I was a zero in the literary universe.
Rwandan-born, Namibian-based author Rémy Ngamije (https://twitter.com/remythequill) shares his journey from “zero” to acquiring a literary agent and a worldwide book deal with Scout Press.
Rémy’s debut novel, The Eternal Audience of One, was published in August of 2021.
Here’s are the steps Rémy took to go from zero to published author:
Wrote a novel.
Googled literary agents AND Africa literature. Didn’t find anyone.
Googled agents AND world literature.
Submitted query letters.
Rejected by everyone.
Reached out to a South African author on Twitter. The author put Rémy in touch with a local South African Press, Blackbird.
Blackbird agreed to publish Rémy’s. No advance.
Blackbird encouraged Rémy to publish short stories in literary journals to get his name out there.
Wrote several stories and submitted to various journals.
Stories started getting picked up.
“If you create an audience for some of your work you’ll find an audience for all of your work.”
In his bio for the literary journals Rémy mentioned that he had a completed novel.
Two years after having his query letters rejected Cecile Barendsma of Cecile B Literary Agency read one of Rémy’s stories and contacted him on social media about his novel.
Cecile became Rémy’s agent and shopped his novel to US publishers.
Because of his publishing history in various literary journals, Scout Press had the confidence to buy and publish Rémy’s debut novel from Blackbird Press.
Rémy signed a book deal with an advance from Scout Press.
Scout Press published The Eternal Audience of One, Rémy’s debut novel, in August of 2021.
Rémy is also the editor of the southern African literary magazine, Doek!, for African writers and those of African descent.
Podcast Links
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44. Finding an Agent and a Publishing Deal