Self-Publishing Goons: Yep, people buy it!

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Self-Publishing Goons: Yep, people buy it!

Sally Forth: Oct 16, 2012

DropTheAnvil posted:

Thanks everyone! I slept on it, and edited it a bit more. Are there any rules/advice on having "Comp titles" in your blurb? ((See first paragraph))

For fans of speculation fiction and Apex Magazine comes a debut collection of short stories that focuses on the human struggle during dark times.

Speculative fiction and Apex are a bit too vague to be useful comps - it'd be more effective to pick a couple of writers who've been published by Apex or have released similar short story collections and explain what it is that your stories have in common with theirs in terms of prose/characters/themes/etc. "For fans of Alex Shortstory's sharp, incisive prose and Robin Bookman's engagingly flawed characters," or whatever though even that's quite woolly - you know your own work well enough to be more specific.

# ¿ May 17, 2021 09:54

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 10:45

Sally Forth: Oct 16, 2012

Captain Log posted:

Are there any examples I could read about? I'd be really interested in seeing how they managed that, especially in regards to the length of their works.

I have two friends who made the jump - one got her start by writing very popular (novel, novella, and short story-length) fics in big fandoms and built up enough of a following that, when she published an original novella to AO3, an agent read it, offered her rep, and then sold it for her. Since then she's published a sequel novella and her first novel's just been announced.

Second friend wasn't as well-known in fandom but when she started posting her own original novel to AO3, our first friend publicised it for her (this happened before first friend's professional career had taken off) and a similar thing happened - it was wildly popular, at least one big-name author started talking about it, and she got an agent who later sold it for her. (Not to undersell her work - it's a great story in its own right, but it might not have exploded as it did without the initial visibility).

This is all vanishingly unlikely though, and if you're not interested in fandom for its own sake, I don't think it will be a useful avenue to go down. First friend built up her audience through a decade of genuine engagement (and of course luck played a role - writing the right story to hook the right fandom at the right time).

# ¿ Jul 10, 2021 10:48

Sally Forth: Oct 16, 2012

The Fiction Writing Advice thread provides general guidance and critiques on short excerpts of your work, while the Fiction Farm to Table thread will give feedback on longer pieces.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2023 15:37

Sally Forth: Oct 16, 2012

Strotski posted:

That's very helpful, thank you for taking the time!

As for how generic it is, yeah that's entirely a (big) problem because this book isn't meant to be representative of her work. Her best work is in m/m but at the moment she's trying to do what's more marketable and generic and she just modeled it after fourth wing which is huge right now. She's still trying to find an agent for it cause why not I guess?

Don't pitch it as New Adult - most agents and trad pub houses don't recognise it as a category and it's currently only consistently used in self-publishing (which is where Fourth Wing got its start). The query makes it sound Young Adult, and if you aged Rayne down a little then it'd slot right in.

Rayne isn't about to let a lizard alien walk away with her dreams - but what are they? Not wanting to be homeless might be a reason to start the adventure, but that really all that keeps her going through the tournament? Does she realise she enjoys the power/the adrenaline rush/opportunities to make out with Sai�erel?

Squid Game is pretty pointed in its themes - if you're comping it on the basis of 'tournament' and not because your book shares them, The Serpent and the Wings of Night is probably a better bet.

Honestly, if your wife is writing interesting m/m SFF(?) books, then there's a market for that and she'd probably do better pursuing it than trying to sell a lazy Fourth Wing cash in that neither of you seem enthusiastic about.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2023 10:24

Sally Forth: Oct 16, 2012

Strotski posted:

They are sci-fi mm mostly, it's what she's really passionate about, she just knows it's a much smaller market, given both sci-fi AND m/m.

Both of us know going the rip off way isn't the right thing to do since it shows in the writing and especially us marketing it. The reason she did m/f to begin with is the same reason she plays lottery once every 2 weeks "might as well try", as dumb and illogical that reason may be.

With her finishing editing this ripoff (which honestly has decent plot too, the only thing she was excited about writing) she's gonna pivot from m/f to m/m full time which is what we should've done from the beginning but she wanted to try and get lucky so.

TL;DR just trying to salvage bad decisions and make the best of it, I suppose.

I'm biased (agented, write queer SFF), but I think there's a demand and a market that's worth perusing - you're certainly not likely to get a Fourth Wing-esque success there, but then that level of success isn't likely in any area of publishing. The YA bubble of a few years ago has burst.

One thing to be aware of is a good agent is someone who'll want to work with you to build a career, so make sure that when you query you approach agents who also sell in the space you want to write in, not just ones who'd be willing to rep this book.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2023 12:22

Sally Forth: Oct 16, 2012

Captain Log posted:

Is using an agent a thing in the self-publishing space?

This is a helpful conversation to read, regardless of the answer. I'm feeling a little stuck with next steps, and need to hit up the trad-publishing thread to make sure I'm pointed in the right direction.

Agents aren't part of the self pub process - you're right, this should be a conversation for the trad pub thread (if there is one?)

# ¿ Oct 16, 2023 13:12

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 10:45

Sally Forth: Oct 16, 2012

Captain Log posted:

I do have a quick question -

Some publishers self-publishing companies asking for submissions will ask for an entire manuscript. Just plonking my 175k word manuscript into various places makes me nervous as hell. Is that a legit thing to ask?

Are you self publishing (uploading to Amazon, Kobo etc.) or submitting to publishers? If it's the former, I'll demure to the rest of the thread on what's normal.

If you're submitting to publishers, there are a few things to be aware of:

Vanity publishers are absolutely everywhere. A traditional publisher will not charge you for any step of the publication process, because their goal is to make money off selling your book to readers. Vanity presses make their money off getting the author to pay them for their services, so have no real motivation to sell your book. A good rule of thumb to differentiate them is whether the front page of their website is primarily advertising books to readers, or publishing services to writers. Writer Beware is a good resource for avoiding them. If you're not going to pursue traditional publication then self-publishing using the advice and resources in this thread will serve you far better than a vanity publisher.
Warnings aside, there are reputable indie publishers out there who accept unsolicited submissions, and depending on your goals and the genre you're writing in, they may be the best fit for your book, but most of the publishers with the resources to get your book into bookshops and libraries and onto bestseller lists don't take unagented submissions. If that's what you're hoping for, before you query publishers, you need to query literary agents. Once you have an agent, they'll submit the book to publishers on your behalf.
If you're hoping to traditionally publish, 175k is pretty long for a horror debut. Before you shop it around, I'd suggest you try and get the wordcount down.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2023 17:22

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Self-Publishing Goons: Yep, people buy it!