A new theory

So I sent off submission #3 this week, to another local NZ publisher. When going through all the local publishers' lists, again, a new theory on why I'm being rejected hit me. (This is of course the back up theory, firmly behind the 'my book sucks' theory)

All of the books on the local lists seem to have some kind of reference to NZ in them - they're set here, or feature NZers in other parts of the world. As you may imagine from my literary tastes, my book is firmly set in England and has no connections to NZ whatsoever (except for the fact that I live here!).

So now I am researching UK agents. The publisher I would most like to target there does take unsolicited submissions, but not by email. The international reply coupon thing is just too complicated, so I am opting to contact agents who accept email queries.

Hopefully this will shed some light on which theory is correct...