Let me put the record straight on this.
Yes, I started off as an IT professional, 20 years in total.
After 12 very successful years as a fee-charging project management contractor in the private and public sectors, I decided I was secure enough to retire in my early forties. By the way, the PRINCE2 Project Management standard isn't a British Government standard, it's a recognised European standard methodology. Anyway, when I retired early, I wanted to do those things you know you always wanted to do, but could never find the time. I wanted to enter the literary world, own a snooker club, travel a lot with my disabled wife, and generally spend more time with her.
And yes, you're right, Steve Stone is my writing psuedonym. I'm not the first agent to represent their own books, and I won't be the last. But that's not how or why the agency started. It started because of a demand from local writers for representation for their books, there are hardly any agencies within 50 miles of my location. I haven't yet used the agency to submit my own books to publishers, and my own screenplays to film producers, but I probably will do those things, later this year.
The agency has expanded to cover 10 clients in recent months, most not local. There have been two book deals with small local publishing concerns, and three optioned screenplays. No deal with a large publisher as of yet, but one of the small deals has now progressed to national stocking of two titles by Waterstones, Britain's largest book chain, which is nice. So small beginnings, but hopefully a lot of promise for the future. In any young business, you can't afford to worry about what you don't do yet, or what anyone thinks about your record of achievement to date, because if you did, no-one would never start a business, and there would never be any new literary agents. Another highlight of the business to date is that I've managed to accumulate hundreds of Email addresses (sometimes using tricks from my old days as an IT contractor), direct to the desks of commissioning editors of publishing houses, and to film producers. I talk directly to many every week, and that in itself holds promise for the future. I might even start selling my database of Email addresses at some point in the future, but certainly not for a while.
And yes, my website was built using Blogger, but I was looking for something cheap and free, knowing it was a risky start-up business, which by the way has a grant from the British Government. In the future, I might take a decision to upgrade my internet presence, dependent on time and monetary issues. Not that I've had any problems with it. Amazon will tell you that a blog is a website, and that's fine by me. I don't know of any typos or bad wording on the pages, but don't forget that it's an advertising medium, not a novel extract. The two languages are completely different, as any advertising executive would tell you.
I knew from the very beginning that it would take a long time before I got significant revenues from book contracts and optioned/contracted screenplays, so I began by offering paid services, not related to representation. Most services are free under the standard contract, so there is no relationship at all between representation and services, unless a contracted client wishes it. Much of the agency's revenue to date has come from novel edits, Amazon Kindle and paperback load (which can prove very difficult to the non IT-literate, have you ever tried loading picture books, or cookbooks full of bullet-point recipes?), and management of Amazon accounts in return for a percentage of sales. I've sold a lot of Kindle copies and paperbacks on Amazon, and I sell Amazon paperbacks, both hand-sale and electronically, under the name of SDS Publishing. Amazon sales have contributed much to the agency's revenue.
I started SDS Finance a few years ago, before the literary agency was envisaged, to manage the table revenues from the snooker club that I bought to satisfy an ambition. I sold the snooker club because I saw the recession coming, but kept the SDS Finance bank accounts open, and they now serve the literary agency (also, they've been used for one or two unrelated business puposes, along the way). As of 2005, when I started SDS Finance, my accountant's sweep revealed no other business in the UK named SDS Finance, but I guess it's possible that someone else used the name in between, and subsequently closed their account. By the way, my middle initials are C and L, not D.
The three screenplay extracts that are shown on the site conform to Hollywood Standard Format, an absolute must, which most screenwriters fail to achieve. The screenplays conform precisely with the Oscar-nominated original screenplay for 'In The Loop'. There's nothing wrong with having a character reading a newspaper, the eventual Production Script will either show the newspaper (you see that on TV and in films all the time), or present fictitious current events in a different manner. It's a load of tosh for the contributor below to say that the stories revolve around characters reading newspapers and watching TV, the techique is used just at the beginning of the first story of three, to convey current events surrounding the plot. The contributor obviously only bothered to read the very early portion of the first screenplay. The novel from screenplay service costs £1,000 or $1,500, because you have to read the novel, and then write the screenplay. It's also a load of tosh, and probably libelous, for the contributor to say that the editing offered by the company is 'awful', I've had nothing but satisfied clients for novel and screenplay edits, and lots of clients asking for more. If the contributor knows of any dissatisfied clients, or has any evidence of bad editing, then please do let it be known to the agency. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the book shown through the Amazon link below, do take a look at the Kindle sample to verify that. Do let the agency know -
[email protected] - if you spot a typo or other form of mistake in the book (actually, there's just one in the whole thing), or any other example of bad editing. Outside of Amazon, many have commented how good the writing is for this book. The writing is just the same as it is in this forum entry.
Check out
http://sdsliteraryagency.blogspot.co.uk/
, the agency's website. I tend to prefer trunacted URL's to the unsightly long ones.
I think I've covered everything - please note that I don't have time to debate things on here, particuarly with people who use unfortunate personal words like 'heck' and 'crap' (there is no place in the literary industry for such people, or any form of internet troll), but anyone can contact me direct at
[email protected]