Hatrack River Writers Workshop: What to do now--?

This is topic What to do now--? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Alias (Member # 1645) on :

I am/have co-authored a novel with my cousin. We are both relatively new amateur writers but are quite pleased with the fruits of our labor and would like to go about publishing them.

This particular novel is a Science-Fantasy genre, if that makes any difference.

Neither of us have agents, or published works thus far. We're preparing a package including the first three chapters, a synopsis and a third item which eludes my memory at the moment. (basically the regular package)

I have assumed that I could research different publishers and submit this package to as many as possible. I know very little about rights, and I haven't until recently heard of the "Un-solicited/Solicited" issue. The entire process seems profoundly more complicated than I have previously imagined, which leads to my request;

Would you please share any enlightenment you can whether based on your own similar experience(s) or what you have learned.

I would very much appreciate any suggestions or assistance I may receive.

Posted by mags (Member # 1570) on :

I don't know if you can view this, but www.writersmarket.com/content/book_submission_tips.asp is a well written article/checklist by Rober Lee Brewster, which will help a bit.

- if you can't read it, let me know.

Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :

Don't send the 3 chapters unless asked for. You can save time and money by only sending a good query which includes a short one page synop.

As far as solicited or not—well, a one or two page query is only asking them if they want to look--it can go to both. Where as the query package can only go to the not. And most of those are not worded no unsolicited queries--but no unsolicited manuscripts. A query is not a ms.

Also you have to realize this is hit and miss—you can have the best book out there—but the fact that you are an unknown is going against you. You will get rejections. They are a fact of life for any writer.

So—do your research—look at books published by that publisher—find one who publishes books similar to yours and not just SciFi either.

I got a lot of rejections that said I am sorry to reject this but I would have no idea where to submit this. Great—I just wasted both my time and theirs. So I found an agent who had a Native American client that wrote horror based on NA myth. Bingo! If he knew where to place Owl’s work he would know where to place mine.

And I was right—the research paid off.

Shawn