"how to" guide suggestions

stumblebum

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I apologize is this has been covered elsewhere--my searchfu failed me.

There is a ton of helpful information regarding all of the important details that address the publishing side of the craft. Unfortunately, much of it is conflicting and all of it is spread out here and there all over the place.

Would anyone care to recommend a writer's "field guide" for getting published. As in, you need a query letter. This is what to put in it. Here are some examples. You need a synopsis, this is what to put it in. Here are some examples. And so on; a nuts-and-bolts reference I can keep on my desk for easy reference?
 

CathleenT

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I can't recommend a field guide.

However, if you go to Share Your Work, Query Letter Hell, there are many stickies at the top that show you both what and what not to put into queries and synopses.

And then I would recommend reading through some query threads to see how queries evolve. Because I can tell you from personal experience that simply writing a query by modeling it on a successful one usually doesn't get it done right off the bat. It needs to be fine-tuned, and sometimes even scrapped and re-done.

I can't fill you in on much else about publishing, but hopefully that will give you a start.

If you want to search AW, go to the very bottom left and type in your search question. Quite a lot has been posted on this site about publishing, perhaps enough to give you the answers you're looking for. :)
 

Old Hack

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There are all sorts of different books about publishing. If it's trade publishing you're interested in the best one I've read is Carole Blake's "From Pitch to Publication". It's a little outdated now; and it is written with the UK market in mind; but it still gives an excellent introduction to how publishing works, and how new writers should approach it.

But I agree with CathleenT: there are lots of good threads here and while it seems like there is far too much to work through, if you read through the sticky threads and ask plenty of questions you'll get to grips with it. It's good that you're doing your research.
 

stumblebum

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Thanks guys! I appreciate the advice. I'll follow it.

Daunting is the word that comes to mind when it comes to 'the process'.