Book Review: “A Woman from Cairo” By Val Landi
I was reading Michael Allen’s blog, Grumpy Old Bookman, in which he writes about the author Val Landi trying to get A Woman from Cairo published. The “book” has received rave reviews in rejection letters from publishers:
Here are some samples of the praise to date from the book-industry pros:Carolyn Marino, Vice President, William Morrow
“Strong, unique and vivid characters…”
Eric Chinski, Executive Editor, Farrar Straus & Giroux
“Accomplished…fast paced…an absorbing tale of intrigue.”
Matthew Kellogg, Editor, Random House
“Entertaining and intelligent…I like the way it blends in history and religion.”
Danny Baror, Literary Foreign-Rights Agent, Baror International
“Reminiscent of Ken Follett’s Eye of the Needle…a remarkably poised and commercial debut.”
“Great storytelling!” Orion Books, Great Britain.
There is a website that describes the book and a link to download the first four chapters (which was broken). It looks like my kind or book! The website says if you liked The Camel Club you will love A Woman from Cairo. If you are interested in A Woman from Cairo you should read The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order.
You know what? You can’t get the book because Val Landi hasn’t found a publisher. Ron Franscell wrote to me recently that it was his understanding that
– About 450,000 manuscripts are written and submitted every year.
– About 50,000 titles are published, the great bulk of them being nonfiction. Less than 10% are fiction.
I have never experienced this kind of situation before. I left a comment on Val’s blog, The Road To …
It appears you have written a book that I want to read, but is not published and I can download the first four chapters, but the link is broken. This is the ultimate come-on. I want the book and I want it now!
When will the whole book be available?
Mover Mike
Maybe, that will light the fire under some publisher!
This illustrates how hard it can be to get published. Val’s progress is a subject we as writers all have an interest in, of course mine is obvious.
I have subscribed to your feed. Keep us informed of the progress of Sand Storm and a website and chapters to download.
\Mover Mike
I, too, have experienced the sweet torture of “glowing rejections” from would-be editors. Sometimes it’s more frustrating than candor, although i must admit I’ve never had a rejection that said, “Good luck in pizza delivery because you suck as a writer.” That might be a tough one to swallow.
But editors these days are more gatekeepers than actual wordsmiths who embrace the sacred duty of helping good literature be published. They are looking for something that looks exactly like the last something that sold 100,000 copies. It’s worth noting that Dan Brown wrote three books before “The DaVinci Code” and none were embraced ethusiastically — until “DaVinci” hit big. THEN his old “unimpressive” books were suddenly worth millions to editors and were elevated to best-sellers, too.
Maxwell Perkins, the great editor of Hemingway and Fitzgerald, is dead. Only a handful of editors in book-publishing today are capable of or care about literary value. Most will say they want to publish the next Hemingway, but the fact is, most wouldn’t accept a manuscript today that transformed all the old storytelling rules and ushered in a new paradigm.
It’s a risk-averse business — like most businesses — and understandably the editor-gatekeepers are mainly interested in making the most money with the least risk. Unfortunately, that’s bad for art.
The best use for rejection letters is inspiration. If nothing else, promise yourself to show them they were wrong.