That’s it—that’s all that is read when determining whether a novel or nonfiction manuscript is worth representing or even publishing in the traditional way. Please and thank you, but only the first ten pages.
If you can keep the literary agent turning the page, they deem your writing worthy of representation; if not, next.
The idea that any book’s first ten pages quantify it is frightening. How about if it’s a slow start? How about if the characters or idea isn’t worked out? This concept is intimidating and cuts to the chase. If your story isn’t captivating enough, then you start again?
I’ve always thought that to be harsh, but imagine it’s to not waste anyone’s time. Show me what you got, kinda mentality? It’s all incredibly subjective.
But isn’t most art subjective? We don’t all like the same things, listen to the same music, wear the same clothes, have the same style, or read the same books.
I often wonder how many good books have been tossed aside because the “agent” wasn’t captivated by the first ten pages. How many talented artists have not gotten a fair chance because the “agent” didn’t deem them commercial enough, marketable, or fit into the perfect Public Relations box?
Who’s your audience? What’s your niche? How do you see yourself marketing the book? How’s your presence on social media? Are you active? How’s your engagement? The peppering of these questions so that the “agent” can do their job for you? It seems to me that the “talent” has to lay the foundation first…backwards, right?
So here’s the skinny, this is why so many “independent” artists exist. They have decided to take matters into their own hands since that’s where it all starts. The writer, singer, performer, arranger, painter, designer, actor, producer, and screenwriter have decided to create their own projects in hopes that the masses will notice.
Self-publishing, hybrid publishing, indie films, black box theaters, original artwork, and more are all creating an objective art experience—art for all, not for the one who sits behind a desk and decides what’s good enough for the masses.
Art is breath. Art is freedom. Art is poetry. Art is color.
Art is more than the first ten pages.
Art is subjective. Art is objective.
If you are an indepedent artist, you have the greatest gift of all…autonomy!
Your work belongs to you, and you choose to share it with us in its’ purest form, not some sterile, manufactured form, but the purest and rawest form…that is call…
Freedom.