Oh, you silly, naive little thing. You want to be a writer. Didn’t you get the memo? The pay is lousy. If you’re with the Big Six-Now-Five, your publisher will barely promote your stuff (and you’ll never earn out your advance). If you self-publish, your wordbaby will be lost in a sea of other self-pubbed […]
Category > Publishing
When projects die
Sometimes projects die. You can pour your heart into a story or a book and for some reason, it might never reach an audience. Even if it’s a good story–sometimes bad things happen to good projects. I don’t just mean that you sent your work out in the world and it failed to find a […]
Query Letters, Synopses, and Samples: Tips From Penguin (Canada) Editor Adrienne Kerr
On August 8 and 9, I had the pleasure of attending a workshop presented by Adrienne Kerr, Commissioning Editor, Commercial Fiction, Penguin (Canada). In advance of the workshop, we each submitted a query letter, a five page synopsis, and a five page excerpt from our novel; in other words, just the sort of package one […]
On Gatekeepers and Making Our Own Rules
My SF-writing dreams are as traditional as they can get. I want to make a living by selling my fiction to publishers. I long to see my name nestled with other SF-award nominees, on the cover of Asimov’s, on the New York Times Bestseller list, and on the shelf of the local bookstore. The […]
On the Benefits of Being Prepared
Before I launch into this post, I want to tell you all: I have an agent. Of course when I received the offer I was the consummate professional. You know me. Cool-headed, even-tempered, never one to get carried away. I thanked him for the offer and politely accepted and was the very picture of calm. […]
Guest post: Anatomy of a Murder, By Lee Moyer
How important is the cover of a book to it’s success? In this post Lee Moyer gives an insightful breakdown of composition, color and typography on two different book covers to reveal a possible reason for why one sold so well and the other didn’t. Originally posted to his personal blog, Lee has graciously permitted […]
I nominate thee!
It’s award season again! Wait, didn’t I write a post that started out that way like, last week or something? Well, yes I did write that post, but it wasn’t last week, it was over 6 months ago, and can be found here. I do recommend (re-)reading it, because I’ve been reading like a hurricane […]
The World According to Lou
Lou Anders is the editorial director of Prometheus Books’ science fiction and fantasy imprint Pyr as well as several anthologies. He’s been nominated for multiple awards multiple times, including the Locus Awards, Shirley Jackson Award, Philip K. Dick Award, Chelsey Award, World Fantasy Award and the Hugo Award. He’s won the Chesley Award and […]
Guest post from Vylar Kaftan: Submission statistics and revision habits
Today we bring you Part 2 of Vylar Kaftan’s ultra-nerdy guest post on her submissions data. This post originally appeared on her blog. Thanks again to Vylar for letting us repost it here! I’m often asked about when to revise rejected stories, and whether I change stories before sending them to another market. Previously I […]
Guest Post: The Slow-Writing Writer’s Guide to Writing Part Time
About a year ago an acquaintance whispered in my ear that he had a friend I *really* should get to know. I took his suggestion and began to stalk B. Fox. (You can too, on twitter @thebranfox). In her I found a kindred spirit: an artist, a writer, a mother. (A fellow doodler <3). She […]
