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by Eric Griffin
Writing is a craft and publishing a trade. Study the business while you hone your writing skills.
An author is just a writer who sells what he writes. Authors autograph books, see their names in print, cash checks from publishers, receive rave reviews, get fan mail… Writers spend hours each day, alone at the keyboard, wrestling with words that won’t stay put.
As long as you’re going through the grind of being a writer, you might as well be an author as well, yes? So, you need to learn what you can and can’t sell.
As a new writer, you can’t sell your ideas any more than you can eat them. It doesn’t matter how world-shaking your ideas are. Everybody has ideas, all the time. Often great ideas. Nobody wants to buy your story ideas. Nobody wants to write your story ideas for you and then split the take. What people want from you – the writer -- are your words. On paper. Typed. Spelled correctly. Is that too much to ask?
Until you have a completed manuscript, you’ve got nothing to offer to a publisher. Thus, Step One: finish a manuscript.
Yes, it’s possible that you can snare a publisher’s attention with something less than a completed manuscript. But once you’ve caught that tiger by the tail, it’s going to turn on you and start snapping for the completed manuscript. And what are you going to throw it to save yourself? Don’t try to sell things that don’t exist yet. Finish the manuscript, then shop it around.
A novel is a daunting undertaking. One hundred thousand words. A novel can die on the vine when the initial rush of enthusiasm falters. A novel can smother to death as the opening chapter gets rewritten again and again, without accumulating any subsequent chapters. A novel can fall prey to innumerable fits and false starts.
If you’ve got a completed novel, you should shop it around. However, I’ll suggest that this is not necessarily the best way (much less the only way) to break into print.
SF has a thriving magazine market for short fiction. And it’s often easier to cut your chops as a writer and as a salesman, with a short story.
The best way to sell a short story is to read the target magazine. Go to the magazine section of your favorite bookstore and stock up on several SF titles.
Pick a few you like and send away for back issues. Study them, take them apart, find out what makes them tick. The better you understand what a magazine prints (and what it has already done to death), the better you can target your submission.
Tie-in novels are a different critter. Nobody but White Wolf will touch a WOD novel. Nobody but Wizards will touch a Dragonlance novel.
Neither of these publishers accepts unsolicited manuscripts. This means that writing for these lines is by invitation only. Don’t put a lot of time into a WW novel unless/until asked to do so. So how do you get an invite?
There are some things these publishers are looking for before they take on a new writer. They want to see that you can produce professional quality work, accept editorial direction, carry projects through to completion and turn in work in a timely manner. The best way to prove your case is with professional writing credits -- preferably with that publisher.
Okay, this sounds like a vicious circle, so here's the back door:
If you want to write game-related fiction, try your hand first at freelancing for the game line. I wrote several WW game books before I ever worked on the fiction line. Query the game line developers with a brief professional letter and a writing sample – a complete short story. Make sure whatever you send is your best work and uses proper spelling and grammar. It's best if your story is not set in that game world; for legal reasons, many publishers will not even look at writing samples featuring their own material.
A lot of new writers get caught up in the idea of wooing and winning an agent. I’m going to absolve you of this burden. Everyone without a completed manuscript (see above), you don’t need an agent. Everyone without a novel-length manuscript (agents don’t handle short fiction), you don’t need an agent. Everyone without an offer from a publisher, you don’t need an agent.
Whoa! An offer from a publisher? Isn’t that what I want the agent for?
No. As a first time author, what you want an agent for is negotiating the contract. As hard as it may seem to sell your first book, it is much harder to successfully negotiate your first book contract. The grief an experienced agent will save you is well worth his commission.
Also, you will find it more pleasant to woo an agent once you have an offer in hand.
Write because it makes you happy, not because of what other people might say about your work. (You already know you’re not in this for the money or the glamour, right?) This is important because there will come a time when somebody will say something awful about something you wrote. It happens.
Something you worked hard on is rejected. You get a lousy review. It's hard to build up your thick "writer's skin." The best shield you have is knowing that your being a writer is not dependent on everyone liking all your work all the time. If a piece is rejected, you rework it (especially if the editor bothered to give you a word of feedback or encouragement). Or you submit it somewhere else. Or you just put it away for a while and move on to the next project.
There are a bunch of good books available on the writing life and the business side of writing. At the bookstore (the writing/ publishing/ reference sections) or the library (Dewey 800), you’ll find that many of your favorite writers --Stephen King, Lawrence Block, Terry Brooks, Orson Scott Card, Ben Bova, Damon Knight, Anne Lamott, E.M. Forster, William Goldman – have set down advice for you. Also look for the Writer's Digest imprint.
Professional organizations are another great source of information. The SFWA (SF), HWA (horror), MWA (mystery), and SCBWI (children’s) have excellent handbooks and/or publications.
The gold flows towards the author. You'd be amazed how many folks run afoul of this point. Picture this: On the top, a big dollar sign. In the middle, a red arrow pointing down. Below, you, the writer. With a happy face. The money is flowing your way.
Why is this important? Because you may come across someone who tries to convince you that money flows upstream.
This person may be a publisher. Publishers who take money from authors are called 'vanity presses'. You don't have to deal with them. A reputable publisher does not ask for setup fees or reading fees. He makes his money by turning your words into books and selling them.
This person may be an agent. Agents who take money from authors in order to represent, read or edit their work are generally called 'scam artists'. You don't have to deal with them. A reputable agent makes his money by negotiating hard to get you the best deal. In return, he takes a cut of the money -- 10% or 15%.
If you are in doubt, one great resource is the Writer Beware section of the SFWA website.
Think of a shadowy trenchcoated figure lighting a cigarette beneath a streetlight. As you approach, he whispers, "Pst..."
What's the Big Secret(tm) to getting published? Most folks think there's some kind of code word or club handshake that will open the Portals of Publication. There's got to be more to it than just writing a good story, right?
Well, I'll spill it -- whenever, I’m stuck, or sick, or tired, or uninspired, or whatever, I remember the Pst... principle:
The most important thing is to write every day. The hardest thing is also (coincidentally) to write every day.
It doesn't have to be fiction -- or all the same project. Write a journal, an essay, a review, a short story, a how-to piece, a poem, whatever.
With only 500 words (one hour) each day, five days a week (you get two days off for good behavior), you'll have racked up 2500 words your first week. In two weeks, you'll have finished off a short story. In six to nine months, a novel.
The important thing is to get into the mindset that you are a writer and -- at the most fundamental level -- what a writer does is write.
Copyright © 1997-2006 Eric Griffin