We’re sure you’ve heard the phrase that – ‘Everyone has a book in them’. Or, as some sources have it, ‘Everyone has a novel in them.’ Or even ‘Every journalist has a novel in them.’ Most of us have heard the line, or some variation on it, and understand what it’s saying:
The actual full phrase is this – ‘Everyone has a book in them, but in most cases that’s where it should stay.’ And as if to prove that correct, let us introduce you Welsh author SHED SIMOVE.
Shed has spent 18 years writing a novel about a global pandemic only for COVID-19 to hit, he’s now calling on the public to help him achieve a unique feat – for it to become the most-rejected book ever.
Shed, now based in London, started writing his first novel Alpha Male, a story about a virus wiping out all the men in the U.K. except one, in 2003. He completed the final version in February 2020, only weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic and has been rejected from publishing houses since.
In a case of art imitating life, Shed then saw a number of publishers reject the manuscript because of its close proximity to real-life events. The past year has seen Alpha Male being rejected over 400 times, which in turn has inspired Shed to turn his knockbacks into a positive. He’s set up a website HERE, where he chronicles his rejections and is aiming for Alpha Male to be the most spurned novel ever. The aim is to be rejected by every publisher in the UK (reckoned to be to be around 2,250 book publishers according to The Global Publishing Industry) – failing that, one of the ‘big five’ publishers picking it up for publication.
Citing one of the world’s most famous authors as his inspiration, Shed told us…….
“J.K. Rowling said that she wasn’t going to give up on Harry Potter until every single publisher turned her down and I feel the same way with Alpha Male. I’ve submitted it over 400 times so far, and I won’t stop until I’ve heard back from every single publisher out there”. Shed also has big dreams of turning his book into a movie one day and sent the book to Hollywood director Ridley Scott, although Scott is yet to reply.”
“This book has been a labour of love for me my entire adult life and I’m determined to get a book deal…however, if I can’t, I want to know I tried every avenue I possibly could. I’ve been told this is a masterclass in bad timing and therefore, I’d like to ask the great British public for their help by helping me get the book to more and more publishers via suggestions on my website.
“Landing a book deal with a large worldwide publisher such as Penguin Random House, Hachette Livre, HarperCollins, Macmillan Publishers or Simon & Schuster is the dream, but if I can’t, then I at least hope for a rejection from them.”
Simove is no stranger to quirky ideas, as the man behind humorous product innovations including a book entitled ‘What Every Man Thinks About Apart From Sex’ containing 200 blank pages and the ‘Not So Smart Watch™’, a timepiece where users fill in the face with a dry-wipe pen. In 2017 he released ’Shinder’, a dating web app which allows users to swipe right or left on his profile only in order to choose whether to date him.
To read more of Shed’s rejections for Alpha Male and to help him in his campaign, visit HERE