Search out bull, grab horns

While submissions have continued to come in over the last few months, it's fair to say that it's been more of a trickle than a torrent, which is natural for a relatively unknown indie publisher just starting out on the road to mega-seller-dom. And of those that are coming in, non-fiction is edging fiction, which makes it even tougher to unearth that bit of fiction magic we're searching for to launch that side of Nemesis.

A few weeks back, I decided to take the bull by the old horns. If the projects won't come to us, I mused, then we'll go and find the projects. So I started watching and listening to what was being said by those I knew on blogs, forums, facebook, twitter - you name it, I was getting the skeet.

As of tonight, I have two projects that I'm interested in - one fiction, one non-fiction. The writer behind the fiction idea knows of my interest, and we're hoping to catch up in the coming weeks to discuss how things might move forward.

With the non-fiction project, the writer has no idea that I'm interested. In fact, he might not even know there is a project in the first place, as I'm considering proposing something to him - he might already have this in hand, in which case I'll bow out gracefully, but I've a feeling he will be interested.

Of course, it's far too early to say whether either of these projects will come to fruition. A few things need to happen; first, we need to be sure the projects are a good fit for us; second, the writer has to be sure we're the right people for them to work with; and, third, we've got to be sure (or as sure as we can be) that these projects are marketable. There are plenty of other considerations, but take one of those three out of the equation and the end result is the project won't go ahead, at least not with us as publisher.

When the website finally launches, and our name starts to get out there, then I'd expect submissions to increase gradually. But for now, I'm buzzing with the possibilities being conjured by keeping an open mind, digging around and being prepared to think outside the box, and I hate that bloody phrase. But in these two instances, it fits perfectly.

I'll reveal more if/when these ideas start to form into some kind of shape. Until then, if you'd be so kind, please keep your fingers crossed that they do...