The book is finished what should I do

[jackokent]

There is so much experience on this site I would really grateful for some help with my next step and have the following questions:

1) Publisher or Agent; what should I go for first?

2) What are unsolicited manuscripts? Most people don't seem to want these.

2) I am assuming, once I've found one or other to target I contact them and ask what exactly they want in a sumbission. Is this the case?

3) Any other tips would be gratefully received. I know there is a lot already in this site but some of it is conflicting and it's really hard to sort or what works and what hasn't.

 

[Brian G Turner]

First of all, make full sure you understand what submission guidelines are, and how they apply individually.

I highly recommend you buy Carol Blake's "From Pitch to Publication" to get a better idea of the submissions process (she's with one of the UK's major literary agencies).

Secondly, it may be worth hiring an editor to look at your first couple of chapters, to help you make them submission quality. A book isn't finished until it's of submissions standard, and far far far too many writers think that finishing writing the words means the book is finished - when it isn't. You need to be absolutely sure you've not fallen for simple writing pitfalls such as passive verbs and overuse of adverbs. If you have, you need to rewrite.
If you are sure that you've reached a polished standard, and you have third-party validation of this, then read the submission guidelines again, just in case you forgot.

Then look to submit to literary agents - do it on an exclusive basis. I'd recommend against sending to publishers, because it can be months before they reject/accept your manuscript, and an agent will do this faster, leaving you able to submit to different agencies in turn.

Also - make sure you submit to the right agencies - science fiction/fantasy tends to be a specialist niche and there's usually only a minority of agencies who will look to actively accept and promote SFF novels.

And whatever you do, try to look *professional* about your submissions. Carol Blake's book should help a lot there.

Also - don't get disheartened - the odds are against you, so you need to think less as an artist as much as a business person promoting a product. Sometimes the markets simply aren't right - but if there's one thing agencies underline it's that the majority of submissions they get are sub-standard and unprofessional - beat these two pitfalls and you're already 90% there.

And if you keep failing, then the likelihood is that there are issues with your writing that you need to deal with - this is where an editor before submission should be able to help point out any glowing mistakes. And don't get cheap about hiring an editor either - if you're serious about writing, you should be serious about investing in your writing future.

2c - hope it helps.

 

[Susan Boulton]

Make sure your story is ready to go. By that I mean it has been edited to within an inch of its life. Nitpicked and gleaned for errors. Left unlooked at for a couple of months, then returned too and edited again. You must submit the best possible version of your work.


I would suggest you get a copy of the Writers' and Artists' Year book. This lists agents and publishers world wide, it also has some useful sections with regards to submissions.

I would also suggest you go with submitting to an agent. Each year less and less publishers are running a slush pile for unsolicited manuscripts. (which means, but the way, manuscripts that are sent in by the writer, not through an agent, not solicited by the publisher).

Read the agents info carefully, they will state what they require for a submission. They will also state what type of fictional work they will take on (though I have found some agents will read outside this, if the work is exceptional.)Also check which writers the agent you are submitting to already represents. If these writers produce work in a similar vein to yours then they are a good bet to approach.

This site has some good infro about the submitting process.

http://www.bloomsbury.com/WritersArea/Get_Published.asp

Approach the whole process on a business footing, keep your accompanying letter short and to the point. Make sure the synopsis you include with your work adheres to the agents requested length.

Always include return postage, i.e. a self addressed envelope that will fit your submission. (Oh at present 50 pages draft format i.e double spaced, plus a two page synopsis and a covering letter is costing £1.20 lol)

Work on the one returned, one out process. I keep a folder with copies of my covering letters and the subsequent rejection for each of my submissions.

Update your submission letter regularly to include any short story sales and/or awards you might win for writing.

The submissions editor at the agency you are applying to could change (names are a nice touch) make sure you have the current on your letter.

Be prepared for the long haul. I, at present, have totalled nine rejections for my current effort since Christmas. Some standard form letters, some personal ones. One a near miss. Remember what an agent likes is subjective, once you reach a certain level of competence with your writing, they will go with what they believe they can sell. One might love your work, another hate it. It is just finding the right one to take a risk on your work. Also remember an agent will take on only a few new authors each year. There are a lot of good writers chasing just a few places.

 

[jackokent]

Brian and SJAB

Many many thanks for the advice. This is extremely helpful. Funnily enough I bought the Carole Blake book but her advice doesn't seem to always correspond with the experience of some of the published authors on this site.

I am very interest to hear you recomend an editor. This is helpful. I actually finished 2 books a couple of years ago and have been editing and re-writing ever since. Since finding this site I decided I had to stop and take the next step with at least one of them. I don't suppose you have any recomendations for editors do you. I haven't a clue.

Just as aside Brian, I don't think I would have ever reached this stage if I hadn't stumbled across this truly incredible site. I can't thank you and else everyone, enough for all your kind help and advice.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

A solicited manuscript is one an editor has already agreed to look at -- either because an agent has prepared the way, or because a query letter or proposal was sent and the editor wrote back to say "send me the rest," or because the editor is already familiar with the writer's work. An unsolicited manuscript is everything else.

As a previously unpublished writer, the only way to avoid falling into this category is by submitting through an agent, or sending a query letter or synopsis to an editor at a publishing house that still accepts unagented submissions (and then receiving a favorable response).

You probably don't have to contact an agent or publishing house to get their submissions guidelines. There are books and magazines that list the various houses, what they publish, and what they look for in a submission, and some of these include listings for agents. But if an agent or a publisher has a website, you can probably find the information there, and it's likely to be more up-to-date.

Whatever submissions guidelines they give you, follow those, no matter what you may read elsewhere. There is a standard manuscript format, but details like the length of the synopsis, how many sample chapters they want to look at, etc. will differ.

I am going to contradict what Brian says about getting your manuscript pre-edited. This can be expensive, many of these editing services are little better than scams (and reputable freelance editors are in high demand), and you need to learn how to edit your own work, not pay someone else to do it for you. Try to find a good writers group -- by which I mean one that has been established for a while, and has a mix of aspiring writers and professionals, one that is neither too kind in its assessments nor too harsh to be constructive. A private critique group (not an open online group like the critiques group here, which can only look at your work in bits and pieces) where the members will look at your entire manuscript and not just correct your mistakes but explain and offer alternative suggestions. You may have to shop around before you find such a group, but it will cost you nothing (except the price of copying), and you will learn.

Frankly, I don't know any professional writers who use (or at least who admit to using) editorial services, but I know many who will continue on with a good critique group even after they have multiple publishing credits, because they find the input so valuable.

 

[jackokent]

Again, many many thanks Kelpie.

I have to say, even the critiquing on this site has been wonderfully useful. Looking at other people's work has been quite humbling but also a very useful discpline for critquing my own.

I do have the problem of knowing when I should stop editing. Every re-read seems to invite a change and I'm starting to wonder if I'm not now making things worse.

 

[GrownUp]

Here's an odd thing. When I look up the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook on Amazon, it claims that it was written by Terry Pratchett.

Has he written a forward, do you think? Could that explain it?

Or has the world of publishing been parodied in a Discworld way, and the results been so successful that they have replaced the original publishing reference text?

 

[GrownUp]

Oh wait. I read the comments section and had my question anwsered. It's much less humorous than it could have been.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Actually, I quite agree with Kelpie about getting your work well-critted - my point is more to get an editor at a *sample* - ie, 1-3 chapters, depending upon the length. If a professional freelance editor can spot something seriously flawed with that, better them than the agency that may simply bin it for that.

As for editors - you may find this topic helpful:
http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/10001-editors.html

My main reason for raising that point is that you're getting someone from within the industry to comment from an industry perspective. While there are crit groups who have very good levels of experience, sometimes it can seem hard to find and get involved with a group with the right level of professionalism.

Another point about an editor (and I am talking about professional freelancers here) - is that if you really do have a well polished work, it *may* just be possible to be the right person at the right place at the right time with it.

Also - Kelpie's right that you should be able to edit your own work - I don't know about anybody else, but coming out of a liberal education that saw grammar as an evil, I've been left pretty insecure about my own abilities to work with the technicalities of the English language. Perhaps that's as much from not having enough experience with high level crit groups, but no matter what standard of writing I feel I have accomplished, I would always be much happier to have someone who has worked in the SFF publishing industry to be able to comment on the appropriateness as they see of the manuscript from a SFF industry perspective.

2c again.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I have to say, even the critiquing on this site has been wonderfully useful. Looking at other people's work has been quite humbling but also a very useful discpline for critiquing my own.

The critiquing on this site can be very useful at a certain stage -- but it won't help you get a book ready for publication. To address issues like characterization, plot structure, pacing, etc. -- as well as to point out those errors that you tend to repeat -- people have to be able to read large chunks of your writing. There are so many things that make more sense (or no sense) in context, and context is just what is lacking in a small excerpt.

There is also the danger that the more enthusiastic critiquers will fall in love with your idea, start writing the rest of the story in their own heads, and end up responding to the book they imagine you are writing instead of the one you actually are.

(This happens sometimes in writers groups, too, but as critiquers can get a better idea of your writing from a larger sampling, you can get a better idea of what the critiquers are up to from a longer critique. It soon becomes evident who is reading your story and who is fantasizing their own story around your plot and characters.)

 

[Susan Boulton]

There is also the danger that the more enthusiastic critiquers will fall in love with your idea, start writing the rest of the story in their own heads, and end up responding to the book they imagine you are writing instead of the one you actually are.

And they get angry or upset because you are not following the path they want you too.

I also have found there is a danger in placing a work in such a group if it is not at least in a first rough draft. Mainly because you get bombarded with ideas and thoughts on how your story should progress, you can and do lose the path you want it to go on. Ideas and suggestions on the whole I welcome and have a few readers (who are also writers) who I trust to tell me when I am writing rubbish in various places, but I have gotten to the point where I am stubborn about the end of the journey my story is on.

In the end it is my story, my idea and I must sink or swim with that.


Brian;

I would just say that yes you need to present a well polished piece of work, but quite often a smoothly polished idea can be as dull as dish water. You need a good strong story to catch the agent's eye. Grammar and prose can be polished up, I have heard of a few agents that do editorial work with their clients prior to submission to a publisher. In the end so much of getting your work taken up is down to stubbornness, luck and the subjective opinion of the agent involved.

 

[Redhawk]

Actually, I quite agree with Kelpie about getting your work well-critted - my point is more to get an editor at a *sample* - ie, 1-3 chapters, depending upon the length. If a professional freelance editor can spot something seriously flawed with that, better them than the agency that may simply bin it for that.

As for editors - you may find this topic helpful:
http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/10001-editors.html

My main reason for raising that point is that you're getting someone from within the industry to comment from an industry perspective. While there are crit groups who have very good levels of experience, sometimes it can seem hard to find and get involved with a group with the right level of professionalism.

Another point about an editor (and I am talking about professional freelancers here) - is that if you really do have a well polished work, it *may* just be possible to be the right person at the right place at the right time with it.

Also - Kelpie's right that you should be able to edit your own work - I don't know about anybody else, but coming out of a liberal education that saw grammar as an evil, I've been left pretty insecure about my own abilities to work with the technicalities of the English language. Perhaps that's as much from not having enough experience with high level crit groups, but no matter what standard of writing I feel I have accomplished, I would always be much happier to have someone who has worked in the SFF publishing industry to be able to comment on the appropriateness as they see of the manuscript from a SFF industry perspective.

2c again.

You have touched my heart with this one! I know I can write, but sometimes I'm overwhelmed with all I evidently have forgotten, or failed to truly grasp the concept of in the first place. The Tech structure of an interesting and correct sentence seems to out run my most nimble abilities it seems; at least part of the time.

Thanks to Chris and his kind assistance, not only am I slowly improving to some degree, but I've actually caught a few errors in books (yes, actual published books!) of well known writers, evidently someone missed or added (could that happen?) the occasional oops!

Y'all really have put together an exceptional space for people who love to read and write. Thank you and everyone for feeding and putting out honest (which I see as a big positive) support.