Local Authors > Writing Group
Advice on Moving Forward
Jason R. Peters:
Inkling,
I'm in the same boat as you. I'm writing my third novel. I've written about a dozen serious short stories. I am (to date) unpublished.
I have also done a wealth of research on the publication world, because I've known I wanted to be "a writer" since about age 11. And I thought the book I finished at age 13 was a book. Hell, I thought the book I finished at age 23 was a book, but it wasn't.
By research, I mean that I've read about 40 books "about writing" (only 8 of them were worthwhile) and listened to at least thrice that many lectures/classes/podcasts.
Though not a "member" of the industry, my research indicates the following:
1. There is an extreme stigma against first-time authors. Familiarize yourself with the Steps experiment, in which an unknown author submitted an existing award-winning story and was universally rejected.
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_steps_experiment/
Also familiarize yourself with the rejection stories of successes like Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Brandon Sanderson.
The latter wrote 13 books before he was published. That's more than you and me combined.
2. There is an extreme stigma against self-publishing, and with good reason. It's taken as evidence that since no agent/editor was interested, the author basically paid an outside group to print his book. And basically, that's what happens. The success stories in self-publication are the exception, not the norm, and only after you've beaten tough sales standards will an agent or editor even touch you after self-publishing.
2.A. Self-publishing is an extreme amount of work, IF you plan to be financially successful at it. In addition to being the author, you must also be entrepreneur, marketing expert, market researcher, editor, promoter, and distributor. All things that are handled by others in the traditional publishing industry.
3. The best way to get published is to write consistently and submit hundreds of times, both novels and short stories. (I have not taken the latter step because after I truly understood what it would take to get published, I realized my writing had to reach a whole new level of expertise, and I am only now approaching where I'm aiming.)
3.A. And to keep writing without waiting for results. John Grisham's first book was purchased on a wing and a prayer, and didn't get good reviews, but it didn't matter. He'd already written a second, which was optioned by Tom Cruise before Grisham's first publisher rejected it.
4. Make sure a sizeable group of unbiased readers has already reviewed your work. And submit your 20th draft, not your 2nd.
5. Familiarize yourself with industry-standard formatting.
6. Texts I found helpful:
For an agent's view (someone who throws away hundreds of manuscripts a day after reading just one page) of the quality of writing, read Noah Lukeman's "The First Five Pages". It is an eye-opener on how writing is judged.
For Lukeman's view of the business, I recommend "How to Write a Great Query Letter" (free e-book) and "How to Get and Keep a Literary Agent" (which was about $3.00 as an e-book). I've read many others on writing...Orson Scott Card, Stephen King, and Lukeman's information is the most concise and the most-directed at first-time authors with no clue about the industry.
I'm asked every day "Have you ever thought about self-publishing?" and my answer is always the same. Not a chance, because I want to be acknowledged by the industry, as tough or biased or chancy as that may be.
I want a publisher to PAY ME for my work -- even if it's ridiculously low amounts -- than pay someone ELSE for the priveledge of printing me.
(And if I were published tomorrow, I would make way less than minimum wage on my current novel, even with an advance on royalties given to experienced authors, which I would not receive.)
fardawg:
I would suggest writing a stand alone and try to get that published first. You might try to write one that is connected to the larger series (or edit the first one to be less open ended) which could be sold as a stand alone while giving you a base to jump into the series if it is a success. I wouldn't even tell a publisher or agent about the series. They have no reason to believe that you can pull it off or that it would ever sell.
Frankly, as a reader I would never invest in a large series by a new author (12 :o), especially a self published one. It is too risky an investment of time and money. Take the Elantris rout.
Jason R. Peters:
Brandon Sanderson's breakthrough story isn't just a good example of how persistent and experienced it takes to get published. It's also a good example of how the industry views series.
My understanding is that once Sanderson had an agent, he wanted to publish the Stormlight Archive. His agent was like...woah, you're a new author. There is no way you can introduce a multi-volume series and expect to be published.
So Brandon led with Elantris. And after that, Mistborn, which although it became a trilogy, definitely stood alone without need for a sequel. Only after those and Warbreaker (another standalone) was he ready to begin the Stormlight Archive for general consumption.
fardawg:
--- Quote from: Jason R. Peters on June 24, 2011, 12:12:13 AM ---Brandon Sanderson's breakthrough story isn't just a good example of how persistent and experienced it takes to get published. It's also a good example of how the industry views series.
My understanding is that once Sanderson had an agent, he wanted to publish the Stormlight Archive. His agent was like...woah, you're a new author. There is no way you can introduce a multi-volume series and expect to be published.
So Brandon led with Elantris. And after that, Mistborn, which although it became a trilogy, definitely stood alone without need for a sequel. Only after those and Warbreaker (another standalone) was he ready to begin the Stormlight Archive for general consumption.
--- End quote ---
I believe he now acknowledges that he wasn't really ready for a large series. I think he had to almost completely rewrite Way of Kings before it was publishable.
Juan Dolor:
--- Quote from: fardawg on June 24, 2011, 12:30:11 PM ---I believe he now acknowledges that he wasn't really ready for a large series. I think he had to almost completely rewrite Way of Kings before it was publishable.
--- End quote ---
And if Brandon Sanderson wasn't ready at that point, then probably the original poster isn't ready to write a really great 12-book series. Or at least not as ready as he would be after writing (and publishing) a few stand-alones.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version