When we want to move house, we find a house that we think might suit and then we ask the estate agent how many bedrooms it has, where it is, how much it’s going to cost us, what sort of state it’s in, and all sorts of other questions too. Asking questions isn’t enough to…
Category Archives: submitting
The Speech That All Writers Need To Hear
Oh, this is a lovely one. Every writer needs to read it. Especially if you’re not yet published despite all sorts of good feedback and positive comments. It brought a lump to my throat as I read it, just as Nicola Morgan’s heartsong post did when she first sent it to me. Read it, have…
NaNoNoNo!
Now that November, and with it NaNoWriMo, is over, literary agents all over the world are bracing themselves for a surge in submissions which will almost all be just a little bit (trying to think of a tactful way to put this…) STINKY. The problem is that there are an awful lot of NaNoers who…
Why Agents And Publishers Specialise
In order to be as effective as they can be, most agents*, editors, imprints and publishers work only in a few particular genres. And there’s a good reason for that. I don’t read much SF: but when I do, each SF book I read seems full of bright new stuff which I’ve never read about…
An Odd Way To Get A Book Deal
When I read this story in the Daily Mail online last April I assumed it was some sort of hoax: a writer left her manuscript on Richard and Judy’s doorstep in the hope of getting herself a book deal and as if by magic, she landed herself a deal with Orion. But no: the article…
The Writing Business: Part III
This is the final part of the talk I gave at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival. You can read part I here, and part II here. The Writing Business 44) So, once you’re sure your writing is as good as it can be, you have to work out where to submit it. How can…
The Writing Business: Part II
This is part two of the talk I gave at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this week. You can read the first part here, and the final part will appear tomorrow. The Writing Business 25) How hard is it to get an agent? Let’s look at some statistics. 26) At her talk at the Romantic…
The Writing Business: Part I
Two days ago I spoke at the Edinburgh International Book Festival (get me!), on the subject of The Writing Business. I’d never done anything like this before, so I was very lucky to share the stage with Keith Charters of Strident Publishing and to have the event chaired by the writer Eric Swanepoel, who was…
Query Blasting: The Scattergun Approach
There are several organisations which will, for a fee, send your query to agents, editors and anyone else you ask them to. They usually do what they promise, and e-mail your information out to all the names on their mailing lists—and those lists can be vast, with tens of thousands of names on them. But…
For Unpublished Writers Everywhere
I can understand your frustrations. I can understand your longings to be published. I can even understand you considering calling yourself “prepublished” in an ironic, post-modernist way. But what ever you do, please don’t actually do it. It’s embarrassing, and will draw the attention of the Point And Laugh Brigade. My thanks to Editorial Anonymous…
Why Good Writing Gets Rejected
I have a reasonable amount of experience of the publishing world: I worked as a non-fiction editor for a book-packaging company which gave me direct experience of editing for some of the best publishing houses in the world. In the process, I learned a little about the publishing business; the differences between good and publishable;…
On Talent, Rising To The Top
If you want to know how editors feel on the rare occasion they find a good book in their slush-pile, then read this lovely post from Making Light which compares the feeling to that moment in Britan’s Got Talent when Susan Boyle began singing and Simon Cowell’s usually-cynical face lit up with joy. (What isn’t…
Trios: Beachcombing, by Maggie Dana: What Editors Want
Maggie Dana began this particular trio of articles with an account of her potholed path to publication; then Will Atkins, her editor took over and discussed Macmillan New Writing. This time Will considers the role of the author in the publication process, and nails down what authors can do to imrpove their chances of success….
How Writers Can Save Publishing, One Book At A Time
When I visited Aberystwyth a couple of weeks ago, I did my usual thing: I left my husband on the beach to supervise our children, and I went for a walk around the town. I’ve known Aberystwyth all my life: I have a lot of family there, and it’s familiar to me in an infrequent,…
If You’ve Ever Wondered…
…what reading slush for months on end does to your mind, then just read this. It is a bloody brilliant blog and I wish I’d written it. (I wish I’d discovered the blog, too, but have to admit that Janet Reid got to it first. Now I know what her competitors feel like.)
Trios: The Third Sign, by Gregory A Wilson: The Editor's View
Although Gregory A Wilson has already told us how he found a publisher, it’s interesting to read a corresponding view from the other side of the fence. Here, Greg’s editor at Five Star, John Helfers, discusses what he looks for in a writer, and how writers can improve the editing process. Next time we’ll hear…
Trios: Beachcombing, by Maggie Dana: Macmillan New Writing
Last week we heard about Maggie Dana’s potholed path to the publication of her first adult novel Beachcombing; this week Maggie’s editor, Will Atkins, discusses the imprint which finally took her into print: Macmillan New Writing. You might remember that there was a bit of a fuss when Macmillan New Writing launched back in 2006…
Trios: The Third Sign, by Gregory A Wilson: Getting Published
My thanks to Gregory A Wilson for this candid account of his route to publication, and for persisting with this series despite my hopeless lack of organisation! Contributions from Greg’s editor and his cover artist will appear over the coming weeks, and if you’d like information about his upcoming readings, convention appearances and other events,…
Trios: Beachcombing, by Maggie Dana: My Potholed Path To Publication
Maggie Dana, author of Beachcombing, comments regularly on this blog; she wrote a wonderful piece about typesetting for me a few weeks ago, which resulted in a spectacular spike in my reading statistics; and she’s recently had her first grown-up novel* published. Here’s her own account of her tortured path to publication, in which she…