In a good example of producing some publicity for himself, at the same time as pointing out some problems within his intended industry, David Lassman has revealed what happened when he submitted some work to publishers.
Nothing too unusual so far, except that the sample chapters he sent in were not his own – they were Jane Austen’s! Fed up with constant rejections from his own work, he decided to try and highlight the flaws in the system. He used a nom de plume, changed the character names and chapter titles, but other than that, simple sent in the well known, and respected work.
Eighteen publishers received ‘his’ work. One noticed the similarities, and told him to not imitate Jane Austen so clearly in the future, the other 17 either rejected the work, or just plain ignored it. David claims that authors without an agent will get nowhere, and that many reviewers do not know how to identify potential classics of the future.
This particular stunt has meant that he now has a publisher, and although I have not read any of his work, fair play to him for garnering this much publicity, so soon in his career.