posted
OK, no more excuses. I've decided to take up writing more seriously. Writing in my own language is clearly not the way so that leaves me but one option: publish abroad.
I've been preparing for this by writing a fan fic in English this last year to get my bearings with grammar. Finally getting out of my parents' house also seemed to be a good choice because I'm getting new ideas every day. My time as a student is also slowly coming to an end, which means I might have more time to write.
The only real problem I face is the ability to write only larger pieces of text. I've never written anything shorter than 20k and usually I go beyond 100k.
Finding a decent story market would be the best thing to do right now. That's where you fine people come in. I know there's been plenty of threads about this before but things change every year and searching through older threads may not be the best idea.
So: let me have it. I'm looking for any publishing market, preferably those that handle slightly larger stories (or perhaps even novella length). Also, advice on how to do shorter stories would also be appreciated.
P.S.: anything crutial I should know about Anglo-American markets would also be useful.
posted
You probably know this already, but there's even less of a commercial market for fanfic than for original fiction. You've got a shot with a couple of things, but only a couple.
But, then, you probably intend to do original fiction, all along, and this is a redundant warning...
posted
go to Duotrope. It has market listings of all types with extensive information on the markets, as well as a submission tracker and all sorts of similar stuff.
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posted
Fan fiction was for practice, no point in wasting creative energy. I intend to write my own stuff.
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posted
Long writing legs means long fiction. Duotrope lists about 100 houses that accept novel submissions. There are in the neighborhood of 85,000 English language book publishers, most publish some fiction. The Big Six don't accept unsolicited manuscripts and they're not all that responsive to queries either. Some of their imprints do, some of the next tier do, most of the smaller publishers do. It's an editorial choice. The smallest publishers might only produce one or two titles. They generally don't accept any outside creative work.
R.R. Bowker is the U.S. agency that tracks U.S. book publishing through ISBNs, which represent title edition, suggested retail price, and publisher's identity in the marketplace. They publish Books in Print, which is also available through online access for a price. About six million listings.
Alternatively, the major publishing markets are listed in Writer's Market. The 2010 edition is on sale now, about $30 retail list, some booksellers sell it for about a third less, and/or $6 a month online subscription, writersmarket.com, a division of Writer's Digest.
Writer's Market also lists reputable literary agencies. Most literary agencies accept queries, unsolicited manuscripts, or book proposals and so on, according to their submission guidelines. They then treat accordingly as would a publisher, up to a year for a response, if not longer, sometimes quicker, accept, reject, suggest changes as their individual preferences dictate. However, they have no prohibition against proposing a project to multiple publishers. The astronomically high advances some authors earn are a result of book auctions where publishers bid against one another for the rights to a title. Many agencies have no prohibition against simultaneous submissions, but like other outlets, they want to know, when they do so. Many have prohibitions against any kind of digital correspondence, initially. After acquisition, like with direct submission to publishers, it's an altogether other ball game.
Online indexes list various agencies according to whatever criteria they index by, there's as many agents as there are publishers, if not more.
[This message has been edited by extrinsic (edited July 12, 2009).]
posted
www.ralan.com or www.duotrope.com are the two major resources. However, if you can't write anything under 20,000 words you might just skip the short fiction markets and just push ahead with novels. But, if you want to write short fiction, then you need to train yourself to think that way.
As for writing in English as a foreign language, you might contact Aliette de Bodard, who is an excellent writer in English but is a native French speaker. do a search on her name and you will find her.
posted
Um... what does 'token' and 'royalty' mean? I think I've guessed about 'token' but I would still like an explanation.
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posted
To be paid royalties means you will be paid in relation to the profits generated by your story. Typically a percentage of the revenue. A token payment is a payment of such a small amount that it is, for all intents and purposes, meaningless. I usually see these for $5, $10, $20 dollars.
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posted
If you're going to be writing short stories, check out Strange Horizons, as a market for your work. I don't have any idea what you write, obviously, but I really enjoy the place, and if I recall correctly, they mention in their submission guidelines that they're on the lookout for writers of diverse backgrounds and cultures.
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posted
Strange Horizons can be very finicky. either youwrite what they like or you don't. If you don't write what they like you probably will always get a form rejection even if you sell the same story to another major market later. Don't take a form rejection from them as meaning there is something wrong with the story.
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posted
Strange Horizons want stories shorter than 5000 words. I think there is no way I could tell a whole story in so little words. There is no room to develop a plot or a character.
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posted
A pretty sizable number of short story markets want 5k words or less. Especially the "professional" ones. I mean theres quite a few that take longer, but usually the shorter the story the more options for markets you have.
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