Erotic Authors Association |
Straightening the Learning Curve
Or Things I wish I'd known when starting out in this Business.
So - you've written a book have you? Excellent! Here's hoping that my mistakes help you make less of them.
Get a web presence. I can't stress this enough. Agents and publishers may check you out immediately to see who you are and what you've done. If you've got something out there (and it doesn't have to be fancy - one page will do) it helps. A Website, Blogspot, Livejournal, Wordpress, MySpace (and many others) - they all offer different things but get one of them at the very least. Ask the EAA for help if you don't know how - we'll help. There will be article on this subject soon.
Know where to find markets.
There's an excellent list HERE at Storm Grant's site
Fiction Factor's Erotic Markets
The EAA resources list markets and submission calls - Primarily at Livejournal, but also at Myspace and Blogspot
Another list HERE by Piers Anthony
RALAN has a good list and often lists erotic markets, as does DUOTROPE
The Erotic Readers and Writers' Association calls for Submissions
Buy The Writers Guides
or subscribe to an online market resource
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Writer's Market 2007 (Writer's Market) |
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| Novel & Short Story Writer's Market 2007 (Novel and Short Story Writer's Market) |
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| The Writer's Handbook |
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Most are available as reference books in larger libraries.
Online sources
There are very many others. Some online sources are more up to date, but the publishing world is (in the main) a little slow to catch up with technology.
Epublishing
EREC www.erecsite.com/blog.html and
EPIC www.epicauthors.org to find ebook publishers.
Here's an excellent article on What to look for in an E-publisher from DearAuthor.com - and the comments are worth reading too.
BOOKMARK these sites:
Association of Artist's Representatives (Any agent you submit to, should be a member)
And BEFORE you send to an agent or a publisher - check them out. Before you sign anything. Check them out. ASK your peers, ask your writer friends, ask in your chat groups and forums. Have a look at their authors list and contact a couple of them. Are they happy? Well represented?
And always....Be polite and be professional . Get yourself a good reputation. It's worth its weight in gold.
Join a critique group . Not only are these great networking tools, but you'll get the chance to read (free!) what your peers are writing. The normal rules for a set up like SFF is that you must critique 3 pieces of work before you can submit one of yours. Choose the right one and you'll learn a lot.
CONSIDER joining a Guild such as the Authors Guild, Romance Writers of America, Society of Authors - there are very many. Some are free, some charge. Some charge a LOT. Some require that you must have published with a list of publishers that only THEY consider are suitable for their demands. Some require that you have made a certain amount of money on a book. Consider carefully what you will get from your Group before you rush in like a lemming. How can THEY help YOU? What will YOU get out of it?
Submitting to Agent/Publishers
Copyright. Do you need to register it?
No. You bloody don't. Your work belongs to you. You own the copyright by common law, intellectual property, however you like to say it. As soon as you write it - you own the copyright.
A good article HERE on the subject. It is summed up by one of the paragraphs within which I'm sure the author won't mind me quoting:
it can't hurt to get Copyright, can it?
Yes, it can. It can hurt your pocketbook, and it can hurt your chances of getting a story published.
Pocketbook issues first. It costs money to register a Copyright. (By the way, you do have some Copyright protection from the moment you create a story, whether you register it or not. You cannot sue for damages, but you can prevent anyone from publishing without permission.) The last I checked, it cost $20. Now if you don't sell the story, this isn't very cost-effective. The same if you sell to a market that pays in copies. If you write twenty stories a year, you will have to earn over $400 from sales to pay for Copyright costs. That's $400 a year for the equivalent of meteorite insurance. Is that worth it? I'd rather spend that money on postage or books or new computer equipment or even a night at the theater
Miss Snark also has something to say on the subject: What Copyright is Not.
Be organised . Use a database of some sort for your submissions records and closing dates of anthologies/competitions etc, whether it be with a notebook or a spreadsheet or one of the web programmes specifically written for the purpose.
http://dolphinsoftware.bc.ca/software/writers/index.htm
http://www.spacejock.com/sonar.htm (free)
Duotrope has an online function for this but obviously you are limited to their markets. There are many others to be found.
Make a note of where AND who you sent it to, how long ago - how long are they going to have it? It takes the guess work out of it, and prevents you from making a twit of yourself by sending it to the same person twice. *Looks shifty*. Me? Never....
Learn the Jargon:
"MSS" - Manuscript
"No unagented submissions" - means that the publisher won't accept your work from you, but only through your agent.
"No unsolicited submissions" - not as bleak as it sounds. All this means is that the publisher doesn't want your 300 page MSS landing on their doormat. What they will accept is a "Query Letter"
"Query" - A very short pitch letter asking if they might be interested in reading your work. Usually contains no more than two paragraphs. THIS is just about the most perfect one there is, and that's all the publisher will want. The hook is all-important. There's a great article HERE (with additional links) and Miss Snark's archives are worth trawling through regarding query letters, too, she has excellent advice. Keep it Simple.
Learn how to write a Query Letter .
http://www.poewar.com/how-to
http://www.ehow.com/how_3165
http://www.eclectics.com
"Partial " - Some publishers/agents will specify what they want and it could vary, but these are only some of the things they could ask for: DON'T send stuff they don't ask for!
"Full" - the whole MSS, correctly formatted and not bound in any way. Publisher may ask for slightly different formatting, e.g some prefer Courier, others prefer Times New Roman but if they say nothing - this is how your page should look. Another excellent article HERE but most of the links don't work.
ALWAYS include full return postage and packing materials if you want the papers back. If not, indicate clearly that they can recycle the submission if rejected. If you are posting to a foreign country DON'T send return postage in your own currency but buy an International Postal Coupon.
"No simultaneous submissions " Don't panic. At the opening stage you are only going to be sending a query letter, or a partial, so that's not "a submission". If the agent wants to see your MSS then that's when you need to think.
"Exclusive" - Some agents will (and it's not a popular choice with writers and some agents) ask for an exclusive, which means that they want it all to themselves. But make sure that they specify a time frame, and don't be afraid to negotiate it if you think it's too long. 4-6 weeks is a reasonable time - 6 months exclusivity is NOT. Leave about 2 weeks when the deadline is over and ask them (politely) if they have considered it yet, as you have another agent who wishes to see it. (even if you do not)
DO NOT attempt to break an exclusivity period while the time period is running. Tell any subsequent agent who asks that you will get it to them asap. One the time period is up, then you can submit to others.
Aside from Exclusivity Agreements, DO send to more than one place at a time . If you wait around sending one at a time, waiting for rejection and then sending out again you'll be 100 years old before you sell it. I tend to do about six at a time.
Try and submit to a particular agent within a large organisation . (e.g. a named one; don't just address it "Blogg Literary Agency" unless you really can't find a name) Don't panic if that person you sent it to has left - if they consider you worth while enough to have got past the slush pile they will pass you on to an agent who handles your genre.
CHECK that the publisher/agent handles your genre . There is NO point blindly starting at "A" and sending to every agent/publisher on the list or in the books. Find ones that suit you. Don't waste your time sending to "Blogg and Blogg" if all they handle is Christian Inspirational fiction and your gay vampire lovers are banging every stud in town. It's a waste of their time and yours, as well as paper and expense.
Research your target before you submit. Read their guidelines carefully and check out their information regarding royalties/time frames etc. If in doubt about anything, ASK. Any professional organisation will not mind a polite enquiry if you aren't sure about something.
Always put: "Submission QUERY" in the subject line to avoid getting dumped as spam.
It's always worth sending a polite email to the Agent/Publisher to see if he will accept your submission by email, particularly if she's asked to see a partial or full. If you live abroad, or have limited mobility there's excellent reasons to ask this, and apart from one occasion every request I've had in this respect has been granted.
Be professional. If a publisher rejects you with a form letter, shrug and resend to someone else. If they reject you with critique DON'T respond except perhaps with "thank you for the advice." Rejection with critique is a Good Thing. The If you've got the nerve you could always ask them if they'll reconsider it after you changed it to their suggestions, but no more than that. Publishers and agent talk to each other and some will even post your name on line and will Mock You if you piss them off.
NEVER pay a publisher for anything . DO NOT be fooled into their convincing spiel that "sending your manuscript to an external reader is a normal procedure which will cost $300." The money flows to the artist. Remember that. Make it your mantra.
Thinking of self publishing? Think hard about it. Then think again. Consider all the pros and cons. Articles on the matter here and here. Find others.
www.writershelper.com/self-publishing.htm
http://www.googobits.com
So, you've been accepted! Hurrah! Now comes the hard work!
Don 't assume that your contract is as good to you as it can be . Does your publisher really have to take 3 years from signature to publication? What are your rights if: You sell to TV, you sell to Hollywood, you sell to a magazine and serialise.? What happens if the publisher folds after you've signed a contact?
If you can afford it, it's worth spending a little to have a lawyer check your contract, even if this does eat your advance, he will be more objective about negotiating clauses in your favour and not shy about asking for more money, more favourable conditions.
Talking of advances, for a newbie writer these are small if existent at all. Most e-publishers don't offer one at all, and independent small presses will only pay a couple of hundred dollars, so don't go ordering the Mustang just yet.
Make/change your Will
"What?" I hear you cry – "what's that got to do with anything?" Think about it. Your books will still sell if you die, your royalty cheques will still continue to come in. What happens if one of your books becomes the next Brokeback Mountain and the copyright is still live? Get your lawyer to add a clause about where your royalties should go and any contingency measures needed should matters change in your life.
Make sure someone can access your computer if the worst happens, too.
THE EDITING PROCESS
KNOW HOW TO USE TRACKED CHANGES! (or Reviewing as Word is now calling it) This sounds obvious but you wouldn't believe how many authors I've met in the last few years who have never used it before.
If you've not been through this process before then brace yourself. You've sent them your baby, they say they love it and then you get the first set of edits through and it's COVERED in red corrections. Your baby is despoiled! Ruined!
.
In fact, close the document down and go and do something else for the rest of the day. Approach it only when calm, when you have time to concentrate and preferably when you are alone. And sober.
Obviously every editor works in different ways. But keep these thoughts in mind:
1. Your editor is attempting to work with you to make your story better;
2. Hopefully your editor will be more knowledgeable than you in some ways. Mine was brilliant at punctuation and grammar, but wasn't very cognisant with the historical era. Use her strengths to your advantage, but be aware of her weaknesses;
3. You don't have to accept everything – they won't think you're difficult if you are polite and want to reject here and there;
4.
Know which battles to fight. So your editor doesn't seem to like adverbs, and
has ruthlessly eradicated them. She's also taken out an entire passage
which you feel is vital for character development, and changed several of your
archaic words for more simple ones. Weigh them up. At
face value you might want to reject them all, but which one can't you do
without? Accepting the ones that don't really matter will help you win more
easily when it really does;
5. Don't allow her to rewrite your book into the book she thinks it should be. Editing is one thing, changing characterisation for example, is not;
6. And as ever, remain calm, tactful and professional. Phrases like "I understand what you mean when you say…. But the reason for me including this was…" or "Thank you for the explanation of [ ], you really made it clear for me, I've changed x y and z but kept the section in a and b" are much more likely to keep the air calm than "WHY HAVE YOU CHANGED THIS???";
7. Thank her, and if you want, and if its possible, give credit in the book.
Be prepared to do a lot of your own marketing. Even the large NY or London houses these days will expect you to pimp your own books. They will have ideas to help you, and you should keep your publisher and agent informed when you go and do marketing, but finding your own venues to pimp will help. Think bookshops/local writers groups/universities/conventions to name just a few. Don't spam, though. There's nothing more likely to turn people off a book than finding every message in their inbox YOUR advert.
Get some marketing material together as soon as possible. Vistaprint and other printing sources are good for this and often have free offers. Business cards, (to hand out to agents at conventions), postcards (to leave everywhere) and anything else you can afford, lipglosses and pens are very popular.
Join a marketing group such as Marketing for Romance Writers, but I'm sure there are a lot more.
Find out where the local conventions are to you, consider going to the big ones like Saints and Sinners and Romantic Times IF you think it's going to be cost effective.
Getting your work reviewed
Talk to your publisher about who they are going to be sending to. Some publishers have a very limited budget for this, some have nil. Check with them that it's ok to send out under your own steam. Talk to your agent if you are lucky enough to have one.
Be aware that some publications/websites will ONLY review your book BEFORE its published, and some have strict guidelines - Romantic Times ask for an ARC (Advance Reading Copy) weeks in advance and won't review gay fiction at this time. Do your homework well in advance, make a timetable for sending copies out.
Some review site links - there are many many others
www.complete-review.com/links/links/links.htm
www.speakitsname.wordpress.com (gay historical)
www.rainbow-reviews.com?page_id=3 (m/m)
http://www.epicauthors.com/links.html
Awards
Again, speak to your publisher/agent as to awards, and discuss which your book would be suitable for..
And remember...
There's a lot of experienced people on the EAA webgroups, don't hesitate to ask anything, and this is what the site is for, after all.
Good luck and finally, don't forget to tell us when you get published so we can cheer!
Erastes
With grateful thanks to Storm Grant and Gehayi for their comments and contributions
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