I’d written two novels, so I sent them to a literary agent and she told me she wanted to represent both books. She told me a particular editor she knew, and had sold a novel to recently, was certain to buy one of my two books, if not both. She told me the editor’s name, and his publishing house’s name. She had such faith in this editor taking my books that she sent the novels nowhere else for a year. When the year was up, the literary agent told me she was “shocked” that the editor had not wanted to buy either of my books. A few months later, I found myself without an agent, she wrote me a letter telling me she was closing her small Scottish agency.
Having had one literary agent, I thought it would be easy to get a second agent. I began to submit my fiction to literary agents in London.
While I was doing so, I wrote two more novels.
Six years passed while every literary agent I contacted rejected my four novels.
I had been managing to sell my short stories independently during this period, though. Over a dozen of my stories had been published by PICADOR, VINTAGE, EDINBURGH REVIEW, CHAPMAN, NORTHWORDS, NOMAD, SECRETS OF A VIEW, and SCRATCHINGS; with reviews of my work in SCOTTISH STUDIES REVIEW, SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY, THE SPECTATOR, and THE HINDUSTAN TIMES. Some of my stories were published internationally in anthologies edited by A L Kennedy, John Fowles, Ali Smith, Toby Litt; books that were sold as paperbacks from Japan to China, to India and South America, where I shared space with authors including Fay Weldon, Alan Warner, David Mitchell, Muriel Spark, Louis De Bernieres, Alasdair Gray, Rose Tremain. Around that time I was also invited to do a reading of one of my stories at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
So…I obviously hadn’t needed an agent to sell any of that work.
Also, during that period, five famous names…writers, editors, a literary agent…all at various times advised me to apply for support from the Scottish Arts Council, to get a Writer’s Bursary etc…but despite their enthusiastic sponsorship these applications were never successful.
Still, I made £1110 by steadily selling my short stories wherever I could.
But what of my four unpublished novels in the meantime? My search to find a literary agent for them had proven fruitless.
Somehow, though, I dug that little bit deeper down into my guts and wrote a fifth novel, called The Survival of Thomas Ford.
I finished it in the summer of 2008, but a funny thing happened. I could not send it out to literary agents or editors as I had done with my four previous novels. I found I could not even show it to my friends. It seemed that the years of rejection for my other four novels had somehow “frozen” me. All faith had been broken, not so much in myself, but in the process of “submissions”. I still loved the work of doing novels, but not so much what came after…
I watched this strange, fearful internal landscape for two years, keeping the novel to myself, until finally, in the summer of 2010, the spell broke and I got up the nerve and courage to send The Survival of Thomas Ford out to half a dozen literary agents.
I heard back quite quickly from one in London. She liked the book very much, but she said it was terrible timing, as she had to take over a colleague’s maternity leave suddenly. She told me she was passing the book on to another colleague.
A week later I heard from the other literary agent. He phoned me for 45 minutes and told me he wanted to represent my book. He told me he thought the book was “terrific”. I had only been waiting and working for 21 years to get that phone call.
He told me he only took on what he was certain he could sell. Later he told me that he had told all the people at his agency that my book was “a certainty”.
He told me he was more excited about my book than any he had represented for a long time.
Another waiting process began.
In December 2010, the literary agent phoned me for 90 minutes, to tell me he was sure a major publishing house’s editors had wanted to take my book, but then at the meeting with the sales dept the sales folk for this publishing house had said that I “reminded them of someone they had had high hopes for two years earlier but then had lost money on”. And that ended that house’s interest in the book.
A little later, the senior commissioning editor at another major UK publishing house wrote to say “I think John Logan is a hugely talented writer. I love books like this that have the pace and excitement of a thriller but the voice and emotional depth of a literary novel”. But again when it came right down to it, no sale!
Then my agent passed the book to a film consultant who worked with him. She told him my novel, The Survival of Thomas Ford, was the best book she had read in that literary agency in the last 4 years. This was taken very seriously, as this film consultant had discovered Slumdog Millionaire as an unpublished manuscript and was responsible for it getting developed into a film. From March 2011 to May 2011, the film consultant called me and spoke to me about the book on the phone for 13 hours total (I counted!). This all seemed very promising, if nerve-wracking.
But also around this time the film consultant told me that, although she was certain my book would have sold in London in 2008, by 2010/2011 she felt some serious changes had happened in publishing…my novel was being sent out, and editors were saying how much they loved, or enjoyed, or admired it, or how powerful it was…and the film consultant told me my novel was getting the best and most respectful rejections of any literary novel the agency was then sending out…yet still my book was not selling.
This all went on for more than a year, until I discovered that I perhaps didn’t have the nerves of steel required to live with that constant background, thrumming tension that seems to come when you hand over all the power over your own progress and happiness to other people.
Especially when that process is not working!
By this time my book had been rejected by just about every editor in the UK my agent could think of to send it to…my book that had been the “certainty”…and the best book that the film consultant who had discovered Slumdog Millionaire had read in the last 4 years… my agent told me that “with any other book he would have thrown up his hands and quit with it long ago, but that he did so much believe in this book”…
I suggested at that point to my agent that I relieve us all from this living Hell and perhaps I should go looking for an alternative way forward.
I then started looking around to see if there was any alternative…I immediately found J A Konrath’s blog….Dean Wesley Smith’s website… I heard about Amanda Hocking and John Locke….I looked closer to home and saw the success Linda Gillard, a fellow Scottish writer, had had with selling her work on Kindle.
Then a chance visit from a London friend who had a Kindle with him made me think a little harder about it all….until I went ahead on Christmas Day 2011 and published The Survival of Thomas Ford as a Kindle ebook.
My agent had told me that the option of epublishing novels was being much-discussed at his agency, for books that had “not managed to find a good home”.
As part of my Christmas Day experiment I signed up for Kindle Select.
I’d hardly sold any work since Picador had bought a story from me for £400 some time earlier.
I’d been stuck in a limbo of literary agents and film consultants saying they loved my novel, but with no actual reader ever seeing a page of it!
So I set the price of my book to zero, just to see if I could get any readers again and restore my soul a little.
892 copies of The Survival of Thomas Ford were downloaded in 5 days.
The book went to number 13 in the UK bestselling chart of free literary fiction…and to number 24 in same USA chart. It got to number 63 as a thriller also, in UK.
After I set a price of 77p on the book in January, things went a bit more slowly.
I had been expecting this. I had read Ewan Morrison’s article in THE GUARDIAN, stating that the usual result for a self-published 99cent/77p ebook was 100 sales in 12 months and no sales thereafter.
My novel, The Survival of Thomas Ford, sold 239 copies in its first 8 weeks though, and by 24 February 2012 it had a surge of 80 sales over one weekend and reached number 13 in the Top 100 bestselling list of paid literary fiction ebooks on Amazon.
It also reached number 18 in the Top 100 bestselling list of all paid literary fiction on Amazon, including the paperbacks and hardbacks published by the major London publishers who had rejected The Survival of Thomas Ford (Ford went higher in the ranking than titles with recent tv or film exposure like The Woman in Black and The Slap; higher than Martin Amis and Maeve Binchy, or Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient; higher than Booker Prize winning novels like The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, or masterpieces like the great Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest).
The Survival of Thomas Ford also went to number 80 in the Top 100 Bestselling list of UK thrillers on Kindle.
To my surprise, some local newspapers took an interest in what had happened, publishing 3 feature articles on my book in a 7 day period, with some snappy titles (“The Literary Survival of Author John Logan” – THE NORTHERN TIMES; “Positive New Chapter for Thriller Man” – THE HIGHLAND NEWS; “City Author’s Ebook Breaks into Top 100”- THE INVERNESS COURIER)
Reviews started to come in on Goodreads, and on Amazon, until there were 15 five-star reviews (and 1 four-star) on the book’s Amazon page.
Ah well, I thought as I scratched my head looking at the computer screen…it only took me 22 years work, 5 novels and 85 short stories completed, to get there!
*************************
This post was first published on AUTHORS ELECTRIC, March 11 2012
John A. A. Logan 
Fantastic! I loved reading this. It gives me much hope. I never even tried to pitch “Amidst Traffic” to literary agents, simply because the book is a short-story collection, and I know my chances are slim of getting picked up unless I already have a good track record with a novel. I’m reading “The Survival…” now and I’m absolutely thrilled with the quality of it!
Sales for “Amidst Traffic” have been modest (116 paid sales in a 4-month span), but hopefully I’ll hit a little magic like you did and score some more sales soon!
I’ll be reviewing your book on my website (www.msauret.com) soon!
Michel
Thanks Michel!
Yes, even back in 2000, my first literary agent said “I just can’t shift story collections”. To her credit, she did send quite a few out though, trying to sell a collection and even individual stories. But none sold that way (was able to sell them myself though, sending them out one at a time!)
Up until the 80s, even early 90s, it was the other way round…so many new authors debuted with a short story collection: James Kelman, Bernard Mac Laverty, A L Kennedy, Ali Smith, Toby Litt…Hemingway(!)(though he threw in 10 poems with 3 stories if I remember right…I’ll look it up)…yes, here it is:
“Technically the very first (Hemingway book) published was “Three Stories and Ten Poems,” which is the rarest, and was actually self-published because no one else wanted it.
Only 300 copies were printed in 1923, and a perfect copy of the first edition of “3 stories and 10 poems” would now sell for $65,000. Even a copy in beat up rough shape is worth $3,500 minimum. Since there were only 300 original copies printed, you can imagine how hard it is to find a copy.”
All the best with “Amidst Traffic”, I see it already has very good reviews (and thanks for your kind words about The Survival of Thomas Ford!)
John
Hi John,
Great article, you sound like you have had a very rocky and tortured road to publication. I can almost mirror your experiences, I have had three near misses with agents, one actually took my book on then they went bankrupt, the next one wanted my book, but her company was gobbled up by a bigger company and they didn’t want me. The third agent had just started the ball rolling when she died. So that did it for me. No more agents.
Regards
Margaret
Thanks Margaret,
It’s a strange business that we’re in right enough, and those must have been painful experiences.
It’s amazing we ever got our books published at all really, considering the odds that seemed to be against it, in all sorts of ways, and yet here we are, still writing and with people reading the books!
One thing I’m certainly grateful to the agents for is the boost in confidence that comes when they believe in your work, as they did in yours clearly…that can be priceless and keep you going through lean times.
All best,
John
Who are the survivors? Bertolt Brecht said “It isn’t important to come out on top, what matters is to be the one who comes out alive.” Thomas Ford, the character, comes out alive because of some internal reserve that first allows him to stagger out of a villain’s lethal reach, and then compels him to take a second chance at salvation. Thomas Ford, the book, comes out alive and “on top” with a lot of readers not only because of the internal reserve of its author which propelled him forward, but also because of the long-term belief in the project on the part of friends and relatives, and the kindness of strangers in tweeting and posting and sharing their paths to success. And Mr. Logan is doing the same – paying it forward.
Thanks Aine,
Yes, that’s all true!
I couldn’t even begin to list all the support I’ve had here and there, small things, large things, going back as far as the day in 1989 when I began writing. Sometimes it’s just a look of encouragement from a friend who’s read a handwritten story on scraps of A4 paper…sometimes it’s a famous author sending you cash in an envelope, a little of what he just got from a big publisher for a new book, and he says he is passing it on to you because he believes in your work!
It all keeps you going, through the years, however long it is necessary to keep going.
And every tweet and post helps too, thank-you!
All best,
John
I remember reading this on the AE site, John. I don’t think I commented then but it really is a great account of the past couple of decades in the industry. If I hadn’t been an absurdist before I experienced and got to hear of all this stupidity, it would certainly have turned me into one. Great posting and the book’s still lurking on my Kindle TBR list. Mea culpa.
Thanks Bill!
I can’t hear mention of absurdist, without seeing a herd of Eugene Ionesco rhinocerii rampage across my mental landscape…I suppose we are all doing our best not to be flattened by these creatures!
[…] Minus a few puzzling grammatical/formatting mishaps (sometimes there was a space between the end of a sentence and a period), it was hard to believe that this book hadn’t been published via a traditional publishing house. Logan writes about that frustrating, disappointing process on his blog here, which is a very interes… […]
Thanks very much Michel, I’m very honoured to have that review of The Survival of Thomas Ford!
The Survival of John Logan’s Writing is one of my favorite stories in recent memory. He’s convinced me, a country boy from Alabama, to move forward with e-publishing too.
One of my favorite lines in the story is this: “I still loved the work of doing novels, but not so much what came after…”
ME too, my friend. Good grief. And I didn’t even have HALF the torture you had. I only had rejections (but buckets of ’em). I’m tired of them. I’m obviously a storyteller (if not the technician and stylist I wish I was). But I feel part of the reason I’m here (on earth and on https://johnaalogan.wordpress.com) is to tell the stories I have to tell.
After four unpublished books, I’ve finally mustered the courage to try the publishing world again. This time, I’m hiring an editor, and I plan to publish on my own from here on out, unless an act of Providence redirects that plan.
Thank the Muses for people like John Logan! His story is as inspirational as any that come to mind. I’m listening to what he says and taking his advice as a roadmap to my hoped-for success.
So, here’s a toast to the future and career of my pal from Scotland!
Thanks, John!
Thank-you Hunter, that’s much appreciated!
As a country boy myself, from the Scottish Highlands, that’s another great thing about epublishing…you can do it from home…no matter where in the world your home is.
I think your four books, and the years of experience of writing/submissions, will put you in a very strong position…you’ll have the stamina and experience to make the very most of epublishing, no doubt!
Yes, it’s a terrible thing to be blocked in bringing your work to fruition, whichever way you turn. Hopefully, those days are becoming a permanent thing of the past now, as new options open up for writers and readers..
I no longer think of the rejections as being serious…too many “rejected” books are going on now to find the readers who love them…on kindle etc.
So, time for a toast to your future and career too…and roll on that first ebook!
All best,
John
(And yes, the fulfillment of what you feel is part of your purpose in life…storytelling…it’s a great thing that we have the opportunity now to bring that about)
[…] concluded my blog post last month https://johnaalogan.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/the-story-of-the-survival-of-thomas-ford/ with this summary: “My novel, The Survival of Thomas Ford, sold 239 copies in its first 8 […]
Hi John, enjoyed reading your blog. The story is very familiar to me. My latest book the Chieftain’s Curse was sent everywhere by my agent and tho’ everyone liked it the just didn’t know where a Scottish Medieval set the 11th century would fit. Well I haven’t Indie pubbed, but I found and Australian ebook publisher who accepted it. The book came out of the top 100 Historical romance since. It was #1 on iTunes Down Under for almost 4 weeks and the lowest it’s gone is 50 but it keeps bouncing back. Not bad for a book no one wanted. The 5 star reviews say it all. Frances in NZ but Scottish at heart.
Thanks Frances!
Good to hear from New Zealand, and congratulations on the success of Chieftain’s Curse, it sounds like the readers had no problem at all deciding where it would fit, once they were allowed to see it!
Great timeline of hope and endurance. Well done and well deserved.
Thank-you Ram, much appreciated!
Great stuff, John. I love the photo of the brick wall. I had a similar experience. Two years ago, the publisher of my grown-up stuff rejected my first MS for kids, about a plucky wind turbine, ‘Spinner the Winner’. So my wife and I self-published it in Sept 2012 on Amazon/Createspace. Sold 3,000 copies since. We’ve licensed four major eco-energy NGOs to print branded copies for their outreach activities. Book has been translated into Serbian and Romanian. French version coming. Kid Wind Project in Minnesota added it to their recommended reading list. Almost 3,000 free downloads too, from the US to Japan, when we did the ‘freebie’ thing, one weekend. Baku Oxford School has invited my to read/sell the book to 180 of their ‘reading buddies’ programme. Cambridge Uni Children’s Lit Dept have invited me to speak next time I’m in UK. So far so good, except for my publisher. Nobody knows anything, as they say in la-la land. Oh, I spent a year there too; first script optioned etc, but guess the rest. Anyway, well done. May your pen be mighty. Oh, it already is…!
Thanks very much, Mike!
Glad to hear that “Spinner the Winner” went on to live up to its name, and that you’ve had so much interest and support from all those other sources now…as well as (most importantly) from the readers themselves.
Ah…La-la-land…what did Woody Allen say?
“Hollywood is worse than dog eat dog; it’s dog doesn’t return other dog’s phone-calls”
All best, and wishing you continued success with it (including a brick-wall-free horizon!)
I have a holiday booked, next week and wanted to find an interesting indie book to read. I have found it!
Thank-you, that’s brilliant, I hope you enjoy it!
Hello John,
I’ve just finished reading your blog post, and I felt compelled to write back and thank you for posting such a heartfelt personal account of your early experiences (especially the brutal disappointments) in the literary publishing world. It gives the rest of us novice published authors a glimmer of hope in the prospect of genuine opportunities for wider exposure for our literary labors of love!
I’ve just completed a 3-day promo for my book “A Broken Keeper” via Amazon Kindle Select (I’d decided to self-publish, and not seek an agent at this particular time) and I can relate when you mentioned the expected post promotion slowdown. “A Broken Keeper” moved rather briskly during the free period, but sales have been rather sluggish ever since. Nevertheless, I understand that the entire process is a marathon… and not a sprint race. Your candid account of your personal journey helped to give me the fuel I really needed to continue on…
Thanks again, and I wish you all the very best in your literary journey.
/GHWard
P.S. Thanks for following me in Twitter!
Thank-you, G.H.,
Glad the post was helpful.
All best with “A Broken Keeper”.
Yes, got to take the long view on these things, I think.
Wishing you all success,
John
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