‘…Wannabe writers needn’t let their ambitions get ahead of themselves’ (Chiki Sarkar Editorial Director of Random House-India commenting on the ‘unleashing of ambitions of aspiring writers’ in the aftermath of the Booker Prize euphoria in HT dated 16/10/08)
Alright. Point taken. But what then defines a ‘wannabe ‘writer? Aren’t all writers’ wannabes? Isn’t the entire art of writing conducive to ‘writing’ and ‘wanting’ to be published? The ‘ambition’ of hope is surely not something to be dismissed so derisively- is it?
Wasn’t Arundhati Roy a wannabe writer before she won. Isn’t Aravind Adigai one?
“99 percent of unsolicited manuscripts sent to publishing houses remain unpublished” she continues “They are read by young recruits and if something is considered as having potential, it is passedon”!
Indeed! So how do they go about soliciting manuscripts? Do they have a crystal ball or do they play tick-tack-toe to choose their authors? Do they just go up to people and say ‘write for us, you have the potential …we can see it in your face …We will publish you’. If writers didn’t go to them how do you suppose they even know whom to read and whom to publish.
So now we know what happens to your much-toiled-over masterpieces! Particularly if they are ‘unsolicited’. Some ‘young’ perhaps-brilliant, perhaps-not, college-pass, probably wet behind the ears ‘recruit’ sits in judgment of your labor of love deciding what has potential and what does not. What is to be passed on, what is not. Would they be competent, no even, experienced enough to judge and ‘pass on’ a Paul Krugman or a Doris Lessing in the making?
What is the Man Booker Prize?
So what is the hoo ha all about?
The Booker is one of the most prestigious literary awards of recent times. And it suddenly seems well within reach! After all it’s yet another Indian in the spotlight.
The current Booker prize was born in 1968 -69 and is awarded every year to the best original full length novel in English to a writer in the commonwealth countries and Ireland .It became the Man Booker in 2001 when the Man investment group became its sponsors. With a prize money of 87000 $ or 50,000 pounds it has a 6 member advisory committee of two publishers, an author, a book seller, a librarian and a chairman appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation. They in turn choose the ‘panel of judges’ every year from a host of notable literary figures .To win the Booker is to attain literary nirvana. In terms of name, money and prestige.
So nobody can blame writers for wanting to become a part of the scenario. Least of all the publishers. With all the hype around it, it has become every serious writer’s wish to write something that could fetch him/her this literary ‘Holy Grail’ awarded by the original proponents of the language themselves.
So if that’s what makes publishing houses tick and this is what the Man Booker prize is all about then let’s find out how you could make it come to you. How you could bag that lovely Booker Prize.
First let’s check out what made India’s Aravind Adiga’s book click.
- It made the long list of thirteen before being short listed to a mere six.
- It ‘knocked’ a judge’s- Mr. Michael Portillo’s ‘socks off’.
- It was funny and provocative and darkly humorous.
- It challenged many existing assumptions.
- It attacked the ‘myth’ of shining India.
- It’s not didactic.
- It’s compelling and angry.
- It’s absorbing.
- It’s a riveting ride ‘about a man’s journey from an Indian village life to entrepreneurial success’
- It hopes to provoke and delight readers
So then surely these shouldn’t be too difficult for any ‘wannabe’ writer to combine and put together. Haven’t you been doing just that all along?
So do go fine-tune that worthy best seller you’ve been toiling over and nudge that reluctant publisher into ‘soliciting’ your manuscript.
Make sure it’s on time- to make the list next year. It is the Booker prize after all man!
- Sreelata Menon
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