Why is it so hard to get published? It has been my life-long goal to get at least one of novels written in English published by a Western Publisher. This isn't a question of vanity. Another life-long goal has been to achieve an income, if not a living, from writing novels. The Sri Lankan market for writers in English is too small for this, and the best hope is to find a Western publisher. I consider the Master of Cocktails to be the best of the five novels I've written so far, and took up the search for a Western publisher for it a couple of months ago. In fact I found an American agency interested in this several years ago, and it offered me $4000 for it. But I thought that agency called SRBRA somewhat dubious, and the man who contacted me (usually it's the other way round but he sent me an email) called Tom was a bit cagey, so I declined the offer. This time, five publishers (two from UK, three from the US) are very interested, but they are offering hybrid contracts whereby I have to meet part of the intial cost (from $3000 to $3500). Badly hit by the pandemic, I don't have that kind of money. Why can't they simply pay me what they can and buy the manuscript? It's a good book, it has market potential. This mail sent to me by Olympia Publishers UK says as much. But they don't want to take a risk! Nothing risked, nothing gained. All five publishers have sent similar mails, but are offering hybrid contracts. It's heartbreaking, but the search continues. Here's the mail by Olympia UK. Editors (Olympia Publishers) Mon, Oct 11, 7:08 PM (2 days ago) Dear Mr Akmeemana, I would like to thank you for your patience during this time. My colleagues and I have now very carefully looked at 'The Master of Cocktails'. I received independent reports on the style, quality of writing and the suitability to genre and I am pleased to say that we find 'The Master of Cocktails' to be of considerable merit and believe it would appeal to the reading public. Although we agree the work is well written and has literary merit, commercial decisions have to be made in this fiercely competitive market. Bearing this in mind, we cannot offer a traditional contract for the work at this time. We would be able to offer a hybrid publishing contract, but we understand this may not be something you are interested in at this time as this incurs a fee. May I take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Olympia and wish you all the best for the future. Yours sincerely, James Houghton Commissioning Editor Email: editors@olympiapublishers.com Website: www.olympiapublishers.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/OlympiaPublishers Twitter: https://twitter.com/olympiapub