(no subject)
May. 4th, 2006 01:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Today. Today I ate lunch at my favorite Italian restaurant, Novita. I have been going there for years, seriously years already, and I always order the same thing, which is pasta with red sauce and a glass of white wine. I know, I know, sacrilege. Don't tell my Italian grandma. The best part about ordering the same thing every time is that I always get the extra fresh basil on my pasta without having to ask for it, and my white wine is always pinot grigio, and the waiter always smiles extra big at me.
Also, I tip really really well.
Today. Today my author Kassandra Sims told me a bunch of funny stories about staying with her mom in Ohio, and then posted a journal entry in which she said:
Today. Today I am wearing all my Slytherin stuff: green eyeshadow, green jewelry. Green beaded bracelets and a green Monet necklace from the Met. If anyone feels like buying me a gift, feel free to hook me up with this totally Slytherin necklace that I desperately want. I also want this watch. I am greedy and I love the Met store.
Oh, and hey! I will answer a question:
burger_eater said: During his "Longshot" talk [at Writer's Weekend '05], Jim Butcher said that publishers keep one or two slots open every year specifically for new authors. Aspiring writers don't have to be better than Tim Powers, they just have to be better than all the other unpublished writers out there. He said. I'd never heard that before, so I'm looking for confirmation or refutation. Miss Snark was stumped on this one. Does Tor have spaces in their schedules specifically for new writers?
The quick answer to this is no, we don't keep slots open specifically for new writers. The quick answer is also that new writers should absolutely be better than Tim Powers and Neil Gaiman, or Laurell Hamilton, or Nora Roberts, or whoever your benchmark is.
The longer, more accurate, answer is that publishers and editors understand the reality that some books do better than others. Some books are going to sell lots of copies and some aren't. What we do have are slots for books that we don't expect to be bestsellers, or even in the upper midlist. They're not static -- these are dynamic slots, and they move around, and they aren't there for specific editors or specific books, and they are not even there specifically for authors who are brand new! Lots of really good authors who win awards get out lower numbers, even though they've been writing for years. So we have slots for them.
We have slots for building new authors, and slots for prestigious books that won't sell a lot of copies but will rain accolades upon our house.
Et cetera.
YMMV at other houses.
ETN:
pnh goes into more detail.
The second part of
burger_eater's question was: You said that listing publications on a query was a good idea, unless the publication was from a really small market which would make the writer seem small potatoes. Now, I'm not going to ask you for specifics (unless you want to slam some short fiction markets--in that case, go ahead) but where's the cutoff line for past publications that are more regrettable than commendable? Is it the SFWA criteria for pro markets? Half-penny a word and below? Never published a story that was later chosen for a best-of-the- year anthology?
The best answer I can give you is to say what I always say -- which is that you should use your common sense. Writing for a true confessions magazine doesn't help you sell a book. Having two short stories published in a magazine that lasted for six months isn't going to help you sell a book.
If you have done your appropriate research, you know which short fiction markets are ridiculous and which we take seriously. You know that coming to us with a publication under your belt in Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet is going to mean something more than a publication in My Uncle Bob's Guide to Campfire Horror or whatever.
You want to watch yourself with the number of short fiction credits you use, too -- the more short fiction credits you have, the more suspicious we (or, at least, I) will be about your long fiction. 300 short fiction credits are great -- but what does that mean about your novel?
Anyway, the point is that in your cover letter, you should talk about things that are pertinent to your novel. If it's about a doctor and you're a doctor, mention that. If it spins off a world you created in a short story that won a Hugo award, mention that. Use your best judgement.
Remember: the worst that can happen is a form rejection.
If you have a specific question about stuff that I talk about in this entry, feel free to ask it! If you have a question that's unrelated, please go to this entry and ask your question there.
Also, I tip really really well.
Today. Today my author Kassandra Sims told me a bunch of funny stories about staying with her mom in Ohio, and then posted a journal entry in which she said:
I have no great insight into my own "creative process". I MAKE THINGS UP. That's pretty much the whole process right there. I make things up, and sometimes the result is good, and sometimes it's self-indulgent crap. Hopefully those two sides even out.
Today. Today I am wearing all my Slytherin stuff: green eyeshadow, green jewelry. Green beaded bracelets and a green Monet necklace from the Met. If anyone feels like buying me a gift, feel free to hook me up with this totally Slytherin necklace that I desperately want. I also want this watch. I am greedy and I love the Met store.
Oh, and hey! I will answer a question:
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
The quick answer to this is no, we don't keep slots open specifically for new writers. The quick answer is also that new writers should absolutely be better than Tim Powers and Neil Gaiman, or Laurell Hamilton, or Nora Roberts, or whoever your benchmark is.
The longer, more accurate, answer is that publishers and editors understand the reality that some books do better than others. Some books are going to sell lots of copies and some aren't. What we do have are slots for books that we don't expect to be bestsellers, or even in the upper midlist. They're not static -- these are dynamic slots, and they move around, and they aren't there for specific editors or specific books, and they are not even there specifically for authors who are brand new! Lots of really good authors who win awards get out lower numbers, even though they've been writing for years. So we have slots for them.
We have slots for building new authors, and slots for prestigious books that won't sell a lot of copies but will rain accolades upon our house.
Et cetera.
YMMV at other houses.
ETN:
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
The second part of
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
The best answer I can give you is to say what I always say -- which is that you should use your common sense. Writing for a true confessions magazine doesn't help you sell a book. Having two short stories published in a magazine that lasted for six months isn't going to help you sell a book.
If you have done your appropriate research, you know which short fiction markets are ridiculous and which we take seriously. You know that coming to us with a publication under your belt in Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet is going to mean something more than a publication in My Uncle Bob's Guide to Campfire Horror or whatever.
You want to watch yourself with the number of short fiction credits you use, too -- the more short fiction credits you have, the more suspicious we (or, at least, I) will be about your long fiction. 300 short fiction credits are great -- but what does that mean about your novel?
Anyway, the point is that in your cover letter, you should talk about things that are pertinent to your novel. If it's about a doctor and you're a doctor, mention that. If it spins off a world you created in a short story that won a Hugo award, mention that. Use your best judgement.
Remember: the worst that can happen is a form rejection.
If you have a specific question about stuff that I talk about in this entry, feel free to ask it! If you have a question that's unrelated, please go to this entry and ask your question there.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 06:21 pm (UTC)I must admit, when I say my lj handle there in your post, I though "Oh, shit, what did I do now?" I'm relieved that it's only "learned something."
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 06:23 pm (UTC)I always have a split second of that "Uh-oh" when I hear my full name or see my LJ username in someone's post.
Hopefully my answers were somewhat helpful. I realize "Use your best judgement" isn't exactly the answer you were looking for -- but it's the best one I have!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 06:51 pm (UTC)Hmm... I wonder what authors can ask for... off to scrounge catalogues....
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 06:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 08:37 pm (UTC)Till the guy that brought me a big honkin' box of Godiva chocolates. And, it must be said, proved that I am easily bribed, because he got all the extra help (even after I was long gone from that project) that he wanted. Now I try to tell my clients that I require bribes, but since they're both sixteen months old I'm not holding my breath for Godiva.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 07:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 07:23 pm (UTC)*lusts for it*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 08:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-07 04:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 07:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-05 12:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-05 12:21 am (UTC)My only previous publication is a list in a McSweeney's book, and it's got nothing to do with anything.
Hee.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 08:58 pm (UTC)I love that!
Of course, you can always receive two, from the same magazine, for the same story, from two different editors.. two days apart...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 09:04 pm (UTC)Making stuff up
Date: 2006-05-04 09:03 pm (UTC)I said that I was inspired by Norman Mailer fucking Marilyn Monroe.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 09:52 pm (UTC)Thank you for making me feel better about not including two short fiction sales 17 years ago on my covers. ;)
Wow
Date: 2006-05-04 10:40 pm (UTC)Re: Wow
Date: 2006-05-05 08:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-05 12:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-05 08:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-06 01:26 am (UTC)I am actually a pretty accomplished (in my own mind) knitter, so I'm going to make one myself! It should be fun.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-06 05:09 pm (UTC)Have fun with the knitting! I did it in a garter stitch on my first try, but I think the next time I try it I'm going to stockingette stitch the black, with the green done in a relief on that. it's a pretty quick knit, too. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-05 12:12 am (UTC)Mass market lists, which are organized by month, really do have "slots" which represent anticipated distribution levels, particularly on the non-bookstore side of the market. No matter what, every month Tor is going to have a science fiction lead, a fantasy lead, a Tor Mainstream lead, and a Forge lead. In addition we'll have "twos" in each of those lists and possibly "threes" in one or two of them. We have some other "slots" which sometimes appear and sometimes don't, like "super leads" (think Jordan, or a new Ender book from OSC), or books in our "Women in Fantasy" program, which was specifically contrived as a way of getting an additional fantasy "slot", but that's basically the structure of things.
Hardcover and trade paperback publishing, on the other hand, don't have "slots" in the same sense. Some months the Tor hardcover list has a dozen new SF and fantasy titles; some months it's as low as six. Some months we may have four quest fantasies, one literary SF novel, and one YA fantasy; other months we may have three hard SF novels, a humorous fantasy, and two anthologies. We try to avoid too much clumping up of excessively similar material, and certainly we try to schedule things so that our high-earning books get spread around as much as possible (you really don't want to be shipping a new Dune prequel in the same month as the new Terry Goodkind, dissimilar though they are), but there's nothing like the imperative enforced by the mass-market system of "slots". Trade publishing is much less slot-driven.
And no, we don't have literal "slots" for hitherto-unpublished writers; we just have the fact that we keep finding them and that, risky though first novels are, there's very little that's more fun than finding a really good new writer and getting them successfully launched.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-05 04:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-05 12:45 am (UTC)No, it's not. It's not as bad as lots of other things that can happen. Oh, right, as a result of a manuscript submission . . . maybe so.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-05 12:57 am (UTC)I am trying to convince myself that sending along that necklace to you with my submission is a bad bad bad idea hahah.. but so so so tempting. It really is pretty, and someone should def. buy it for you.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-05 12:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-05 01:46 pm (UTC)I don't understand why using too many short fiction credits can hurt my chances. I always figured that it was an easy way to demonstrate that I'm publishable. Getting the endorsement of a wide variety of editors, each with their own personalities and pitfalls, seemed like a good way to convey overall competence.
Can you elaborate a little more on why this has a downside? Thanks so much!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-05 02:13 pm (UTC)Novelists tend to drag out a short story too much and not keep up the action, or it ends abruptly without actually completing the much shorter plot arc.
To me, a short story is the crisis of the moment, as simple as making it to work on time, or as life-altering as defusing the bomb that will end the world. A novel is the crisis of a week (or a life). Different goals with different methods.
JMHO... :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-07 04:54 am (UTC)writing short
Date: 2006-06-11 10:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-05 09:41 pm (UTC)