Note: I see there have been threads on this before, but they are more than 20 years old. The landscape may have changed. But if a mod wants to merge this and revive an old thread, I don’t mind.
So I have written a hard-SF novel. Not something I ever really expected to do, but the ideas and the characters came to me and demanded to be written.
Friends say it may be of publishable quality (but then, they are hardly likely to tell me it sucks, after all!) I have run it past ChatGPT which has been surprisingly useful for catching things like punctuation errors, word and phrase repetitions and even minor continuity and technical mistakes.
How does one approach this? Do you send a complete copy of the MS, or a proposal?
What medium is the way to go these days: electronic, postal mail? If electronic, what format do publishers prefer to receive?
There are several books you can find in any large bookstore about how to go about publishing your novel.
Assumimng you want to go the traditional route of publishing, you should either a.) get an agent, or b.) find a publisher who will accept un-agented queries. This is pretty difficult if you want to be published by a major publishing house.
But in either case, you start with a stron query letter in which you set out, in a BRIEF letter, the meits of your book what makes it new and interesting, and who would be interested in reading it. You can compare it to other books, ideally ones that did well. Include a short extract that really shows your writing at its best.
You’ll do this whether you are sending it to a publisher or an agent. Traditionally, one sent out only one at a time, but nowadays people often send multiple queries. It’s unlikely, unless your book is extraordinarily compelling, you won’t get more than one interested query. (I sent out over 350 targeted queries for my YA science fiction novel The Traveler. That’s 350 queries to agents who had stated that they were potentially interested in that type of book. I got zero positive replies. Be prepared for a lot of this.)
Read up on the topic – there are plenty of books and websites.
Thanks.. I know the traditional quote:”don’t give up your day job!”
You imply that publishers are not usually very interested in ‘cold’ submissions. I’m not surprised; I expect they get swamped with an enormous amount of dreck.
@CalMeacham has it right. It’s more difficult than ever to get a book published by a major publisher and publishing trends lean to a certain type of novel.
Few major publishers accept unagented submissions, so it’s best to find an agent. Look for someone from aalitagents.org; they are all legitimate and won’t scam you (Remember Yog’s Law: money flows toward the writer).
You need a strong cover letter with a one-paragraph description. You’ll also have to write a one-page double-spaced synopsis. Each agent will tell you what they expect.
If they like what you sent, they’ll ask for the full novel. If they like that, they’ll take you on as a client. Then it’s their job to get it published.
Now a small press might accept unagented subs; getting them to publish is the same process as getting an agent.
Yes, but by a press that accepted un-agented submissions. (Hard to find).
I’ve had five (or six, depending upon how you count things) books published, with another one coming out this year. All by publishers that don’t require agented submissions, because I haven’t been able to land an agent, no matter what I do. (And published by good and respected presses – three through Oxford University Pres, one through the University of Massachusetts Press). None of my books have been self-published or “vanity press”.
I recently posted a thread about my son having gotten a couple of books accepted for publication.
From my perspective, it seemed a long, drawn out process. He has long been involved in SF and gaming type conventions. I believe some of those conventions have “writers’” elements, and he participated in writers’ groups - where I presume people shared info/strategies.
He got an agent - which seemed a kind of convoluted process. I think he got names of agents from his writers’ groups and conventions. It was just a hit/miss process of contacting agents whose client list seemed to suggest they might be interested in his sort of writing. In the end, it just seemed to have involved a great element of luck - having the correct manuscript/proposal cross the desk of the right agent at the right time.
I had discussed with him self publishing, publishing on-line, etc, and he did not wish to pursue those for various reasons.
So getting an agent was a HUGE first hurdle. Then it was a long process of the agent submitting it to publishers. Again, I think it was just good fortune that the agent submitted it to the correct publisher where it was seen by the correct editor at the correct time. So he had a couple of years of just ongoing disappointment, until out of the blue two publishers were interested. He ended up with a 2-book deal with a major publisher (Titan) and a 5 figure advance. Publication is planned for next July.
We’ll see how it sells. But it really seemed like a matter of just beating his head against a locked door. Then when he got an agent, it opened a crack. And when he got a publisher interested, the door was flung open. I’m not aware of any shortcuts. I think it may have appealed to the publisher that he envisioned a several book series set in his particular universe.
Another thing (which my son disliked) - agents and publishers often asked about his on-line presence. In his opinion, maintaining that kind of a presence was essentially a separate job - and a job he didn’t care for. But as you approach agents, it might help to be able to point to whatever else you’ve done - whether you have a blog/website, presented at conventions, whatever.
QueryTracker is a database of literary agents. You can sort them by whether they even consider sf submissions. Then you go to a form that allows you to enter the details of your submission. Then you wait up to a year before they respond. I’m serious. That’s an outlier, to be sure, but it happened to me. I did not get an agent that way.
I have had agents for nonfiction. The last one sent my proposal around to a couple of dozen publishers before he left the business. Probably not connected to me, but it felt personal. Anyway, none of them bit. He told me I lacked credentials. I wasn’t a professor and I didn’t have a huge internet following.
Credentials are important in fiction as well. Maybe try putting several short pieces on Amazon and build up a following. Or at least look at people who have and try to see what makes them click. Space wars? Future civilizations? Interesting aliens? Sf mysteries? Publishers always want new, original material that’s exactly like the stuff that sells.
Go around the internet and check out fan sites for sf. There are many. Some encourage new writers and give advice. (Can’t give examples, just know they’re out there.) Research the hell out of where the field is today. You don’t have to slant your work to suit them but that will give you an inkling of where you stand.