You Don't Have to be Trash to be Trashed

All writers with unplaced novels would be crowing with vindication if they weren't looking for the knives to slit their wrists after reading Carole Cadwalladr's Observer account of her visit to the Frankfurt Book Fair.

One gloomy publisher-turned-agent tells her:

'If you're not in a three-for-two or Richard & Judy, forget it ... Borders and Tesco have squeezed [publishers] so much that they've become completely risk-averse. It really is down to what sales and marketing think these days. And, frankly, there's no point selling to a publisher if they can't get enthusiastic about it - you might as well chuck it in the bin.