Literary Agent Dumps Novel On Child Soldiers After Kony Media Campaign Eruption
After a literary agent dumps a new science-fiction novel due to the massive Kony 2012 campaign because it is based on child soldiers, the author decides to self-publish and garners significant attention.
- (1888PressRelease) March 30, 2012 - The first novel by R.S. Carter was still in editorial stages and set to be delivered to publishers within a month. The novel, STOLEN PAWNS, was initially completed in November of 2011. After submitting to literary agents, R.S. Carter landed a prominent N.Y. literary agent in January of this year.
They began to work on the project. Revisions and rewrites were initiated and completed. Then, in March of 2012, the entire world was captivated within days after the Kony 2012 video was uploaded to Youtube. As a repercussion, the project STOLEN PAWNS was yanked as it deals with child soldiers and Uganda is referenced within the pages.
"The book has absolutely nothing to do with Kony," says Carter. "It is science-fiction. I knew about the stories of Uganda and child soldiers prior to writing the book. It was what initially compelled me to write it."
The literary agent felt that some may perceive the novel to be a commercial gain on the Ugandan situation even though the problems no longer exist. Although she loved the novel, she decided to separate herself from the project as there was no written contractual agreement.
The novel STOLEN PAWNS is a science-fiction, young adult novel about 11,000 teenagers who are abducted by another world to help them fight in a war. The children are brainwashed with drugs and trained to become war-hungry murderers.
"It baffles me. As I said, the book is science-fiction and completely unrelated. And I would think that any media awareness on a related subject would be good press."
Immediately after the novel was dumped, Carter decided not to seek representation again and moved towards self-publishing.
"I posted STOLEN PAWNS on Amazon as a Kindle download. The soft cover will be available shortly."
While posting the novel on Amazon, Carter initiated a two-day free trial run. The novel reached number eight on Amazon on the very first day in its genre. A video trailer for the book was produced by Carter and uploaded onto Youtube. Within one day, a 20th Century Fox producer wrote to Carter and inquired about movie rights.
"I should have tried self-publishing back in November," says Carter. "STOLEN PAWNS is getting to be very popular. The plot is completely unique, it's riveting."
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