At what point do you send to a publisher?

[Miyabi]

I seem to remember an episode of some podcast (it may have been Writing Excuses) where someone talks of a short story they had written and put into a competition and some agent like basically attacked him asking for a manuscript of a book for it. lol.

[guessingo]

george rr martin wrote somewhere that he recommends that people start with short stories for several years in order to build a reputation before looking for an agent.

[Nessa]

how do you get the names and contacts of agents to send manuscripts to?

http://agentquery.com/
http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/

[Bookstore Guy]

george rr martin wrote somewhere that he recommends that people start with short stories for several years in order to build a reputation before looking for an agent.

I disagree.  That may work for some people, but writing a good short story vs writing a good novel (in my opinion) are different skill sets.  I'd say write what you feel like writing, and try to sell it.  But don't feel like you need to follow a script.

[guessingo]

martin's rationale was to make a name for yourself. this makes it more likely that someone will read your manuscript.

[Silk]

They're also good credits to put in your query letter, particularly if you land a sale with one of the big three publishers (Asimov, Analog, SF&F). But any agent will tell you that it's not necessary to have those credits. And yes, I agree with Steve. Short story and novel writing are related skill sets, but they are different skill sets.

[guessingo]

supposedly Baen online short stories pays the most. 25 cents/word. It is still chump change... so you are probably better off trying to get your story published in one of the big name short story magazines.

the thing is, I know alot of people who read sci-fi/fantasy. I don't know anyone who gets those magazines.

[Bookstore Guy]

supposedly Baen online short stories pays the most. 25 cents/word. It is still chump change... so you are probably better off trying to get your story published in one of the big name short story magazines.

the thing is, I know alot of people who read sci-fi/fantasy. I don't know anyone who gets those magazines.

Don't underestimate Baen.  They sell well, but they are mostly Military SF or Alternate History.

[Miyabi]

george rr martin wrote somewhere that he recommends that people start with short stories for several years in order to build a reputation before looking for an agent.

I disagree.  That may work for some people, but writing a good short story vs writing a good novel (in my opinion) are different skill sets.  I'd say write what you feel like writing, and try to sell it.  But don't feel like you need to follow a script.

Exactly.  One time I was talking with Brandon and Eric James Stone.  Brandon had talked about how wonderful Eric is at writing short stories and how much he himself sucks at it.