Last July, in frustration after two years of being given the run around in London, US of A and India by a series of agents eager to see the colour of your money first, yet glibly lying why you didn’t have a hope of approaching a published without ‘my approval of your mss’ and often, I managed to get a revised mss ‘Hello Again . . .’ published on this website. Sure, it hasn’t been a best seller, or even a big seller. I didn’t expect it to be any of those; just a turning of the door knob to get some recognition in a new field. After all, spending two thirds of lifetime writing about sports, mainly cricket since the late 1950s, may limit your scope, but fiction is different and presents a variety of interesting challenges. If you have a story, write it, even if some of it is based on factual events experienced. Working for newspapers you know your scribbles are going to get published, mulled over and views attacked; even a weekly ‘Wayfarer’ column earned notoriety not expected. But entering the realms of the ‘book agent market’ is fraught with so much dishonesty, you wonder how those you have initially contacted (“Contact me sometime and I’ll put out feelers for you,” was one comment) can look in the mirror each morning, unless it is with a Hansie Cronje type smirk when telling an assembly of sports hacks, news scribes, political analysing journalists and cricket writers to examine his bank account when confronted with his links with Indian bookmakers, as already exposed by Indian police. First come the promises, then the rejection, and rudeness and snob approach when tackled about how they would “look after your interests,” followed by the fabrication of a series of lies that politicians so often delve into with their “weapons of mass destruction” type rhetoric to fool the public into selling the Iraq war story, and in the hope the authors will disappear from their radar. Indians take a different approach. On checking the facts about www.abook2read.com and the book on their list along with author’s nameplate, five agents showed a genuine interest and taking the plunge with one of them, he agreed to read a reworked MSS and although it was several weeks before he did get back, it was with advice and help as well as an editor eager to ‘polish’ the MSS. He is the honest sort, not a serial fibber you get in England (or US) unless you are prepared to pay a fee. This had been despite reading a pile of MSS submitted daily by email (mostly) and post. “We read all material sent to us as there are so many stories to tell,” Jayaprakash (not his real name) said. “It amazing what you find. We had three books (names withheld) last year (2008), and they have been published here in India with success. Presently, with two other pressing projects needing attention, the one submitted to the agent is still awaiting attention. Yet he has sent a couple of reminders that he is waiting to get the revised version. How different to arrogant and egotistical attitude from so many others. Yet, realising the value of this eBook site to sell books in a tough market, you learn there is life in semi-retirement, but don’t believe that after almost fifty-five years of the trade, retirement, even partially, is not an option. My aim is to get the next two books on to the site, and then tackle the third one. There are four other MSS needing attention as well. Getting into print is one thing, getting it accepted as an eBook gives a good feeling as the tough world of the internet shows this. At least with www.abook2read.com , there are no agents with a list of excuses to fib and fob you off.