# no market for comic science fiction in the UK since douglas adams



## carey (Jul 22, 2014)

I just got a rejection. A nice polite rejection about which I have no complaints, especially since the turnaround between submission and rejection was less than 24 hours, which was awesome, and it had comments on my story too, I am so lucky in this regard I can hardly credit it.
What worries me about it is that the rejecting agent said there was no market for my book, being as it is comic science fiction.
So um, what now? Can I argue with the opinion of someone who deals with the UK publishing business professionally? I think not.
So I have one finished book, one almost finished sequal with setup for two more books, and they appear to have nowhere to go.
Self publishing isn't an option, as soon as book one gets an ISBN my chances of paper publication for the series are blown. I like that less than the option of just shelving the project.


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## Bishop (Jul 22, 2014)

Just keep submitting. One person's opinion on that might not necessarily be the truth. He might have rejected it out of hand just because that's not their market, but that doesn't mean there's not another publisher who will take the work.

Just remember:
The Beatles were rejected by record companies saying that no one would listen to their work.


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## Greimour (Jul 22, 2014)

carey said:


> I just got a rejection. A nice polite rejection about which I have no complaints, especially since the turnaround between submission and rejection was less than 24 hours, which was awesome, and it had comments on my story too, I am so lucky in this regard I can hardly credit it.
> What worries me about it is that the rejecting agent said there was no market for my book, being as it is comic science fiction.
> So um, what now? Can I argue with the opinion of someone who deals with the UK publishing business professionally? I think not.



I agree with Bishop. 

Agatha Christie suffered 5 years of rejections before she was published. Earning $2billion since then...

C.S Lewis received more rejections than he counted before Chronicles of Narnia got published and went on to sell over 100million copies...

Beatrix Potter with _The Tale of Peter Rabbit_ got so many rejection letters she decided to self publish. Starting with no more than 250 copies it went on to sell well over 40million. (45million plus I think I read somewhere)

And my favourite: J K Rowling (Harry Potter book 1) received 12 rejection letters and most of them said there was no market for her work. Her saving grace was the eight-year-old daughter of a Bloomsbury Editor who demanded to be allowed to finish reading the book. The editor decides to publish it but tells her to get a day job - he doubted she would make enough money selling childrens stories. Hahaha!

Keep trying until they give you a better reason than that. And maybe continue even then. <3


~Kev.


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## carey (Jul 22, 2014)

I have a YA sf book that I need to edit/improve before submission, I have switched to working on that for the time being. I've still got to hear back from six agents, some of those have been over three months though, so it might be they won't respond.
finding adult SF accepting agents in the UK is already hard enough, I won't be long before I've run out of submission candidates who say SF, I've already submitted to two who just said general fiction.


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## Pidgeon84 (Jul 22, 2014)

Unless he means over saturated I just can't see that being true. Keep plugging away.


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## carey (Jul 22, 2014)

specifically he said uk editors/publishers aren't buying it


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## movieman (Jul 22, 2014)

My top selling self-published short story is comic science fiction. So what do publishers know about what readers want?

Even I thought it would only sell a couple of dozen copies, and was amazed when I logged onto Amazon and found it had sold over five hundred in a couple of weeks.

So, don't just stuff it in a drawer. If all the publishers reject it, damn the rejections and self-publish. Readers may like it, even if publishers don't.


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## Pidgeon84 (Jul 22, 2014)

carey said:


> specifically he said uk editors/publishers aren't buying it



My best guess would be the market is over saturated with it.


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## Greimour (Jul 22, 2014)

movieman said:


> So, don't just stuff it in a drawer. If all the publishers reject it, damn the rejections and self-publish. Readers may like it, even if publishers don't.



Worked for Beatrix Potter ... even if that wasn't sci-fi comic.

:: Following comment largely aimed at UK ::

Over time I have been led to believe that some of the big publishing houses are seriously underestimating Sci-Fi. More than that they are underestimating comics - or more accurately manga's. Comics and manga's are extremely similar... practically the same thing. The popularity of manga material (sci fi included) is huge. People need only read comments on the manga's in question, such as Accel World, to know that I am speaking from knowledge gained rather than guess work.

Keep going at it; if the material is good, someone will bite in the end. And if they don't, perhaps a different piece in the meantime and use that money and created fanbase to self publish. Maybe you will be the one to free Sci-Fi and comics from misconceptions.


~Kev.


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## carey (Jul 22, 2014)

I really don't want to self publish though. Even if I liked amazon, which I don't, I work full time. I can't be taking time out to promote my own book, not to the extent you need to get noticed significantly, and there is the ISBN problem, I could write lots of boks in this series, but self publish book one and that hope is dead.


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## Threak 17 (Sep 5, 2014)

Everyone needs a good laugh, even us sci-fi readers.  I say keep plugging away until you find the right fit.  Books that can make the soul smile are always in short supply.


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