Front of House.

Amidst all the economic gloom and doom, there are glimmers of light. Yesterday I received a synopsis and the first three chapters. The story is fantastic and it made me laugh like a drain, and a happy one at that. It is receiving great stories like this that makes it all worthwhile. When we started Bluemoose it was for this very reason. To try and get great stories from new writers published. In the email that accompanied the first three chapters was this quote from an agent the author had received about marketing his work. '..we might need to think about the conventions that will make the book more front of house.’ 'More front of house!' What she means is that they won't be able to put the book in the 3 for 2's. Nightmare. When she means 'Conventions,' what she's really saying is that it doesn't follow a generic and formulaic style. Well, good. What a grey world it would be if we all 'followed,' conventions and made everything ,'more front of house.' If this is what agents are thinking then the future for Independents is a good one. Now, I need to speak to booksellers.