Anybody here in the book publishing business?

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

 

Really simple question.   Anyone here work for a company that publishes SF/Fantasy novels?   I've written six of them and am working on a seventh.   I'd really like to sell them to a publisher.

Figured there's no harm in asking.

[Duffield, SASS #23454]

Get a literary agent.  He will sell the books for you.

 

Duffield

[Cholla]

I sold a non-fiction book two years ago and I approached the publisher myself, but I had been writing magazine articles for them for a few years so we had a relationship already.

 

In theory, Duffield is correct. Agents are supposed to get you more money. I used to write fiction twenty-five years ago and had an agent at that time. She did absolutely no good. Then I got another agent and he sold absolutely nothing. I finally started approaching editors on my own.

 

Do not waste your money on Writer's Market or any other magazines that claim to have markets for your writing.

 

My advice is to research who publishes the type and length of stories you are writing and check out their website. They often have a writer's guideline that explains exactly what they want and how they want it. Follow it.

 

I personally know a few editors and they are like hummingbirds; you have about five seconds of their attention. If you have not crossed every t and dotted every i on what they want, they move on to the next guy in line. I have been in several science fiction anthologies. Each one only had twenty-three stories and the editor had five-thousand stories to wade through for each one.

 

Good luck.

[Blackwater 53393]

Check with Charlie McNiel

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

11 hours ago, Duffield, SASS #23454 said:

Get a literary agent.  He will sell the books for you.

 

Duffield

 

Well, you see, that's part of the problem.   Agents who will handle SF/F will consider taking you on as a client if...

 

1.  One of their existing clients refers you to them.

2.  You have a proven record of selling short stories

3.  You've already sold the book yourself and you hire them to do the negotiation.

 

Add to this that of all the publishers of SF/F, only 2 will consider a submission from someone without an agent.   The reality is that it has become almost a closed community.   In the realm of "genre fiction" it is the hardest to break into.   After 30 years of trying, this is the reality I have discovered.  So, I figured I'd ask here if anybody knows anybody.   A long shot to be sure, but nothing to lose by taking it.  (See, that's a metaphor!   I can write creatively!)

[Duffield, SASS #23454]

Contact International Creative Management in New York and ask if any of their agents is willing to take you on as a client.

It can't hurt to ask.

 

Duffield

[J-BAR #18287]

Try contacting Michael Z. Williamson through his blog site for advice.  He continues to publish successfully. I would urge you to read Freehold and several other of his novels in preparation.   Better have a thick skin and be able to withstand criticism.

 

http://www.michaelzwilliamson.com/blog/

 

 

[Utah Bob #35998]

It's tough. Very tough

 

[Charlie MacNeil, SASS #48580]

9 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

Check with Charlie McNiel

Thanks for the referral, Blackwater, but I don't do what he's looking for. I am in the business of facilitating self-publishing; I don't have the means and resources to buy an author's manuscripts and publish and promote them. If self-publishing is something the OP would be interested in, I'd be happy to discuss it with him.

 

Stay safe, y'all!

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

11 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

Check with Charlie McNiel

Yep.