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novlr · 10 months

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As someone who just finished writing their first original novel and wants to know more about the American publishing process, where should I start? Any advice? Blogs? Articles? Twitter users?

A Writer’s Guide to Navigating the Publishing Industry

There’s something undeniably enchanting about seeing your words come to life on the printed page and connecting with readers from around the globe. The allure of sharing your ideas, stories, or even your expertise with the world is the dream for many writers.

While the idea of publishing a book may seem exciting, navigating the publishing process can be a labyrinth. It requires a blend of passion, persistence, and a solid understanding of how to wade through the murky waters.

So, let’s take a look at the ins and outs of the publishing process and what you need before you start sending your manuscript out to the world.

Identify your genre and target audience

Before you start thinking about publishing, it is essential to identify your genre and target audience.

Knowing your genre will help you determine relevant publishers and agents who specialize in that genre. Understanding your target audience will help you tailor your writing to meet their expectations. For example, if you write young adult fiction, you will want to write in a style and tone that appeals to teenagers and young adults.

Publishers and agents are all about work that sells. If you can show that you know firmly where your book sits in the market and that you know the people your book will appeal to, you will have given yourself a head start. When you publish, your work ceases to be just about you and starts being about your readers.

Get feedback on your work from editors or beta readers

Feedback is crucial for any writer. You want to make sure your work is the best it can be before submitting it to publishers or agents.

If you can afford it, consider hiring an editor to review your work. If you can’t, then try joining a writing critique group or finding beta readers who can offer suggestions and feedback.

When you receive feedback, take it seriously and use it to improve your work. Don’t be afraid to ask your readers for specific feedback, and most importantly, never take their criticism personally.

Betas are your first readers, so try to choose people who read in your chosen genre. Don’t get friends and family to beta read for you, as they’re often not the audience you’re writing for and will find it hard to give you objective opinions. Also, avoid using only other writers as your beta readers, as they’ll often approach your work from a technical view, and not from a reader’s view.

You can learn more about how to get the most out of your beta readers in this post.

How to Get The Most From Your Beta Readers

Research Publishers and Agents

Researching publishers and agents is an essential step in the publishing process. Agents often have specialisations or work closely with specific publishers, so knowing that in advance can help you avoid a lot of wasted time, and save you from unnecessary rejections.

Not only will agencies have specific types of books they look for, but each individual agent within those agencies will also have specific genres they represent. For instance, a children’s book agency might have one agent who deals only in picture books, while another represents only YA. If you pick the right agency, but the wrong agent, you’ll get a rejection, so be sure to be diligent.

Research is also important because you want to find publishers and agents who work in your who are reputable. Not all agencies are created equal, so you want to make sure you’re vetting your agents. See who they represent, and also make sure they actually manage to sell books to publishers; there are, unfortunately, a number of scam agencies out there, so it doesn’t hurt to be diligent. Check online reviews, and ask for referrals from other writers.

Want a little more help on how to vet literary agents? We got you!

How to Vet a Literary Agent

Start Querying Agents

Once you have identified a list of agents and publishers you’d like to submit to, it’s time to start querying!

Agents, and publishers if you decide to submit directly, have very strict submission guidelines, so be sure to read them carefully in the research stage. And incorrectly submitted query will be an instant rejection.

It is essential to be patient during this process as it can take time to hear back from agents and publishers. If you’d like to learn more about querying agents, we’ve got a detailed outline in the Reading Room!

How to Pitch Your Novel to Agents Like a Pro

Don’t Stop Writing

While you’re waiting for responses from agents and publishers, it’s crucial to keep writing. Do not stop writing, even if the rejections come in. This might not be the book that makes it, but you’ll learn so much from the process that it’ll be even easier to navigate the next time.

Rejections will be part of the process, so be mentally prepared for that. But throwing yourself right back into the thing you love takes away a lot of the sting.

If you love to write, keep writing, and then keep trying. There are no quick wins when it comes to publishing. It’s hard work, and it’s not always joyful. So keep your eye on the prize, and make sure you stay on that horse. The world deserves to read your words.

Resources

Twitter is a great place to find information from agents. Agents will often post threads on what they’re looking for and will announce when they’re open for submissions. There are also fantastic Twitter pitch events that can help authors find agents. You can learn more about them here.

The Writers’ and Artists Yearbook is an annual publication from Bloomsbury that covers most of the big agents and publishers, going through their genre specialisation and submission guidelines. While the majority of the book is specific to UK agents, there is a useful section on US and overseas agents, too, that will list the biggest ones.

Before querying, try to keep up to date with industry news sites like Publisher’s Weekly or The Bookseller. That way, you’ll know what kind of books are trending and get a feel for where your book sits in the market.

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em-dash-press · 1 year

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How Traditional Publishing Works for Short Stories

You’ve written a short story and want it to reach readers, but you’re tired of combing through contests. Don’t worry—there’s a path to traditional publishing for short stories and you can follow it to build your writing resume with these steps.

1. Polish Your Work

Reviewing your story before submitting it is crucial. One or two typos may not disqualify you from getting accepted for publishing, but it could make the publisher pause.

Read through your work out loud to catch the tiny line edits that our eyes often skip over.

Ask a friend or family member to read it. A fresh pair of eyes on your work is priceless!

Use a text-to-speech reader to catch typos. You may hear the spelling errors more clearly, so try a site like this one: https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/

You can also use the spell check within your preferred writing software. It may not catch every spelling or tense-usage error, but it’s still helpful.

2. Research Publications

Longer manuscripts would normally look for publishing houses or imprints, but short stories just need publications.

Imagine the publishing world as an umbrella. Publishing houses are the fabric of the umbrella and imprints are the metal arms making the fabric extend. Imprints are subsections of publishing houses. Publications are like the stem and handle of an umbrella. They’re mostly independently owned, so that’s where you’ll find things like:

Literary magazines

Literary Journals

Ezines

Some are run by small groups of people who love making things like short-story anthologies and others will be professionally run magazines or journals with wide distribution. Your work may qualify for all of these publications depending on the length, topic, and what each publication is looking for.

3. Submit Your Work

Personally, I think finding the right places to submit your work is the most challenging part of publishing any story. There are an overwhelming number of places to consider. You might never learn about all of them!

Luckily, I’ve found a few tools to streamline the process.

Chill Subs is my current favorite site to find publications seeking short stories. You can find their site here: https://chillsubs.com/

This is what their homepage looks like—I’m breathing a sigh of relief just seeing it that encouraging welcome!

Once you make your free account (which is what allows you to track your submissions, results, etc.), you’ll find this page when you’re ready to start browsing:

It may seem like a lot, but selecting publication types and finding places that specifically want things like a spooky vibe or a quick response time makes submitting your work so much faster.

Just below this browsing section, you’ll find a list of publications if you just want to select a few without the filters. Here’s a screenshot of the first one I found:

There’s a great summary of the magazine and everything you need to know, like the facts that they have a super fast response time, don’t require a submission fee, and even their acceptance rate!

If you scroll further down under a publisher, you’ll find other invaluable information like:

Normally, you’d have to find all of these things by searching a publication’s website and recent published work. It would take much more time and you might not find what you’re looking for (I struggle when I’m too tired or distracted). Chill Subs will connect you to publications super quickly and easily, without charging a dime!

Next, I also like The Grinder, which you can find here: https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/

Here’s what their homepage looks like:

This site is better for people who are more data driven! Right beneath the top of their homepage, you can automatically see the stats for The Grinder users who recently got accepted or rejected. At the time that I wrote this post, the people in the screenshot below had numerous rejections. I find it encouraging to see stuff like this because it’s a reminder that rejections happen to everyone. It’s just a matter of finding the right place for your work!

If you select “Search” on the top of the homepage, you’ll get a dropdown menu for things like searching for fiction or poetry submissions, plus publishers listed in alphabetical order.

For the purpose of this post, I’ve selected “Historical” as my imaginary story I’d like to submit. There are many other genres in the box if you keep scrolling. Here’s what the start of this process looks like:

Hit “Search” and this comes up:

Right away you’ll see what each place pays, which genres and lengths they accept and their response time. I’ve clicked on the first publisher and found this data:

Enjoy using the charts and data to gauge where your stories should go! There are many publications working with The Grinder, so there’s tons to search through as you get a feel for what’s out there.

Other potential places to submit your work:

Submittable: https://manager.submittable.com/opportunities/discover (You’ll need to have submitted to a contest that uses Submittable to make an account, but the Discover tab has many publications organized by closest deadlines.)

Your university literary journals (if you’re a university student—most only accept work from students enrolled in that school, but it’s a major perk if you’re paying tuition because you won’t have to pay to send your work off!)

Local literary journals (many only accept work from writers who live nearby, which narrows down your competition).

4. Keep Track of Your Submissions

If you’re submitting more than one or two stories at a time, it’s best to keep a spreadsheet that tracks your submissions. As your writing career continues, you’ll always be able to reflect on which stories you submitted and where they went. It’s a great way to see how your writing has grown and note which publications you liked the most/had the most success with.

My submissions spreadsheet contains labeled columns for things like:

Date of submission

The story’s title

The page length/word count

The genre

The publication mae

The publication type

URL of publication if applicable

Final date of submissions

Date of notice if one is given

Potential prize money if applicable

Rejection or acceptance when notified

Some places only want unpublished writers, but most only want stories that haven't been previously published or placed in contest results. Keeping track of which stories receive prizes/publications makes it much easier to submit qualifying works in the future.

5. Evaluate Your Publishing Contract

Many publishers require writers to sign a contract so the legal reality of the transaction is clear to both parties. This happens for both short stories and long form work. You’ll have to review things like:

Allowing them to have print rights (typically worldwide because things are published online)

Allowing them to publish your picture and bio that is usually included in the submission form

Allowing them exclusivity (you may need to wait a specific time period before submitting the same story to other publishers/contests or selling it on your website)

Agreeing to author’s warranties (this means you agree that you wrote the story, it isn’t plagiarized, it isn’t libelous, and you don’t want it to be public domain)

Agreeing to a termination clause (the publisher typically reserves the right to terminate your publication contract for things like discovering plagiarism, getting sued for libel, if you sell the story to another publication within their exclusive time frame, etc.)

Agreeing to a reversion of rights clause (you’ll get all of the above rights to sell/submit the story if the publisher doesn’t get your story published by the deadline included in your contract)

Agreeing to payment terms (if you’ll be paid based on how many magazine copies are sold, based on your word/page count, or if you’ll get a flat fee). Also, how you’ll get paid (in installments, within a time frame after publication, via direct deposit or check).

A big thing to note—if a publisher doesn’t include a reversion of rights clause, they essentially want to lock your story within their publishing company permanently. You’ll never get the rights back for submitting or publishing it elsewhere. That includes if you write a collection of short stories and want to publish an anthology—you wouldn’t get to include the story taken by the original publisher.

It’s very important to know your rights as a writer before submitting.

You can read more about contract details over at Writing Cooperative.

And you can always look through Writer Beware, which tracks scams and legitimate publication opportunities.

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Hopefully this helps you get started with your next venture in getting published! The process doesn’t have to feel as confusing as it often does. Best of luck! 💛

#writing resources #publishing resources #publishing short stories #writeblr #writers of tumblr #writing short stories #short story resources #writing advice #writing tips #writing community #writing help #creative writing

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at-thezenith · 2 months

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acquiring a manuscript - the agent and editor

hello, it's me, your favourite publishing student. let's talk acquisition.

so you've managed to secure an agent with your manuscript. then what?

most agents will do a developmental edit on first deciding to work with you. plot, character, pace, continuity and worldbuilding all come under this. what makes a good agent (and editor) is whether they are offering you suggestions on what to do instead of outright rewriting your work.

once you've made those changes (or gone back and forth depending on how much you do or don't want to make that change), your agent will send your manuscript to editors in publishing houses.

a key question on their mind is: can i sell this book? agents (and editors, but i'm getting to that) look at a book's merit, and they look at what they can compare it to. you need some sort of USP (unique selling point)

is it pride and prejudice but trans? most ardently by gabe cole novoa. is it black mirror in south east asia? red dust , white snow by pan huiting. (highly rec both, btw)

key note here - if you are submitting to a publishing house that accepts unsolicited manuscripts, you will skip straight to this next step.

your manuscript will land on an editor's desk, along with the pitch your agent has given them, usually tailored to that editor's or that house's tastes. in a big house, that editor will usually pass that manuscript to an assistant, to do a reader's report, in which the assistant will sum up the plot, point out strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, tell them whether it is worth publishing. some manuscripts don't make it past this step, and in that case, the agent will send it to another house.

if the editor likes the sound of this manuscript, they will then read it. usually, they will read it three times: one for first glance edits, two for developmental edits, and three for line edits (line by line, spelling/grammar, vocabulary, etc). once this is done, they will tell the agent that they plan to put their house in the running for acquisition. then comes the acquisition meeting.

the acquisition meeting is where your editor will fight to get the publishing house on board with your book. remember that USP? here's where that comes into play. your editor needs, above all else, to get sales and marketing on board. how can i sell this book? editors often ask other members of the meeting to read the book beforehand to have some support, and to point to the book's readability.

the literary qualities of the book certainly come into play, but what sales and marketing want to hear is how your book is both familiar and new. so your editor will construct a pitch that both highlights the excitement of your book, but also point to previous successes with books like yours. i know that comparing books to other books is tedious, but sales are notoriously pessimistic. they control the money, after all.

but your book makes it through the meeting, and you have the whole team on board. now comes the editorial letter. this is where the editor is going to do their best to sweet talk you (and your agent) into accepting their offer of publishing your book. however, they will both gush about your work, and tell you the edits they want you to make to it, from the big developmental changes all the way down to the way a character moves in a scene. don't be discouraged if the list of changes is long; if the editor didn't want to publish the book, it wouldn't have made it past their assistant.

this of course is assuming you decide to accept their offer immediately. you could have offers from other houses, and in that case you usually won't receive the editorial letter - or at least, not in such great depth - until you have signed a contract with the house of your choice. that is more complicated.

hope you found this useful! my dms are open if anyone has any questions :)

#publishing advice #publishing industry #publishing resources #hel's pub degree

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megaeralwrites · 11 months

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5 Things I Learned While Querying + Helpful Resources

Writing and publishing a novel has been a lifelong ambition for me. I achieved the first half of that dream when I wrote my first novel at age 9 or 10. It was called The Pharaoh’s Ghost, which is, well, extremely on-brand for me. Although I’ve worked on many other writing projects over the years, I didn’t make a serious effort to get a book published until 2022. My debut novel will be coming out next year, shortly after my 40th birthday. It only took me 30 years to get there!

I hit the querying trenches in the summer of 2022 with little sense of how it all worked. By February 2023, I had signed a contract with CamCat Books. The whole process was an exhausting emotional thrill ride and one of the most interesting learning experiences of my life.

I’m by no means a grizzled veteran of the querying and publication process at this point, but as someone fresh from the trenches, I have a pretty good sense of what it looks like right now. I thought it might be helpful to other writers starting their own querying journeys—or coming back after a long hiatus—if I discussed a few of the things I learned along the way.

If you’d rather skip my rambling and get straight to the helpful resources, scroll down to the end of the post. Every link I’ve listed there played an immensely valuable role in the querying process for me.

It helps to go in with a game plan.

Querying a manuscript for the first time feels nebulous and scary. One thing I’ve seen a lot of my fellow authors grappling with is the question of how long to keep at it before shelving a project. How many agents should you query before you set it aside and move on to the next book—or go to Plan B (which, for many authors, is self-pub)?

The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. It depends on your personal goals, the nature of the book you’re trying to publish, and your stomach for dealing with the querying grind, which takes a lot of time and emotional energy. But one of the best decisions I made for the sake of my mental health during this process was setting those limits for myself ahead of time.

I read an article that advised querying 80 agents before giving up on finding representation for a project. I’ve also seen similar pieces recommending other numbers, like 100 or 150. Those are arbitrary numbers, of course. Some (incredibly lucky!) writers get picked up after querying fewer than a dozen agents, and others query hundreds before getting their “yes”. But I liked 80—it felt attainable, realistic, and not completely overwhelming.

(By the way, no matter how many agents you decide to query, you’ll want to make a spreadsheet. There are a lot of moving parts to keep track of when you’re querying multiple agents. I had a big spreadsheet o’ agents and publishers that I made in Excel that helped me stay on top of things like who I’d already queried and who I still planned to query, expected response times, whether I’d heard back from an agent yet, whether I had already queried someone else at the same agency, etc. There’s no way I could have managed it all without the spreadsheet.)

I also came up with a backup plan. Two of them, actually—for me, plan B was to submit my book directly to presses that take unagented manuscripts. Plan C was to self-publish. Having these other options in place was incredibly comforting as I waded around in the querying trenches. I knew that one way or another, my story would find a home. Ultimately, no matter what happened, I was in control of its final destiny.

I didn’t get all the way through Plan A before my path took an unexpected and delightful turn. I had queried 70-some agents and gotten a few bites (but no offers yet) when I joined an indie press’s Twitter pitching event on the spur of the moment. One of the editors liked my pitch, so I submitted my MS to them. A couple months later, I had a book deal. Which brings me to my next point:

2. Getting an agent and self-publishing aren’t the only paths to publication.

If you’re gearing up to try and get a book traditionally published, brace yourself. You’re going to be buried under an avalanche of well-meaning friends, relatives, and total strangers advising you to self-publish.

Self-pub is a completely viable and valid path to publication, and some authors are mind-bogglingly successful at it. I have nothing but admiration for those who can pull it off, and as I mentioned above, it was on my list of options if other avenues didn’t work out for me. I wanted to try the trad approach first, though. I may be a personage of many talents, but I have the business acumen of a sea sponge. I went into this venture knowing that I would benefit greatly from the support and guidance of a professional team that knows the ins and outs of bringing a newborn book into the world.

But for those who are struggling to connect with an agent, there is an alternative that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough—submitting directly to presses that take unagented manuscripts. These are not typically Big Five publishers. They may refer to themselves as indie presses or small presses, but they publish on the traditional model. This means that they take care of the costs and logistics of designing, printing, and distributing your book. They also pay their authors (in the form of royalties, advances, or both).

This is the path I ended up taking, and I couldn’t be happier. The publication process is personalized and collaborative in a way that, from my understanding, you aren’t likely to get with one of the Big Five. I'll still need to do a lot of my own marketing, but that's increasingly true of authors working with major publishing houses as well.

All that said, be careful. Do your research before signing with any press (or agent, for that matter). Read up on them on forums like Absolute Write and check if they have a Writer Beware entry. Talk to other authors who have worked with them, if possible. And if a publisher asks you for money, either run away or go in fully informed about what you are dealing with—i.e., not a traditional publisher, but a hybrid, assisted, or vanity press. Also keep in mind that even established trad publishers sometimes engage in unsavory business practices (or they might just not be the best fit for you, personally, for whatever reason), so dig a little deeper even if you’re pretty sure you’re dealing with an outfit that’s legit.

(Incidentally, one of the big green flags for me with CamCat was that the publisher, Sue, advised me right up front to get my contract reviewed by the legal team at The Authors Guild before I signed it. This is excellent advice for any writer, whether you’re signing with an agent or a publisher. The Authors Guild gives free legal advice and support to all dues-paying members, so your only investment is the price of membership—we’re talking about $100-ish per year, depending on your membership level—which is much, much more affordable than hiring a lawyer.)

For more information about the possible paths to publication and the pros and cons of each, check out this helpful breakdown from Jane Friedman.

3. The waiting is the worst part (or it was for me, anyway).

Querying a book takes forever. There is so. Much. Waiting. Most agents are overwhelmed. Some of them take months or even years to get back to querying authors . . . that is, if they respond to you at all. For me, the waiting was harder than the actual rejections. At least a quick rejection brings closure! You know you can move on and stop worrying about it.

Waiting to hear back after you’ve gotten a request for additional pages or a full manuscript is even harder. Once you get a request, you have a tantalizing sliver of hope to hold onto, but a request is no guarantee you’ll get an offer of rep. So you spend the next several weeks (or months) on tenterhooks, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

And if you do get an offer, then you get to hurry up and wait some more. Authors who manage to land an agent and crawl out of the hell that is querying are then plunged into the purgatory of being “on sub.” Your agent must shop your book around to different potential publishers, another process that can take months or years.

Since I skipped the agent bit, I was lucky enough to be spared some of that additional waiting. But even after you sign with a publisher, there’s still a lot of waiting involved in the process of preparing a book for publication. The time from signing the contract to release is typically about 12-18 months. At this point it’s happy waiting, of course. There’s light at the end of the tunnel! Really exciting things are happening during the waiting! Still, if you’re an anxious or impatient sort of person, just . . . be prepared. It’s a looooong process.

4. The Twitter writing community is incredibly helpful.

Twitter is a wretched hive of scum and villainy, we all know this. It’s always had these tendencies, and the recent Muskening has only made them worse. If you want to use it for, well, anything, it’s important to curate your experience carefully. Be judicious about the accounts you follow. Be prepared to block liberally. I’ve found it helpful to use my writing Twitter strictly for writing stuff. Honing in with a laser focus will help you avoid the soul-deadening morass of literal Nazis, flat-Earthers, and Bitcoin bros.

Despite all those caveats, the Twitter writing community is full of kind, helpful, brilliant, and creative people. Dive into tags like #WritingCommunity, #amquerying, and #MSWL to connect with both authors in the trenches and agents/editors who are open to queries. You’ll find people who are happy to discuss writing, commiserate about the woes of querying or being on sub, help you come up with comps or fine-tune your pitches and query letters, and trade advice in DMs about which agents and presses are good to work with and which ones to avoid. It’s a great place to look for beta readers and critique partners.

You’ll also see agents, publishers/editors, and writers behaving badly, which can be alarming and discouraging. But that stuff is helpful in its own way. You’ll get a sense of the major pitfalls to watch out for and how to keep yourself safe.

One of the most useful things, for me, has been participating in Twitter pitching events. As the name suggests, these are events where you post pitches for books you are querying—sometimes accompanied by moodboards or other visuals, sometimes not—and industry people will like pitches they are interested in. A like from an agent or a publisher is an invitation to query them. Sometimes industry folks who are otherwise closed for submissions will consider queries based on pitch event likes. This tweet contains a list of upcoming pitching events (although it is not exhaustive).

Some pitching events, like #moodpitch, have several days of bonus activities leading up to the main event. This can be a fantastic opportunity to network with other writers and finetune your pitches.

Not only are these events good for connecting with potential agents and publishers, but they’re amazing community building opportunities. Querying writers get together to critique each other’s pitches, swap support during the event (this involves retweeting and commenting on each other’s pitches so the algorithm doesn’t eat them--no liking, since that's just for agents and publishers), and cheer each other on. I’ve seen some incredible pitches and found a lot of writing community mutuals this way.

I connected with CamCat Books through #CamCatPitMad, a pitching event just for CamCat that currently takes place four times a year. You can check out the dates and event rules here. Although this particular event is more limited in scope than your average Twitter pitchfest since it’s just for one publisher instead of an industry free-for-all, the rules and setup are pretty typical.

Unfortunately, agents and authors alike have recently raised alarms about sharing pitches and snippets online at events like these due to concerns about the theft of ideas—both by humans and AIs. You can see a thread about this issue here. I honestly don’t know how concerned anyone should be about either possibility, but it’s something to keep in mind if you’re weighing the risks and benefits of joining a pitching event.

5. You don’t need a massive social media following to get published.

When you’re new to the querying process, you’ll see a lot of well-meaning advice that isn’t necessarily accurate. One thing I’ve seen pop up a few times is this idea that agents and publishers won’t even look at you unless you already have a major social media presence and tons of followers. This is alarming news for new writers trying to break into the industry, but fortunately, it’s simply not true.

Sure, it’s a good idea to already have a basic author website and some social media platforms set up, and a lot of agents and publishers will ask to see them. But you don’t need to be a successful influencer with a huge ready-made fanbase to find representation or get a book deal. Just relax, focus on the monumental tasks of writing and querying your books, and put yourself out there on social media whenever you have the spoons to manage it. Engage with other writers and readers and just have fun. After a while, you’ll start to build a following naturally. Don’t sweat it.

On a related note, you don't necessarily have to hire a pro editor before querying, either. Get your book as polished as possible before you query or submit it, of course. But keep in mind that if you get an agent, they'll most likely help you edit your book, and then it will be edited again once it hits the publishing house. In the meantime, find some readers with a good grasp of the things you struggle with the most, whether it's SPAG or story structure.

Finally, here are some invaluable resources I stumbled across during my querying journey:

Manuscript Wish List: If you’re not sure where to look for agents or publishers, this is an excellent place to start. Industry people post information here about what they want (and don’t want!) as well as instructions for querying them. Make sure to check the agency or publisher website before submitting, since the info on the MSWL website isn’t always up-to-date.

QueryTracker: Any writer who’s seriously querying a book is going to end up using this website in some capacity. Many agents require you to query them through forms on the industry-end website, QueryManager. You can then monitor the status of your queries through the sister site, QueryTracker. QueryTracker also allows you to search for agents by genre and other filters. I found it worthwhile to subscribe to the premium version (just $25 per year) and get access to the additional features, such as the ability to view individual agents’ query response rates and other data.

Writer Beware: One of the biggest industry watchdogs. Want to find out if a potential agent, agency, or publisher is legit? Start here.

Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity: Erica Verrillo does a great job keeping on top of industry news. Her website is an invaluable source of information about agents, publishers, writing contests, conferences, and other resources and opportunities for writers at all stages of the querying and publication journey.

Jane Friedman’s website: Jane Friedman has decades of experience in various aspects of the publishing industry, and her website is a great resource for new writers trying to get a sense of how it all works. She offers tips on topics like how to find agents and publishers, the differences between trad and self-publishing, and how to write an effective query letter.

Absolute Write Water Cooler: This is a forum for authors and an excellent place to find advice and informative industry gossip. If you’re wondering whether a particular agent or publisher is good to work with, search for them here. You’re likely to find a discussion thread where writers are sharing their experiences.

The Authors Guild: This is America’s oldest professional organization for authors. In addition to offering free legal services to members, they provide website hosting and building services, discussion forums, educational materials and events, and assistance for writers seeking various types of insurance (from media liability to dental!).

#writing community #publishing #querying #writing resources #publishing resources

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artistnik · 8 months

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You Asked About Self-Publishing

Peace, this is a long post to answer some questions I’m asked often. Also, info I wish found all in one place. First. Whatever genre you’re writing in, at least peruse books in that genre. Know who the bestsellers are and why. This is also the first step in finding an agent if you want to be traditionally published. Two. To build an audience research call for submissions on projects in your…

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#book formatting #create space #editing #how to pick self publisher #how to write a book #kdp #kindle #literary fiction #manuscript self publishing #new authors #new writers #nonfiction #novel #poetry #publishing #publishing resources #publishing tips #self-publishing #vanity press

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heavenlyyshecomes · 5 months

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"Publishers for Palestine is a global collective of publishers, and others who work in publishing around the world, who stand for justice, freedom of expression, and the power of the written word.

Join us for an international #ReadPalestine week, starting Wednesday, November 29, on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. During this week, we encourage people around the world to read fiction and poetry by Palestinian and Palestinian diaspora authors, as well as nonfiction about Palestinian history, politics, arts, culture, and life, as well as books about organizing, resistance, and solidarity for a Free Palestine.

To encourage the spread of #ReadPalestine, signatories of the Publishers for Palestine letter of solidarity have organized a Free Palestine Reading List. Participating publishers are offering one of their e-book titles for free download from November 29 to December 5; all titles are available through this website. There are currently more than thirty books on the list in nine languages, including a half-dozen award winners, with more coming in.

We also encourage readers to post on social media about their favorite Palestine books, to quote from their favorite authors, and to make learning more about Palestine an act of solidarity, using the hashtags #ReadPalestine, #LirelaPalestine, #اقرأ_فلسطين, and more. Participating indie bookstores and libraries are invited to join us by creating Read Palestine displays, social media posts, and other forms of creative solidarity."

#readpalestine #publishers for palestine #palestine #reading list #free resources #mine #ref #ref: mine #the hits

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colleendoran · 4 months

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More Adventures With Very Bad Publishers

Enjoy.

For those who have complained that these posts were behind a paywall, that was not intentional. There's an automatic paywall that pops up after posts have been online for a few weeks. I have removed it. You can now read everything for free.

#publishing #creator resources #creator rights #comics #legal

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thebibliosphere · 2 years

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This is more of a problem on Facebook and Twitter, but there are some fellow authors who get a tad... upset when you talk about money and royalty earnings.

Needless to say, my frankness about how royalties work and just how little many of us are earning from our labor has drawn the ire of a few people, even here on Tumblr.hell.

I'm not particularly bothered by this. In my view, they're the same people who won't discuss wages in the workplace because they don't want anyone else to earn what they do. They know the system is unfairly rigged, but they like it that way because they're scared if more people are educated about how things work, they'll lose whatever competitive edge they think they have, thus enforcing the status quo.

Needless to say, I don't care for this view.

I'm very much a "holy shit, two cakes" kind of creator. I also very firmly believe in pulling people up behind me and spreading the wealth of information that was shared freely with me by other like-minded individuals who also believe that the mysteries around publishing are gatekeeping bullshit and everyone deserves the chance to earn money from their creative endeavors, not just the people who can afford to.

Anyway, David Gaughran's 'Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish And Why You Should' is an invaluable resource for indie authors and provides great insight into how publishing and distribution work. It is available for free through the retailers listed on his website.

If you don't want to publish exclusively through Amazon, draft2digital.com does global ebook and also paperback distribution. (I've only used it for ebooks, but I'll be trying out their paperback options for my next book.) You can pair it up with a books2read account to create easy-to-post buy links. Draft2Digital also allows for distribution through library lending services like Overdrive. So that's neat. (NB: if you use d2d, you can't use Kindle Unlimited, so be aware of what links you have active and where if you decide to enroll in KU. You can always opt for wide distribution again once your KU time expires.)

D2D also recently partnered with FindawayVoices.com for audiobook distribution. You can find voice actors there, or you can upload your own files if you already have them. You can submit to Audible through them, too, but you'll earn a pittance more if you upload directly through Audible. Findaway also allows for library lending distribution through Libby and several other global equivalents.

If you need ISBNs, you can buy them cheaper in bulk from Bowker at myidentifiers.com

Individual storefront options like Payhip.com and Gumroad.com are also great ways to allow people to buy directly from you, though I soured on Gumroad after the whole NFT thing and their CEO harassing people on Twitter over it. Payhip is now my preferred storefront, and as an added bonus, they calculate VAT in European countries as well, so that's one less thing for me as an indie author to work out. As an added bonus, Payhip can be directly integrated into your author website if you have one. It's a feature I'll be implementing soon.

itch.io also allows for the sale and distribution of ebook files, though I haven't used it yet.

If you don't have the means to hire a cover designer or the means to do it yourself in photoshop, Canva.com has some decent-ish ebook templates. Just make sure the images and fonts you're using have the right licenses for commercial use.

Editing and formatting are also extremely important, though I know not everyone can afford them. If you can, I highly suggest doing so and shelling out extra to have them format your work across mediums. Ebook formatting is different from paperback formatting, and it can look very strange if you just try to format an ebook into a pdf. It is a skill you can teach yourself (plenty of youtube videos) if you really want to, but I prefer to throw money at my editors, who provide formatting as an additional service. Whatever you can afford to do to streamline the process is money well spent.

Also, do not be shy about using affiliate links to sell your work. Authors lose a solid chunk of money to places like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, etc., in distribution fees. Whatever pennies you can scrape back through affiliate links for directing traffic to those sites is hard-earned--and it is literal pennies sometimes. You can also integrate any affiliate links you do have into draft2digital, so they auto-generate, which is handy.

When it comes to paperbacks, BookShop.org offers the best affiliate earnings, and a percentage of the sale goes toward supporting indie bookstores. They do not take that percentage from your earnings, they pay it themselves. Libro.FM is the audiobook equivalent of BookShop.org, and they also give a percentage of sales to supporting indie book stores.

Anyway, I hope that helps someone. Good luck out there.

Also, if you're the person who sent me the irate email about "giving away trade secrets," feel free to die mad about it. 😘

#long post #indie publishing #indie author #author resources #I've posted all this before #but I figure it never hurts to post it again #also lol at that email #what a sad and bitter view

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reasonsforhope · 3 months

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Interior Department Announces New Guidance to Honor and Elevate Hawaiian Language

"In commemoration of Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, or Hawaiian Language Month, and in recognition of its unique relationship with the Native Hawaiian Community, the Department of the Interior today announced new guidance on the use of the Hawaiian language.

A comprehensive new Departmental Manual chapter underscores the Department’s commitment to further integrating Indigenous Knowledge and cultural practices into conservation stewardship.

“Prioritizing the preservation of the Hawaiian language and culture and elevating Indigenous Knowledge is central to the Biden-Harris administration's work to meet the unique needs of the Native Hawaiian Community,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “As we deploy historic resources to Hawaiʻi from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the Interior Department is committed to ensuring our internal policies and communications use accurate language and data."

Department bureaus and offices that engage in communication with the Native Hawaiian Community or produce documentation addressing places, resources, actions or interests in Hawaiʻi will use the new guidance on ‘ōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) for various identifications and references, including flora and fauna, cultural sites, geographic place names, and government units within the state. The guidance recognizes the evolving nature of ‘ōlelo Hawaiʻi and acknowledges the absence of a single authoritative source. While the Hawaiian Dictionary (Pukui & Elbert 2003) is designated as the baseline standard for non-geographic words and place names, Department bureaus and offices are encouraged to consult other standard works, as well as the Board on Geographic Names database.

Developed collaboratively and informed by ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi practitioners, instructors and advocates, the new guidance emerged from virtual consultation sessions and public comment in 2023 with the Native Hawaiian Community.

The new guidance aligns with the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to strengthening relationships with the Native Hawaiian Community through efforts such as the Kapapahuliau Climate Resilience Program and Hawaiian Forest Bird Keystone Initiative. During her trip to Hawaiʻi in June, Secretary Haaland emphasized recognizing and including Indigenous Knowledge, promoting co-stewardship, protecting sacred sites, and recommitting to meaningful and robust consultation with the Native Hawaiian Community."

-via US Department of the Interior press release, February 1, 2024

Note: I'm an editor so I have no idea whether this comes off like as big a deal as it potentially is. But it is potentially going to establish and massively accelerate the adoption of correctly written Native Hawaiian language, as determined by Native Hawaiians.

Basically US government communications, documentations, and "style guides" (sets of rules to follow about how to write/format/publish something, etc.) can be incredibly influential, especially for topics where there isn't much other official guidance. This rule means that all government documents that mention Hawai'i, places in Hawai'i, Hawaiian plants and animals, etc. will have to be written the way Native Hawaiians say it should be written, and the correct way of writing Hawaiian conveys a lot more information about how the words are pronounced, too, which could spread correct pronunciations more widely.

It also means that, as far as the US government is concerned, this is The Correct Way to Write the Hawaiian Language. Which, as an editor who just read the guidance document, is super important. That's because you need the 'okina (' in words) and kahakō in order to tell apart sizeable sets of different words, because Hawaiian uses so many fewer consonants, they need more of other types of different sounds.

And the US government official policy on how to write Hawaiian is exactly what editors, publishers, newspapers, and magazines are going to look at, sooner or later, because it's what style guides are looking at. Style guides are the official various sets of rules that books/publications follow; they're also incredibly detailed - the one used for almost all book publishing, for example, the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS), is over a thousand pages long.

One of the things that CMoS does is tell you the basic rules of and what specialist further sources they think you should use for writing different languages. They have a whole chapter dedicated to this. It's not that impressive on non-European languages yet, but we're due for a new edition (the 18th) of CMoS in the next oh two to four years, probably? Actually numbering wise they'd be due for one this year, except presumably they would've announced it by now if that was the case.

I'm expecting one of the biggest revisions to the 18th edition to add much more comprehensive guidance on non-Western languages. Considering how far we've come since 2017, when the last one was released, I'll be judging the shit out of them if they do otherwise. (And CMoS actually keep with the times decently enough.)

Which means, as long as there's at least a year or two for these new rules/spellings/orthographies to establish themselves before the next edition comes out, it's likely that just about every (legit) publisher will start using the new rules/spellings/orthographies.

And of course, it would expand much further from there.

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stoutstoatpress · 5 months

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VAST Guides are here!

By using VAST, you can learn how to add accessibility tags for screen readers to your PDFs, by using Adobe InDesign and Adobe Acrobat.

I'm super excited to release a brand new publishing community resource: VAST (or Visual Accessibility Skills Toolkit).

>> WWW.VAST.GUIDE <<

VAST is a collection of short articles aiming to spread awareness about what visual impairments are, and how folks in the small press industry can accommodate them.

The guides are split into four sections:

Visual Impairment 101 explores what visual impairments are, how visually impaired people navigate digital content, and introduces some current language and definitions (circa 2023).

Screen reading PDFs explores the basics of how screen readers navigate through digital content. Includes video examples!

Using InDesign introduces different tools that designers can use to make their documents more accessible.

Putting Into Practice presents case studies of common structures in roleplaying games, and how they could be given accessibility tags using tools covered in section 3. (Coming soon!)

VAST was developed by Brian Tyrrell (me!), and disability advocate and accessibility consultant Yubi Coates. Visually impaired consultants and InDesign experts were brought in to corroborate the guides.

All of the information in the guides is up to date, and we’re committed to reviewing and updating the guides in 2024 and 2025.

This project was completed using a small pot of funding provided by Creative Scotland’s Create: Inclusion program in 2022.

#ttrpg design #indie ttrpg #tabletop rpg #publishing #visual accessibility #screen reader #visually impaired #blindness #accessibility #pdf #indesign #acrobat #adobe #free resources #I always get anxious when releasing stuff #brb going to sit in a corner now #hope you like it!

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filmnoirsbian · 5 months

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Truly cannot even imagine the kind of malicious energy it takes to make multiple secret accounts to review bomb other authors out of hatred and jealousy. At a certain point, that becomes more time and effort than writing your stupid little book. I once wrote a 3 page hate review of an ableist, transphobic book in my google docs citing page numbers and everything but then remembered I don't even have a goodreads account and didn't have it in me to make one. (The book is out of print and has been for a decade thank god so it really just would have been for me and the other 3 people who have heard of it.)

#tcp #author drama continues to baffle me like more books are being published than ever why are you starting beef over a resource #that is NOT scarce?#an open window

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novlr · 5 months

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stygianpen · 1 year

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World Building 101

World building! How many other hobbies or careers involve creating an entire world all your own? Not many.

There’s nothing quite like setting out to create your fictional world. Drawing maps, deciding which civilizations live where, throwing in crazy kinds of solar systems and vegetation if you’re really going all out… it can be a ton of fun.

However, one of the writer’s most exciting tasks is also one of their most intimidating.

On one hand: you get to build your own world. On the other hand… you have to build your own whole entire WORLD?! Where do you even start??

Well, you can start right here. Today I’m going to walk you through some basic pointers to get your world up and running.

World Building and World Building

Right off the bat, you should be aware that there are two kinds of world building. There’s the large-scale fantasy world building which I will be talking about today, and there is also world building that goes into other story genres.

Every writer is going to do some level of world-building, whether you’re painting a verbal picture of the lake your character goes to to get some peace of mind, pulling a reader into an important event and making them feel like they’re actually attending, or creating a whole new planet for your space pirate to fly to.

The Top 6

When you have a massive task ahead of you it’s always best to start by breaking it down. So, let’s take a look at the top 6 features you’re going to be focusing on when building your world.

WHO

Ask yourself: who lives in your world?Most likely there is a variety of species and races. Or, you could decide on a world where every creature is exactly alike — it is of course, your world.

Do the creatures of your planet have different cultures or are these homogeneous?

It will be easiest to start off with your main characters and work out from there. What is their species and race, and what does their culture look like?

For each species in your world, jot down the following:

Species name

Race names

Physical description

Language

Cultural notes

Special abilities

WHAT

Ask yourself: what social structures exist in your society? Again, start with your main characters and work out from there. For each species within your world, you’re going to need to determine how they manage their society.

What beliefs do they have? Are they religious, or more philosophical? Is there a divide between the two? What do their political structures look like? How strict are their laws?

You’ll want to consider trade and economy as well. Do they have a money system? A barter system?

You may not need to go too in depth with every single species in your world, but you’ll want a basic note or two about each in case it comes up in your writing.

For each species in your world, decide at least one point about each of the following:

Religion

Philosophies

Politics and laws

Economy

WHERE

Ask yourself: where does your species exist?Finally, we get to the physical world of your world building. What is the geography like? The biomes? Is your world bountiful with resources or is it a dying planet with species’ in desperate search of new sustenance?

For some writers, they will take years fleshing out the ‘where’ of their world, including the cosmos surrounding it. For others, a map with the basic locations of the story will suffice. It is up to you how in-depth you would like to go.

At the very least, you should outline one or two notes about each of the following:

Solar system (does your world exist near ours or is it completely fabricated?)

Geography (this one can be split per species — forest elves live in the woods, nymphs live near the sea, etc.)

Biomes (split by species region)

Resources (split by species region)

WHEN

Ask yourself: when do the events of your story occur?The story you are telling may be the main focus of your book, but what happened to lead up to it? What has your main character’s species and world been through that is causing the story to occur? Even if the events of the world do not impact your story much, they will have had at least some level of ripple effect that reflects on your characters’ day-to-day. Was this civilization a warring one and the story takes place in a broken society? Or, has their society reached its peak of enterprise?

For each region in your world, establish the following:

Founding events

Defining events

Recent events

(if relevant) Future events

WHY

Ask yourself: why do the species in your world behave as they do?The why of your story will tie in with many of the previous points you’ve outlined, but it gets more to the point in a way that can directly apply to your story and characters. Why are things happening as they are today? What evolution did this society go through? Do they share common goals now or are your characters going against the grain of their people? What conflicts exist in this world, and is your main character involved in those conflicts or attempting to avoid involvement?

A few pertinent notes to take per species would be:

Social evolution

Societal goals

Societal conflicts

HOW

Ask yourself: how do the species in your world solve problems? In the category of ‘who’, you will have outlined your main characters’ abilities. These could be magical or technological or maybe they are super strong, or super smart. Now, you can get deeper into the magical or technological systems of your world. Start with your main characters and work outwards. Is everyone magical here? Do different species and races have different abilities? Is there a human or human-related race, and at what point are they at with their technology?

Figure out the following (for each species and race if applicable):

Magic abilities

Technological advancements

Scientific knowledge

Militaristic power

The World is yours: Command it

An author with a strong command of the world they are writing within will have at their fingertips an endless landscape of possibility. Look to authors such as J.R.R. Tokien or George R.R. Martin — it’s no wonder their works are so successful. They perfectly encapsulate what fantasy readers are looking for in a novel: escapism. The worlds don’t need to be pretty, they need to be fully formed; realistic in their mysticism.

World-building can seem like a lot of work, and it is. But do it bit by bit, and try to keep it fun. Don’t sit down in one day expecting to create your whole world. It’ll take time. But that time spent will be well worth it in the end!

#writing #writing community #creative writing #new author #writing help #writing tips #writing advice #writing resources #writing tips and tricks #editing #self publishing #world building #fantasy worldbuilding #worldbuilding #world creation

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