I'm a non-fiction writer and had the good fortune to have my first book, Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento published by a first-time publisher doing everything on the fly and hitting a bulls eye on every front. No agent--he found my number at work and called me directly. I supplied all the photos (I'd been collecting material for years because I adored the filmmaker), he persuaded the Quay brothers, highly-regarded animators of eerie art/nightmare films to do the cover. Near the end, a friend of a friend in the business came read over the contract with an agent's eye. When the Quays dropped out because a grant came through for them to make a new film (with a tight schedule and imminent start date). But out of basic decency (a rare thing) they stayed on long enough to find a replacement, an excellent Eastern-European artist who did the striking the first-edition cover. I lucked out at every turn and I know how lucky I was.
Thank you for this upbeat and encouraging story! You were indeed lucky, and I'm going to order a copy of the book. I hope other writers will share their experiences with us, whether happy or otherwise.
Thank you--I shared my story because I know --I really know--how fortunate I was that after having spent years pursuing a non-mainstream story about a transgressive filmmaker whose work crisscrossed so many taboos that I found a publisher and a community willing to embrace my writing. It doesn't happen for everyone, but it CAN happen and the history of Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento is proof that sometimes an unlikely project can actually go your way. https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/broken-mirrors-broken-minds
This was very interesting. Thank you.
Thank you for the comment, and as usual I love hearing from readers.
I'm a non-fiction writer and had the good fortune to have my first book, Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento published by a first-time publisher doing everything on the fly and hitting a bulls eye on every front. No agent--he found my number at work and called me directly. I supplied all the photos (I'd been collecting material for years because I adored the filmmaker), he persuaded the Quay brothers, highly-regarded animators of eerie art/nightmare films to do the cover. Near the end, a friend of a friend in the business came read over the contract with an agent's eye. When the Quays dropped out because a grant came through for them to make a new film (with a tight schedule and imminent start date). But out of basic decency (a rare thing) they stayed on long enough to find a replacement, an excellent Eastern-European artist who did the striking the first-edition cover. I lucked out at every turn and I know how lucky I was.
Thank you for this upbeat and encouraging story! You were indeed lucky, and I'm going to order a copy of the book. I hope other writers will share their experiences with us, whether happy or otherwise.
Thank you--I shared my story because I know --I really know--how fortunate I was that after having spent years pursuing a non-mainstream story about a transgressive filmmaker whose work crisscrossed so many taboos that I found a publisher and a community willing to embrace my writing. It doesn't happen for everyone, but it CAN happen and the history of Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento is proof that sometimes an unlikely project can actually go your way. https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/broken-mirrors-broken-minds