After spending nearly a year writing what has turned out to be far and away the biggest book I've yet written, it quickly settled in that I needed to step back and decide both why, and how, I was doing the proverbial "this." With years now invested in crafting entirely new worlds, carving characters out of clay and breathing life into their pithy dialog, I could no longer rest content in the illusion that I was doing this "for the fun of it."
It isn't to say that I don't still enjoy my writing, or that I will stop if my "career" in it goes no further, merely that I needed to set the pen down long enough to appraise my situation at large.
To wit: "...now what?"
The Order (soon to be retitled) is large enough to aid in home defense. Almost two years of regular work went into its production, as well as a number of hours on the part of friends and family to see to its improvement. It is still in dire need of polishing, but as manuscripts go, it's largely submittable.
Yet it's sitting all alone on my hard drive, unseen by any unfriendly eyes.
I support I always had an eventual plan for when the book was finished. "I'll send it to a bunch of publishers," I said. "Surely, one of them will at least read it. Even if they don't pick it up, perhaps the critique alone will be enough for me to improve and return later this year with a polished and fully-printable copy of the same."
...which, as I understand it, is at least one step beyond where most burgeoning writers have typically gotten by this point.
The bad news is that the first piece of this plan, that measly nine-word glimmer of a sentence is a good bit more complicated than any of the very simple words that make it up.
First, there is the agent issue: many publishers prefer or even outright require that all manuscripts come through agents rather than authors directly. For anyone finding this notion pretentious, consider the sheer volume of would-be writers who might submit their alternative-universe Twilight novel as printable fiction.
Just like with email, one comes to need filters just to get through all the spam and onward toward something of potential worth. Forcing any hopefuls to go through the sieve of at least one other human being's eyes cuts out the wide base of an otherwise unpleasant pyramid.
The concern with agents, then, is that most writers take time to see any dividends at all. Hiring an agent out of pocket when one's pockets are already threadbare seems like a risky endeavor at best. Until I learned an interesting fact:
Most reputable agents work for commission only.
Agents who charge exorbitant "reading fees" or otherwise force potential clients to pay up front just to have a manuscript considered are generally the type of agents you want to avoid. If the fee seems more like a way to scare off any half-hearted attempts ($10-$15 per manuscript), it may just be that the agent just needs a filter of their own. Any more than that, and it's likely you want to keep looking.
That said, with an agent who works for commissions, you're having to sell them from the get-go. Since they only get paid if your work gets sold, they're only going to take on the projects they believe in. Be prepared for rejection.
But first, be prepared to wait. It can take someone 2-6 months just to read a preview proposal, let alone a full manuscript (think more like one year).
For that reason, it's best to hedge your bets and submit to a number of agents or publishers at once. Just be sure to check their info for any mention of a policy against "simultaneous submissions" first, just in case. It may not stop you from doing it, but it at least makes you aware of the potential objections.
In addition, if this is your first submission (as it is mine), it's best to have the whole work done. As I've mentioned, writing the damn book is usually the make-or-break point for the amateur author. Once the book is finished, you're already in the narrower part of the pyramid.
Lead with the good foot. If you can grab an agent's attention from the start, it's going to be that much more likely that they finish reading the thing and get back to you sooner.
Also, know your audience. Whatever your opinions on a given genre, understand that there are very established lines in the publishing world; less because they want to mandate what is "art" and more because they're looking to set the book on a given shelf with a given label.
If you're going through an agent, they'll likely take care of the triage process when it comes to submitting to a publisher, but if you're going straight to the publishers, know what genres and styles they prefer. Find out what other authors they've printed in the past so you have a feel for what they're looking for.
You don't have to tailor your work to match their preferences, just keep looking till you find a good match. It's like speed dating: if it's not a good fit, move on, don't waste time with square pegs and suitably un-square holes.
The last factor is the format. In this digital age, most people still prefer reading on paper. If you're lucky and your agent/publisher is fine porting your PDF to their e-reader, you're golden, but be ready to mail a paper manuscript along with it. Otherwise, the agent has to burn a hole in their Xerox machine printing out 400 pages of what for all they know might be utter slop. That is an obstacle you do not want working against you.
For going electronic, aim for .doc format, which an be opened in anything going back as far as Windows 95. If you have access to Acrobat, send a .pdf version as well. If they have an e-reader, they can load it easily and make their comments or remarks on the Word-formatted file.
Your Word file (and printed manuscript) should be double-spaced with 1-inch margins all around. Use the whole page (8.5x11), number your pages, and use a nice easy-to-read font at size 10 or 12. Now it's primed to be red-penned to all hell and back.
And, though it should go without saying, spell-check the damn thing. Grammar-check too, if you have it (though don't trust everything the little squiggly green line tells you. Read the rule and see if you agree. Word's grammar check is built for office and legal content, not the stylistic leanings of fiction. Still, too many commas is too many commas. Now is no time to be proud).
It all boils down to one simple notion: pamper your reader. This is your gateway to getting a book published at large. You want them to be happy. Tailor the format to their specifications. Bend over backwards if you have to. Swallow your pride and sweat the details until you're confident that a total stranger will see the efforts you went to to make the process painless for them.
That leaves only the story, and that is exactly what you want.
For those wondering about my departure from the growing trend of self-publishing, I have by no means set that possibility aside. There's simply no reason to rule out traditional publishing out of hand without having at least tested the waters to see if a number of the up-and-coming publishers might have more updated notions about genre blending and unique delivery formats.
I plan to submit at least two completed, polished works to as many agents as I can find, drop a little money on mailing manuscripts into the wild, and then get back to writing while I wait to hear back. If more than two years passes without any positive motion forward, self-publishing is always on the table. Either way, a new chapter is beginning.
The real work starts now.
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