Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed By Clive Cussler with Craig ...

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Merkel soon took care of that chore, and before long Spencer had me acting as dive master on diving
expeditions to Santa Catalina. I had many fun experiences with those three fine men that are related in the
bookThe Sea Hunters .
After a few weeks, they put me in charge of the store while Spencer was working other duties. I'd
carry my portable typewriter with me when I opened the doors in the morning and write at a card table
behind the counter when business was slow, usually in the afternoons. A little over a year later, I finished
Mediterranean Caper , bid a fond farewell to the dive shop and returned to the unscrupulous world of
advertising.
Having received nothing but rejection letters onPacific Vortex , most of them printed forms, and with
the manuscript of my second book in hand, I figured that now was as good a time as any to find an agent.
I've told the following story more times than Judy Garland sang "Over the Rainbow," but here goes.
Working in TV production in Hollywood, I knew a number of people at theatrical casting agencies but
no literary agents. Gathering the names of twenty-five literary agents in New York from the casting
people, I set about contacting them one by one. Having an idea about the competition and how many
manuscripts agents and editors receive in a week-anywhere from thirty to sixty-I wisely concluded that I
had to beat the odds somehow.
I bought a thousand sheets of blank stationery and a thousand envelopes and had the art director of
the ad agency where I was working design a logo and specify the type. Then I went to a printer and had
him print the stationery and envelopes so that they read "The Charles Winthrop Agency." For an address,
I used my parents' since they lived in a ritzier neighborhood than mine. Next, I wrote to the first name on
the list, which happened to be Peter Lampack, who was with the William Morris Agency in Manhattan.
The letter read:
"Dear Peter:
As you know, I primarily handle motion picture and television screenplays; however, I've run
across a pair of book-length manuscripts which I think have a great deal of potential.
I would pursue them, but I am retiring soon.