Thursday 19 November 2009

Good Samaritan Wins Publishing Deal

Here’s a story to bring hope to the hearts of everyone struggling to win a publishing deal.

Ex-soldier and international banker, Mark Powell, had written an action thriller, “Quantum Breach”, and was suffering the long agony that we are all familiar with, having racked up over a 100 rejections.

One evening he was driving home from work in Singapore when he spotted a damsel in distress attempting to heave a spare wheel out of the boot of her car. He stopped to help and once the wheel had been changed they got talking. She asked what he did. He told her he was an author and she told him she was a managing partner in a law firm that acted for the publisher Marshall Cavendish.

A few days later the Good Samaritan found he had a publishing deal for “Quantum Breach” and his second book, “Deep Six” is now close to completion.

The moral of this story? Never give up trying and never pass up a chance to do a stranger a favour.

Heart-warming tale, no?

1 comment:

Pauline Rowson said...

Thanks for the post, Andrew. Very interesting little tale. We all need that little bit of luck. Often in publishing, as in many other circles, it's not what you know but who you know or potentially might know! But if people don't persevere with their writing in the first place and perfect their craft then they will never stand a chance.