Q. Like many middle-aged, under-employed people, I have finally got round to finishing my novel. Being too self-regarding to vanity-publish and not, as some West Country nobody, seeing much other hope of publication, I scoured around for friends from university who in intervening decades have laboured their way to the top of the publishing world. These agreed with alacrity to look at my efforts: then nothing, and reminder emails to no effect. What can I do to get an answer without ruining any hope my work has of seeing shiny covers?
M.C., by email
A. It is a pretty safe bet that none of these people have read one line of your novel. They would have been meaning to for weeks but too great is the deluge that swamps all people in paid work these days. There is also the factor that the succès d’estime is a thing of the past.
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