Jan Scherpenhuizen
"Jan Scherpenhuizen was a vital link in my journey to becoming a published author. My first contact with Jan was in 2005, when he was the director of Lynk Manuscript Assessment Service. He personally assessed two of my novel manuscripts, one of which became my first published novel, Mishaps (Random House, Australia). Working with Jan on my manuscripts helped me achieve the level of polish my writing required to be noticed by a major publisher, and in acting as my agent he made sure my manuscript stood out from the crowd. Throughout the time I have known Jan, he has impressed me with his approachability and his knowledge of the publishing industry. As an assessor, he was consistently encouraging and positive about my work, while never losing sight of the reality of how difficult the task of getting a novel published can be. " Nansi Kunse author of Mishaps and Dangerous Places (both Random House)
A Lifelong Love of Books and Art Jan Scherpenhuizen is the Director of Possible Press. Jan understands what it is like to be an aspiring author and/or artist. He developed a passion for drawing when he discovered what crayons were. His early years were dominated by an obsession with cartoons and animation. Through his school years a love of reading grew, dominated by Enid Blyton and Marvel Comics at primary school. During high school the love of comics only deepened though Enid Blyton was replaced by Science Fiction and literary works like Capricornia and Catch 22. Jan had always created his own stories. At first these were scripts for his comic book stories and he only dabbled in prose fiction until his university days which began when he was 24 and a mature-age student. Along with his studies in Philosophy and Literature, Jan studied creative writing and achieved excellent results which encouraged him to continue his efforts.
Jan's most recent published work is the graphic novel The Time of the Wolves a compilation of the first 6 issue of his comic book series The Twilight Age published by Black House Comics. Sharing Knowledge In his efforts to progress his own career, Jan has not only worked tirelessly on developing his creative talents but also on making himself an expert on the publishing industry. He has become the friend and associate of many authors, illustrators and professionals in publishing who have shared their knowledge with him. In turn he has done what he can to pass on his knowledge to those who can benefit from it. The Assessment Industry An important development in Jan’s transition from student to mentor was his entrance into the assessment industry in 1997. Jan began assessing manuscripts for Lynk Manuscript Assessment Service. He soon became one of the services’ most valued assessors as well as the most prolific. Jan’s assessments were notable for their insight and thoroughness and were frequently double the length of the average assessment. Finding Gold While a freelancer he worked on Anthony O Neil’s manuscript Scheherazade. Jan was so impressed with this manuscript that he wrote a ‘recommendation to publish’ along with his assessment. O’Neil’s ms was bid for strongly by a number of major publishers and sold for a record-breaking advance. He has since had another four novels published and his work has been translated into a total of 14 languages. Running Lynk In 2004 Jan started working for all the major assessment agencies where he was much in demand and did assessments full time. Six months later Jan bought Lynk from Liat Kirby who was willing to entrust to him the business which she had built such an excellent reputation for. As the Director of Lynk, having had much success selecting publishable manuscripts, Jan decided to add the services of agent to the business as well as continuing to assess and work as an editor on selected mss. |
Jan Scherpenhuizen Published Works Jan began doing freelance illustration while studying, doing two dozen book covers for Bolinda Press. In 1989 Ghost Gum Press published a series of children's books he wrote and illustrated: Wild and Crazy Dinosaurs. Since then his short stories, comic book work and illustrations have appeared in a number of publications in Australia and the USA from publishers including Bambada Press, Moonstone Comics, Sequence Comics, Apollo Press, Hinkler Books and Marvel Comics. He has also done corporate illustration work for companies such as the electronics giant Philips. In 2004 Cloud Nine Media group published his junior fiction novel The Secret (co-plotted with Bruce Walshe).
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In Demand While Lynk used only well-qualified assessors Jan found that clients were, in general, most pleased with those assessments he did himself. He found many clients requesting his personal services (although he had done the work anonymously) and eventually wound up doing the lion's share of the assessing himself to ensure his clients received the best service possible. Tough Times in the Industry The agent aspect of the work, however, did not go particularly well. The market for fiction by new authors had so contracted by that time that many agents who were well-established had ceased to represent fiction authors. Out of eight manuscripts that Jan chose to represent, he could only find a publisher for one, Mishaps by Nansi Kunse. While Mishaps is an excellent book its eventual publication was also due to it being in a genre which is still relatively vigorous – junior fiction. The other mss Jan represented were equally excellent. It was merely due to the contraction of the industry that he could not place them. The Schumann Frequency This was underlined by Jan's experience with The Schumann Frequency which Jan worked on through a number of drafts with the author Christopher Ride before deeming it of a publishable standard and agreeing to agent the ms. It was rejected by all the major publishers in Australia (though Hachette Livre came close to accepting). Mr Ride, however, is a man of means and backed his own ms financially. It went into the Australian bestseller lists. Then Random House who had rejected the ms like everyone else offered to reprint under their own banner and release the sequel The Last Boxer, and Mr Ride found himself a professional author with a major publishing house. Taking a Break Finding all of this very unsatisfying Jan decided to leave the assessment industry until he could do something to help authors beyond the point of making their manuscript publishable. There didn't seem to be any point in getting mss ready for publication if no one was willing to get behind them – unless you had written a brilliant junior fiction novel or had the money to make a success of your book before they took it on. Jan focused on his own creative work. His novel Profile of Evil was picked up by major literary agent Cameron Creswell but they were unable to place it. He had more success with his efforts with the graphic novel The Time of the Wolves which he wrote and drew. The project was picked up by new publisher Black House Comics. Having finished this major creative project Jan decided it was time for him to put into effect his long-term plan to enter publishing. Possible Press Possible Press is seen as an opportunity for Jan to once again offer his abilities as an assessor, mentor, editor and agent but to offer more possibilities to authors who have been through the process than he could before. Possible Press is dedicated to discovering superior fiction and helping its authors find publication. Possible Press is based on the old-fashioned model of publishing where the publisher enters into a partnership with the author to help them with their career and see it develop gradually if that is what it takes. |
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