the dreaded Query Letter, which helps agents and publishers weed out those who "think" they can write. IF they like what they've read in the query, a sample of the persons manuscript is requested(which is still no guarantee that person can write). It is a common known fact that if you submit an unsolicited manuscript, it will wind up in the slush pile - unread. IF this process were followed in the "experiment" the results may be better easy to swallow. Therefore, as a writer who DOES understand the "mechanics" of submission, one does NOT submit anything unless it has been previously solicited via query letter and a sample of your work has been requested.

However, as a struggling writer, one does understand the possibility of having material requested and still not reviewed. THAT is when the lie on Penguin's behalf becomes unpallatable.

Diane, Archie, MO, USA

It is both terrible and also wonderful that publishers and agents have finally been 'busted' for not reading literature sent to them. How awful for those that are doing their best to join this industry as writers?! No wonder so much nonsense is available on the shelves in bookshops, this may be the answer. It is especially embarrasing for the agents as surely reading new submissions is their job (and their future earning power) . Surely they could employ some "keen bean" students or young graduates to wade through the piles of sudmitted works so as not to waste every bodies time? It makes you wonder if they may be overly confident of their futures and should remember what has happened in the record industry recently as people switch off to mainstream selling methods. What do everyone else think?

Kelly, London,

I'm not surprised that a nineteenth cetury novel would be rejected in today's climate, the writing style would seem archiac. This repeats an exercise tried a few years ago (not the Wirters' and Artists' Handbook exercise mentioned in a recent comment), but with a recent boker prize nominated book, which recieved more responses, however, that was a better exercise in that it took a book written in today's style. I know that some will respond that great literature never goes out of fashion, whilst this is true, language style does change considerably and in a commercial world (which publishing unfortunatley is), it is important to reflect this. With the print, postage, and return postage costs of submitting work to major publishers, I would sugest that Mr Lassman has done this as a cynical exercise to increase his own profile. And that's a comment from another struggling author.

Mark Victory, London, London

This is exactly the same as the position in the music business and indeed most, if not all of the creative industries. The reasoning being, that if you can't manage to find yourself any sort of representation (by an agent, manager, lawyer etc) then you probably aren't good enough or ready yet. There have been some notable exceptions to this process and obviously these are the ones that wannabe writers, musicians, actors etc cling to but they are very few and far between.

It's simply a weeding out process, as in this day and age everyone seems to think that they deserve to be famous without actually having any sort of real talent to back it up...

David, London,

Despite the wry smile, I must admit to sobbing inside at the same time - this is just the tip of the iceberg of a major dumbing down in the UK. Shame on these so-called guardians of our cultural heritage - how many other Dickenses, Eliots, Austens, Shakespeares and Brontes languish unpublished out there because some self-important publisher couldn't be bothered to read them?
Time to take back the cultural high ground and praise the small publisher to the skies. Leave the big guys to squabble over their share price and the value of their 'back catalogue' ...

Voland, Caen,

In defence of the publishers' readers, perhaps they judged the works on their merits (without the influence of Emperor's new clothes) and found Austen's writing as dreary as I find it.

Sue, Pontypridd, Wales

Does this prove that publishers don't know what they're doing or that jane austen is overrated?

Mark, stoke on trent, staffordshire

Book publishers are in the business to make profits. On the whole the paying public prefer to read books in the modern vernacular rather than the mannered tones of a bygone age.

Whilst the classics generally reward the reader who is willing to make the effort to get past old-fashioned linguistic cadences, a new novel in an old style is unlikely to be given the chance to pull the reader in. It is therefore understandable that a publisher will not go for a Jane Austen novel if they do not realise it is Jane Austen.

As for whether they should recognise it or not, how many books considered to be classics are there in the English language? Just because people have not read much Jane Austen, does not make them badly read. And if they are reading book after book after book, then the chances of recognising one of them are seriously diminished.

Even the best literary snob will have some holes in their knowledge.

Malcolm, Reading, UK

This makes a good story, of course, but I don't know why anyone's surprised. Of course publishers send out standard responses; getting a book published today is about the market for the book, not its intrinsic artisitic value. A publisher will be looking for certain types of book - if they see a manuscript that is a historical romance, for example, when they are looking to sign up new crime authors, they're not going to bother reading it. That's why you have to send a synopsis with any manuscript - the publisher won't read your script if the synopsis doesn't immediately fit what they're looking for at that time. Like any industry, publishing relies on market forces - and I can assure you that the number of readers who choose books by theme far exceeds the number who select their next read based on its artistic merit. (PS: I imagine Japanese students read fewer English novels than the average London literary agent, so it's not really surprising that they recognise Pride and Prejudice!)

Alex, London, England

This says several things.
First, Fay Weldon was right when she described Jane Austen as "Mills & Boon".
Second, it seems that an English Lit education at our universities is all about criticism and not at all about actually reading any novels.
Third, the publishing industry fails completely in what is purported to be its central function of editor of the vast number of submissions it sifts through.

steve moxon, sheffield,

Without going into the fact that so many publishers apparently failed to recognise Austen's work, perhaps it is not so much a question of publishers' inability to recognise great literature, as the possibility that Austen may not be a great writer.

GI, London, UK

As an amateur writer I find this article pretty distressing. It just confirms the grim state of affairs that I suspected in publishing. My feeling is that the whole industry will probably collapse in on itself through its arrogance. There is very little serious effort put into discovering and nurturing new talent. The publishing houses are more than happy to spend millions on the â€˜autobiographiesâ€™ of â€˜famousâ€™ people who have yet to turn thirty, or publish endlessly rehashed genre works that could have been (and might have been) spat out by a computer. Unless an author has something â€˜hollywoodâ€™ about them, such as being good-looking or having an interesting back-story (Zadie Smith, for example), they have very little chance of getting their work even looked at. I wonder if this experiment could be taken further. It would be interesting to see if McEwan or Rushdie would manage to get their next work published if they submitted it under a different name? I doubt it. The publishing houses seem to dip into the first time authors at random, with huge distain. If you get published, its probably just pure, dumb, luck. There will have been hundreds of novels out there just as good, probably better, than your own.

Al, London,

Penguin have basically admitted that they lie as a matter of policy. Clearly they could not have found the book 'a really original and interesting read' if they had not, in fact, read it. The spokeswoman doesn't think this blatant lie constitutes "anything bad", but I think most people would disagree. Most people think lying is something bad. If they don't accept scripts that aren't "agency-led", then why not be open about this to the people who send their scripts?

Toby Donovan, London, UK

The scripts are piling up on the doormat and the agent is thinking... God, all these rejection slips I've got to write.

Toby Donovan, London, UK

So, Yo Times-reading published authors out there, my great work is still in progress, but any hints on the least soul-destroying way to get published?

Maggie, Crouch End,

Joe: Even worse, saying 'one in ten are...' or 'this phenomena...'

John Sims, Leiston, Suffolk

This repeats an exercise reported in the 'Writers & Artists Yearbook', where a frustrated writer sent publishers and agents scanned copies of his washing-machine instructions, only to be met with very similar responses.

How to get published - you've got to know somebody on the inside.

Chris Bailey, Sheffield,

it's time for authors to self publish via sites such as lulu and allow the market to decide.

Mark Joshi, Melbourne, Australia

Hardly suprising when even the late great BBC has presenters and reporters saying "There is two...."

joe, london,

Probably they thought that anyone so obviously a lunatic could well be dangerous, so just fobbed him off with standard rejections. I got the same sort of treatment when I sent in my novel which begins 'Last night I dreamt I went to Vanderley again.'

eric campbell, harrogate, uk

It should be no surprise that this stunt garnered a handful of form-letters with no mention of plagiarism. In these litigious times, actually accusing an author of plagiarism in a manuscript -- even when it is blatant -- could prove very costly. I'm sure that 90% of editors & agents who read the submission just grinned (or groaned) at today's nutcase and reached for the form letter. Far safer.

It's true of course that most unagented submissions are not even looked at nowadays, which is a horrible trend. Agents only make money on books that sell to publishers, so they can only afford to accept the most obviously commercial manuscripts. This becomes all the publishers see -- and the whole industry slides down the same "dumbing down" chute that claimed popular music and television.

I share Mr. Lassman's frustration -- I'm a professional author, fighting this battle myself -- but I rather hope that stunts do not become the required way to draw attention to a book one hopes to place.

Tim, London,

Not so much of a laugh for me, Christine, more a moment of sheer horror. I have Japanese students who recognise the opening line of Pride and Prejudice. In English.

Yet more evidence of the dumbing down of the UK.

Exit stage left - weeping.

Tina, DÃ¼sseldorf, Germany

Top marks to Alex Bowler. The others had better hide their faces behind all the standard literary works and read, mark and learn them so that they will know a good read when they see one!

This is the best laugh I've had for ages.

Christine, London, UK