Advice for New Authors

Publishers who take unagented submissions:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=266392
http://ralan.com/m.publish.htm
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240366

...Unpleasant as the realization is: you do have to research like mad. You do, you do, you. You double triple dooditty do.

evilrooster said:

(Just being clear here, since you're relatively new and may not have run across some of our successful self-published writers.)

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Or some of our successful traditionally-published writers (which doesn't include me). Some of these posts come across as arrogant and almost snotty, considering how hard many of the writers here have worked to achieve what they have achieved.

caw

CrastersBabies said:

If they have the mentality that the world "doesn't get their brilliance" (instead of learning how to take critique, revise, and remaster), then you can place a million bridges in front of them and it really won't matter, will it?

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Oh, ok. For some I understood it as the agents burning bridges. Like, 'one try and you're out' sort of thing.

blacbird said:

Or some of our successful traditionally-published writers (which doesn't include me). Some of these posts come across as arrogant and almost snotty, considering how hard many of the writers here have worked to achieve what they have achieved.

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If you have a problem with a post, you can always report it with the little triangle button, and the room mods will come have a look.

Torgo said:

I do think it's possible to sell a trilogy; it kind of has to be, because I've seen stuff published over the last decade or so in the fantasy genre that just wouldn't make sense as a standalone. But maybe you build up a rep with standalones first before you can sell a trilogy?

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I think it will depend on the book(s), the writer and the publisher.

I know authors who sold a trilogy (a quartet in one case) as their first book, and others who had several standalones first.

phantasy said:

Oh, ok. For some I understood it as the agents burning bridges. Like, 'one try and you're out' sort of thing.

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Not exactly. In general, you get the opportunity to query a manuscript to an agent one time. That's why you should query in small batches. If you're not getting requests or you get feedback that suggests a rewrite is in order, then you don't want to have gone through your entire list before those changes are made.

The agents won't blackball you if you query again, but they *do* remember the pitches they've read and rejected. You can explain that there has been a significant rewrite, of course. It may or may not overcome their initial negative impression.

OP,

I haven't read all the replies here, but #2 seems to be the best. Finish the book first. Polish it to the best of your ability. Correct the major grammatical mistakes if there are any. Finally, send it off.

That's all I can offer. Me, my queries tend to get me rejected half the time even if they're in the style the agents want. I also blame my work as not being strong enough, so I keep striving to do better.

As for getting published from your neck of the woods, with the Internet, it doesn't matter. I live in Japan and have been here half my life (!) and I've been published digitally as well as in book form by legitimate publishers. So if your novel is good enough, the publishing house will take it.

Best of luck to you.