How to get published...

[trigger2]

So, my best friend's been writing a book for the last couple of years, and he finally finished it in the last couple of weeks. I got the honor to edit/be the first person to read it, and I say it has amazing potential. A futuristic (but not to distant, 2036-2041) war between the human race, and an alien race. Amazingly well written. I personally think that it has publishing possibilities. So, I was wondering if anyone knew of any decent literary agents, or knew another way of getting it published. Preferably one around good ol' boring Oregon would be nice, but not needed. Thanks to anyone that can help!

A little about the book.
Sci-fi/action with a smidge tiny bit of romance.
Deffinitly not a childs book. (:
178 pages in Microsoft Word in size 10 Times New Roman font.

If you need anything else, let me know.
Again, thanks in advance!

[smkelly13]

Here's some tips: (found at numerous sites)

Please tell us about you:

What uniquely qualifies you to write on your subject?
What would you like to accomplish by having this material published?
What experience do you have writing other books or materials? Sales history?
What kinds of book promotion are you ready to undertake?

Tell us about your idea:

Who is the primary audience for your material? Secondary?
In what ways will your material be helpful to the audiences you identified?
Comparing your manuscript to the competition among published books, how and why is your idea different and better?
What kinds of promotion do you think will be particularly effective for you and your book?

What we need to see in writing:

Send a letter of inquiry to us in which you respond to the questions above and relate any other information you think will help us make a decision about the suitability of your manuscript. (The mailing address is at the end of this page.)
Send a paper copy, double spaced, of all or as much of the manuscript as you have ready with your letter. At a minimum, we need a detailed outline showing the organization of the manuscript, contents, an introduction, and two chapters showing your best and truest writing style.
If you would like your material returned to you in the event it is not suitable for Parenting Press, also send a postage-paid reply envelope large enough to hold it.
Do NOT send your material via e-mail.

http://www.writeandpublishyourbook.com/
http://www.publishingcentral.com/subject.html?sid=87&si=1
http://www.justclicklocal.com/local.php?listingi=&keywords=publishing+agencies&query=Publishing+Agencies&location=oregon&location2=&rating0=&listingid0=5181948&comment0=&name0=&email0=&rating1=&listingid1=14242659&comment1=&name1=&email1=&rating2=&listingid2=

(I'm in the process of writing a book myself.  I'm considering self-publishing.  It's worth a thought)

I hope this helps.

[Widewing]

iUniverse....

http://www.iuniverse.com/


My regards,

Widewing

[Rolex]

The publishing business is very old fashioned. The standard format for a manuscript (MS) is:

Chapter Breaks = Hard Page End
Font Style = Courier New
Font Size = 12 point
Headers showing title of book/name of author = Yes in print - TITLE/AUTHOR/PAGE#
Indentations at Paragraph Beginning = Yes, One tab stop/First Line Indent, equaling five spaces
Italics for emphasis = Underscore where italics would appear
Justification = Left justified (ragged right margin)
Line Spacing = Double
Margins = one inch all around
Page Numbering = Yes, bottom or top of each page
Paper Size = 8-1/2" x 11" (US) or A4 size (rest of world) white, single sided
Paragraph Breaks = Hard Return

Search for agents. All real agents in the US are in New York or California. Agents live and work near publishers. Queries to agents must follow their submission rules strictly or they will be ignored. The response is either no, or a request for a partial MS. Agents and publishers get thousands of queries every week by new writers with a first novel in that genre. Maybe one out a thousand writers will get a request for a partial MS. That genre may be the most competitive and least likely to be published of all fiction, so your friend will need to persevere and have skin as thick as a wall. But, first sci-fi novels by first-time writers do get published every once in a while. I would say the odds are about the same as winning the lottery. It usually takes a writer several books to improve their stories, characters and writing enough to the point that an agent will ask to see a partial manuscript.

It is not a good thing for your friend to have a best friend critique their work, unless you are a published author yourself. You're unlikely to give honest feedback. But, I do hope your friend finds an agent!

[smkelly13]

This also should help out considerably, either now, or down the road:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/find_a_book_publisher.htm

Regarding the manuscript:

http://www.writecontent.com/Publishing_Tools/Manuscript_Guidelines/manuscript_guidelines.html
http://www.springerpub.com/default.aspx?pid=28
http://mzbworks.home.att.net/msprep.htm

[FLOTSOM]

a friend of mine awhile back was/is a damn good writer. the biggest hurdle he had to get past was his lack of published history.

he met peter straub at some kind of convention and peter was kind enough to explain to him that if you have a published history of short stories and/or articles in weekly/monthly/quarterly magazines and/or circulars it will greatly help you get the publication houses attention. these publications need not be on the same subject you intend on making your primary theme, variety of subjects shows research and investigative ability, but just having a history of items published shows an on going commitment to being a writer and not just a one time flash in the pan author.

peter told dave (my friend) that publishing houses have no interest in the one hit wonder. the company doesnt really start to make serious money until the author has written his third book. prior to that its just building up the name of the author its all promotion.

peter also told dave that if you can, if the potential author has the skill for it. while writing your book also write a screen play/movie orientated script of your story line. the ability to turn a book into a movie is the greatest money maker for any author and publication house. if you show them you idea has viable movie potential it will drastically increase their interest in you and your ability to make them a profit.

as far as i last knew dave was getting a book published 5 years ago, but i have not spoken to him since then so i dont know how things have worked out for him.

tell your friend good luck

[Simaril]

Baen has a track record for developing new writers in SF, and a several fan fiction writers from their forums have gone on to co-author books with their bigger name writers.

Having said that, the "aliens invade earth" thing has...um...been done before once or twice. So many times that Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote an earth invasion novel in which the aliens were ELEPHANTS -- the joke being that was the only angle that hadn't been tried yet.

[trigger2]

Baen has a track record for developing new writers in SF, and a several fan fiction writers from their forums have gone on to co-author books with their bigger name writers.

Thanks for that info, I'll have to check it out.

EDIT: If you're talking about Jim Baen, he passed away.
JIM BAEN

October 22, 1943 - June 28, 2006
I'll continue researching what I can do, but, just a little fyi.

Having said that, the "aliens invade earth" thing has...um...been done before once or twice. So many times that Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote an earth invasion novel in which the aliens were ELEPHANTS -- the joke being that was the only angle that hadn't been tried yet.

I know it's an old subject, but as said by someone else, "The more you find on a subject, the more money there is to be made with it. Take the titanic during '98. Every thirteen-year-old-girl couldn't get enough of the stuff!!"

It is not a good thing for your friend to have a best friend critique their work, unless you are a published author yourself. You're unlikely to give honest feedback. But, I do hope your friend finds an agent!

Published author, well, depends on how you'd define it. If it means specifically books, no. Poetry? Yes, I am. Although I had to do basically nothing for it. The opportunity arose by happenchace, but that's another story. I give honest feed back, and correct this or that. Make a smidge change on this or that etc... I'm just trying to help him out on this because, as I said, it has potential. It's quite good, well written, well thought out, and brings in new ideas while making some "hidden" historical remarks.


Thanks for the advice though guys. It's much appreciated, and I'll be getting to work on it!

[Stixx]

You don't mention the word count trigger. Many of the publishing houses have guidelines on the length of a book. ie: minimum 70 to 120 thousand words. Is the manuscript double spaced or single spaced? 178 pages of double spaced type would only equal about 44,000 words which qualifies the work as a Novella.

As has been suggested before a good agent is the best way to go, get an agent interested in the book and they'll market it to the right publishers. DO NOT PAY ANYTHING UP FRONT FOR AN AGENT. Respectable agents that will work for you work for their percentage of the sale, normally ten percent, but in some cases fifteen. They do not charge you for copying, mailing, or reviewing the manuscript. Writer's Digest publishes a yearly listing of all literary agents. I believe its called WD Guide to Literary Agents. Costs about 20 bucks, well worth the price as it lists each agent, what they represent, what they are looking for, contact info, recent sales, and most importantly will they work with new writers. You can get more info at www.writersdigest.com


If your friend is not already a member of a writers group where he can get an objective opinion of his work, he should really find one to get some feedback on his manuscript before he begins the submission process. One thing to keep in mind here. Agents talk to one another, they network, if your friend jumps the gun and markets a manuscript that's not quite ready, it will work against him in the long run. I've used
www.writing.com in the past. Become a member for free, read and review other work, and other writers will read and review your work. The only drawback is it might take a while to get the feed back you're looking for.

Self publishing is an option to consider. Your friend could use Print on Demand, such as iUniverse, or pay a printer to print and bind 5,000 copies of the book. www.iuniverse.com

iUniverse charges a single fee up front to set the book in the proper format to be printed as the orders come in. They have several different price tiers for the different things they can do. The most expensive would include professional editing and cover design. As a Print on Demand publisher they can print one copy or a hundred copies. But as a self published author your friend will have to be ready to handle all of the marketing for his book.

I used them in 2001 to print my book after I was approached by a junior editor at Random House who had read the first page of my manuscript via the Maui Writer's Conference manuscript exchange and wanted to see the rest. After a year he replied with an offer to publish, with no advance, 8% royalty on the wholesale price of a paperback that would have been on the shelf for no more than three months. Long story short, I thought I could do better and got in a hurry. It's a good book, but it could have been better had I taken the time to get the necessary feedback and did a good rewrite which I would have happened with Random house. I'm sure after I rejected their offer I was PNG in New York publishing.
http://www.amazon.com/Adversary-Some-Things-Better-Undiscovered/dp/0595178960

A printer will charge an agreed upon price per book upfront anywhere from 2.50 to 4.75 per book with payment due in advance. For a 5,000 book run this could total 10 to 20 thousand dollars. Your friend will be responsible for cover design and having the manuscript camera ready for the printer.

I would be willing to offer some feedback on the manuscript under the following conditions. Only send the first ten pages, if I want to see the rest I'll ask for it. Be patient, as a working writer I'm rather busy, but I'd be more than happy to look at your friends work and point out areas that could use improvement, and I don't charge anything. Pm me if he's interested and I'll reply with my email address.

Otherwise I wish your friend the best of luck and welcome to the world of the writer. It's a rather interesting place full of its little ups and downs, mostly downs, but the occasional ups will have you smiling for weeks.

[Saxman]

I wouldn't mind the rejection so much if they'd at LEAST do more than just return the manuscript. It'd be nice to know WHY they didn't like your submission.

[texasmom]

If you're doing the contacting on your own, you should have a buddy on the return address of all of the return envelopes.  Let them keep the rejections and bring you only the good stuff *wink*

[gunnss]

Have him go to Ralens and checkout the book publishers listed there.

http://www.ralan.com/

also look at the SFWA site,

http://www.sfwa.org/

Be prepared for long lead times, baen is fastest with about a year wait in the slush pile, other publishers will be longer up to 3 years before they say yes or no.

Most big houses no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts, and require an agent.

Regards,
Kevin