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The Times - How A Laydee showed that First Impressions really are misleading

A frustrated author has confirmed what other unpublished writers have long suspected: even Jane Austen would have difficulty finding a book deal in the 21st Century.

But what really astonished David Lassman was that only one of 18 publishers and literary agents recognised her work when it was submitted to them under a false name.

Mr Lassman, 43, had spent months trying without success to find a publisher for his own novel Freedom’s Temple. Out of frustration – and to test whether today’s publishers could spot great literature – he retyped the opening chapters of three Austen classics: Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

He changed only the titles, the names of the characters and his own name – calling himself Alison Laydee, after Austen’s early pseudonym “A Lady” – then waited for the offers to roll in.

Instead he received yet another sheaf of rejection letters, including one from Penguin, which republished Pride and Prejudice last year, describing his plagarised chapters as “a really original and interesting read” but not right for Penguin.

That was one of the gentler rejections. But Mr Lassman said: “Penguin neither requested to see the rest of the novel nor did they recognise a work they already publish.

How many times have we heard this story? It’s been done at least twice before, people sending in manuscripts of famous novels, with fewer changes than this guy, and getting a bunch of form letters back. And then of course every time a new Harry Potter book or movie comes out we hear the “Ho ho ho, JK Rowling’s first agent thought the book would be a flop and rejected her! How droll!” No, not droll. That’s bad.