#getting published

[marlynnofmany]

I just heard another writer trying to figure out which self-publishing route to take, and all I'll say is that I'm glad I found Draft2Digital. (More accurately, I'm grateful to my more knowledgeable writer friends who told me about it a couple years ago.) I don't even use the free services as much now that I've learned to do fancy formatting etc on my own, but it sure is nice that the option is there.

TL;DR: you upload a manuscript, they make it presentable and available everywhere from Amazon to your local bookstore, and they charge you zero dollars, only taking a cut of the profits they helped you make. A small cut.

They are run by Writer People who want to help other Writer People succeed, and it shows.

[gaywizardemporium]

I FUCKING DID IT I SUBMITTED MY MANUSCRIPT LET'S FUCKING GO

[inks-books]

HI YES HELLO IT'S HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY BOOK IS BEING PUBLISHED THIS MONTH AND I AM EXCITED!!!!!!! Please order it and tell me what you think!!! It'll be available for Preorder on February 8th 2024, and the paperback will be released on February 10th 2024. Both will be available on Amazon and Kindle.

The story is called Curiosity Killed the Elf by (me) I. N. Knight and the synopsis is as follows:

When Princess Allonwë finds a bracelet in a secret chamber that isn't supposed to exist, she thinks nothing of it until a haunted suit of armor comes to life and tries to kill her. Narrowly escaping, she loses the bracelet in a bet before finding out it was a weapon of mass destruction. Deciding to go on an adventure to get it back, Allonwë must hurry and retrieve it before her parents find out it was her that lost it in the first place and ground her for a millennia.

Join the princess and her bodyguard, Natanael, on their adventure as they battle talking dragons, confront a conspiracy theorist elf that might not be as crazy as he sounds, and deal with a persistent chicken that will just not leave them the cluck alone. Together they face the archmage and necromancer who has a plan for the bracelet once he gets his hands on it. But can Allonwë and Natanael survive these encounters or are they in far over their heads?

*~*~*

I would LOVE to have your support and feedback to help an indie author just get their foot in the door for bigger and brighter things!!!

[emilyzipps]

i've heard about query letters for trying to get a publisher or agent for a book. can you explain what goes in those? do you have any tips? can you send a query before the book is finished?

A query is the name for what is essentially the application for finding an agent who wants to represent your book, or for a small publisher (who does not require agents) to acquire your book. The verb form is "querying," as in, "jesus fucking christ i hate querying so much."

The most important thing to do is make sure you're researching the submission guidelines for whoever you're submitting to. Almost all submissions will require sample pages and a query letter, which is essentially a cover letter for your book. Some will also require a synopsis and/or other stuff. Make sure you submit exactly what they ask for!

If you're writing a query letter, I would be happy to look at it and give you my (random one lady's) opinion. Just either plop it in my inbox (I'll respond publicly) or tag me in a post with it. This is the hardest part for sure, so it's okay to need help! If I'd gotten help on my first query, wow it would have been SO MUCH better omg.

For fiction: I would NOT query unless the project is not only finished, but edited. Best case, the agent/publisher likes the sample pages and asks you for the full manuscript. You need to be able to provide that instantly. I would say, get the book as close to done as you possibly can on your own. Query after alpha and beta readers, after doing as much editing as you can for free. Don't pay for an editor, but give them as polished a manuscript as you can.

Non-fiction often sells on proposal. Those are quite different and I know less about that!

Sample Pages

Some agents/publishers want the first 10 pages. Some the first 50. Some the first 3 chapters. Some the first 5k words. Send whatever they say they want, and don't get cute with it. When they say x number of pages, they mean double spaced, times new roman or similar standard font, one inch margins. If you're attaching a word document: include a header that has the book title and your name, plus page numbers in the footer. A google doc is not sufficient here, needs to be word. Sometimes they will ask for this to be pasted directly into the body of the email instead of attached. In that case, format your document into being double spaced, and then copy and paste that into the email body. Don't try to fudge their guidelines. They always mean (unless they explicitly say otherwise, which I've never seen) the first 10-50 pages. If you think your sample is better starting from page 70, too bad! If you have a prologue, include it (or cut it from the manuscript).

Query Letter

This is the hardest part of querying or submitting by far. Everyone struggles with these so don't feel bad if your first one or three or nineteen drafts suck. Essentially, the role of the query letter is to make the agent/editor excited about your premise, optimistic about your prose, and confident that you understand your genre and the book publishing marketplace. If you say things like "no one has ever written a book like this!" for example, they will know that you don't actually know a lot about books or publishing, because that's basically never going to be true. You want to sound clear, concise, interesting, talented, and normal to work with.

The basic format looks like this: Salutation, meta data with little hook, plot summary up through the climax, about you, the end. The whole thing should be 400 words or under.

In detail:

Dear Agent/Editor [spell their name correctly omg], I'm pleased to send you THE GILMORE GIRLS [your title is always in all caps], an 80,000 word book club women's fiction novel about a mother and daughter who act more like best friends--for better and for worse--that will appeal to fans of [comparable title, or comps. give 2 that are recent books (last 5 years) in your genre that did well but aren't mega famous. Don't comp Emily Henry or Sally Rooney, think more Ashley Herring Blake, format these book titles in Caps Every Word and Italics]. I am sending this to you due your interest in [something personal about them, like they are seeking stories about complex women in family dynamics or whatever. Do your research on their publicly stated wish list, change this for each place/person, don't be a creep like "based on the pictures of your child i found on your private instagram"]. [this paragraph is where you summarize the book. you can go up to the climax. If the book is in dual POV, introduce both POVs here]. Lorelai Gilmore's life is finally on track. It took a long time to get her feet under her and establish herself in her career, life, and home after having a kid at sixteen, but now at 32, she's finally found her rhythm. Her daughter, Rory, is a brilliant kid, Lorelai runs the inn she used to clean, and she lives in the cutest, oddest town in Connecticut, Stars Hallow. But when Rory gets into a prestigious private school, but isn't offered any financial aid, Lorelai realizes the only way to help Rory have the best life possible is to borrow money from her extremely wealthy and controlling parents--the ones she ran away from when Rory was only a baby. Lorelai will have to decide between her own happiness and autonomy and Rory's future--a future that's put into question when Rory starts caring more about a new guy in town than school, and Lorelai's own boy problems threaten to destabilize everything she's built in Stars Hallow. [about me] I have a degree in creative writing from Tumblr University. I live in California and spend my time walking my dog and gardening. [if you have published anything else, put it here. otherwise, just wrap it up]. GILMORE GIRLS will be my debut novel. Thank you very much for your time, and I hope to hear from you, Your Name

This example is only 270 words, so you can see there's a bit more room for expanding on the plot.

I think a good way to get a sense of if your query is working is have someone read it who has NOT read the book and does NOT know what it's about. The query is usually the first thing an agent/editor will read. Ask your friend, does this make sense? Ask them to tell the plot back to you -- if they're wrong, then you'll know what needs to change. Ask them, what do you think the central question of the book is? Who is the protagonist? When and where is it set? How many POVs are there? What is the vibe or mood going to be like? If they can't answer any of those questions, then put that info in your query.

[writerystuff]

Don't give up.

[lightthewaybackhome]

So, my book—Stoneheart—is going to be republished this year! Yay! It's all shiny and new, and we've worked so hard on developing so many things. I truly love the story @alana-k-asby and I have written. In light of this, I'll be sharing quotes, vibes, aesthetics, and more about my writing, along side my love of homemaking, Tolkien, Band of Brothers, SGA, Leverage, and more!

Later this year our fantasy western adventure story will be available!

[pennavnprojects]

Know Your Genre At my writing club a few weeks ago, we talked about Genre. I was SUPER surprised to learn that book queries often fail because the author doesn’t properly represent or pitch to their genre - What!?! I didn’t believe it until I started looking up more about this. Here, I too did not actually know what my genre was! And apparently, books generally cannot be marketed as two genres. Who knew! Check out this video, courtesy of BookEnds Literary Agency. They post great content!

[ghostmarmot]

I keep expecting a "gotcha!" but one of my stories has been accepted! Check out The Sirens Call Spring issue for my short story, "The Garden Way"

[gollancz]

Heya, this is probably just in my head cause I've been typing up a story, but I've been writing books for years but have no clue how publishing works so other than typing one up out of my notebooks and currently working on typing up another nothing gets done with them.

If I wanted to like submit a novel to Gollancz to see if you'd publish it would I need like a writing agent or something?

Hi there! Congratulations on all your writing! Getting started is the hardest part, followed by actually finishing the dang thing (and then followed by whichever bit of editing the author is currently on and therefore hating the most)

We are occasionally open to unsolicited/unagented submissions, however as we are still (shamefully) working through our last batch - thanks to a grave underestimating of how many we would get, and overestimating of how much time we had around everything else - I can't say for certain when we plan to re-open them.

That said, even for authors we pick up through unagented submissions, we would generally recommend that they look into getting a literary agent, and often will refer them to agents we work with regularly! This is for a number of reasons that will benefit both you and us:

Your agent will have a broader knowledge of your genre pool, and be able to submit your work to editors within the field more broadly. If they've been around a while, they'll also have a sense of what each editor's tastes are so they know where it's worthwhile to try.

Your agent should be your biggest champion. They should have a good knowledge of publishing contracts, so they understand what's standard to be asked, and what is unusual. That helps manage expectations for both the author and the publisher in negotations.

They will act as a relationship buffer: when your book is acquired, it'll be based on passion and excitement, and - particularly if you're a debut author - it can be very hard to bring up things you're uncomfortable with for fear of rocking the boat or damaging the relationship with your editor. Your agent gets the lovely job of being able to be the person who can communicate any concerns or things you're upset with directly to your editor, without you having to feel like you have to throw your toys out of the pram directly. The nature of a go-between might feel like a bit of a game of Telephone, but it's actually really valuable to also take a step back from the situation and can often take the panic out of discussions. (Note: You should NEVER be in a situation where you feel like your editor is making you uncomfortable or that they wouldn't take feedback well, however the relationships between authors and editors and agents and editors are very different)

They can focus on the business administration side of things while you get to focus on the fun bit of actually being creative!

There are loads of ways you can pitch to agents - whether it's through one of the many pitching events (PitchWars, PitMad, specific pitching hashtags on twitter etc.), through writing competitions (The Future Worlds Prize is one we're directly involved with for unrepresented British SFF writers of colour) or as a direct submission. If you are submitting directly to an agent, make sure that you check:

Are they open to submissions?

Do they represent books in your area?

What are their submission guidelines?

Most agents will get inundated with submissions - more than it's feasible to read! And if you aren't in their genre, or don't follow their submission guidelines, it's a quick way to get your work disregarded without it even being looked at. Check out Manuscript wishlists, agent websites, and agents' social media to see what's going on!

On tumblr, @literaticat has a wonderful 'Ask the Agent' blog and I really recommend it. Agents on twitter often run AMAs as well, depending on what else is happening, so keep an eye out there.

I hope this is helpful! I'm always happy to answer publishing and writing questions, and good luck with your writing!

[alinacapellabooks]

I just sent The Tengu And The Angel off to be formatted. It's almost ready for publication now. I'm this close to being an actual published author, and I'm so excited I could burst. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[marlynnofmany]

My friends put together an anthology of stories inspired by the Major Arcana tarot, and it just came out! I'm very excited. There are so many good stories in this, some of which will stick with me for a long time. And I got to contribute three stories, which I'm delighted about!

It's on Amazon as both a paperback and an ebook. As the summary says, you can read the stories in order, "or perhaps take out your own tarot deck and let the cards decide your fate..."

(Mine are Wheel of Fortune, Justice, and The Lovers.)

(AKA, my take on the idea of a second-generation portal fantasy; something inspired by the "desperate cleric slamming healing spells," and what happens when your reincarnating soulmate gets harder to find as the population grows.)

[haru-kuneko]

I also had similar experiences and am so lucky to have started publishing online when I was already an adult who could tell if something is sus! Still, I was a bit naive and in my early 20's who one day got a DM from someone claiming to be an editor on Wattpad (this was in 2020). When I tried asking for any further info, they never responded.

A few others claim to work from some publishing company only for me to struggle finding any official website, where they're based at and who worked for them. Their e-mails were already a huge giveaway because of the grammar, typo and the fact it's a single individual reaching out to me instead of "Hey! We're [insert company name here] from [insert country here] ... Here are the details of the contract!"

Seriously, why do they want me to give away my rights to my IP and make it exclusive? Why are these guys reaching out to me when I'm still in the midst of finishing my novels? I'm like "YEAH NO!" and blocked them as a huge middle finger.

Also, NEVER SIGN A CONTRACT IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE WORDS! HIRE A LAWYER WHO CAN HELP EXPLAIN IT TO YOU IF YOU CAN! EDUCATE YOURSELF ON COPYRIGHT LAWS!

This is why I would state in my numerous books on Wattpad that unless there's any trustworthy publisher who is trustworthy, I'd rather stick as an indie author so I'm sure to keep the rights to them and market them in any way I want.

I cannot emphasize enough how much you need to read thoroughly through the terms of any publication before you send your writing to them. It is mandatory that you know and understand what rights you’re giving away when you’re trying to get published.

Just the other day I was emailed by a relatively new indie journal looking for writers. They made it very clear that they did not pay writers for their work, so I figured I’d probably be passing, but I took a look at their Copyright policy out of curiosity and it was a nightmare. They wanted “non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide license and right to use, display, reproduce, distribute, and publish the Work on the internet and on or in any medium” (that’s copy and pasted btw) and that was the first of 10 sections on their Copyright agreement page. Yikes. That’s exactly the type of publishing nightmare you don’t want to be trapped in. 

Most journals will ask for “First North American Rights” or a variation on “First Rights” which operate under the assumption that all right revert back to you and they only have the right to be the first publishers of the work. That is what you need to be looking for because you do want to retain all the rights to your work. 

You want all rights to revert back to you upon publication in case you, say, want to publish it again in the future or use it for a bookmark or post it on your blog, or anything else you might want to do with the writing you worked hard on. Any time a publisher wants more than that, be very suspicious. Anyone who wants to own your work forever and be able to do whatever they want with it without your permission is not to be trusted. Anyone who wants all that and wants you to sign away your right to ever be paid for your work is running a scam.

Protect your writing. It’s not just your intellectual property, it’s also your baby. You worked hard on it. You need to do the extra research to protect yourself so that a scammer (or even a well meaning start up) doesn’t steal you work right from under you nose and make money off of it.

[inks-books]

Me preparing for bad reviews if I ever get published.

[charbroiledchicken]

if it's good enough for you, then it deserves to be made. don't let anyone else decide if your story is worth it or not.

[sleepy-bebby]

There’s a scientific journal called “Get me off Your Fucking Mailing List”.

In 2005, computer scientists David Mazières and Eddie Kohler created this highly profane ten-page paper as a joke, to send in replying to unwanted conference invitations. It literally just contains that seven-word phrase over and over, along with a nice flow chart and scatter-plot graph.

An Australian computer scientist named Peter Vamplew sent it to the International Journal of Advanced Computer Technology in response to spam from the journal. Apparently, he thought the editors might simply open and read it.

Instead, they automatically accepted the paper — with an anonymous reviewer rating it as “excellent” — and requested a fee of $150. While this incident is pretty hilarious, it’s a sign of a bigger problem in science publishing. This journal is one of many online-only, for-profit operations that take advantage of inexperienced researchers under pressure to publish their work in any outlet that seems superficially legitimate.

[everyonesfavoritebard]

@southfarthing you are absolutely correct and you should say it louder

I'm imagining if tolkien lived now and publishers were asking him if he had enough followers on twitter and if he could film videos to market his found family elfcore magic cottagevibes worldbuilding fantasy book on tiktok. i think he would run them over with his car actually