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Boarders Writing A Novel: Volume 14 A Memory of Civility


SpaceChampion

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8 hours ago, Simon Steele said:

I'm about to finish a story that's going to come in under 20,000 words, but probably not by much. What can that be marketed as? Some sites like Writers Digest say that's still short story range, others call it a novelette. I suppose it's hard to publish something like this, though I'm certain there are markets if I know what to look for.

http://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/

You're falling into the awkward 10k-50k range - I'd class it as a novelette. Your options might be to try and split it up into three shorter stories, or beef it up into the novel range.

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Generally, novelettes are things which are the centerpiece for anthologies. Which means I'd probably hold onto that until I have a anthology it fits or you're going to a collection of your own work. Either that or work to expand it to the 40K range and make it a novella which can be sold individually.

Anyone interested in my writing career should note I've done an update for my upcoming books this year and next.

http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2016/05/update-for-may-2016.html

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I was wondering if I could join in here as an aspiring comic creator. I've been self-publishing a web comic for years (as both writer and artist), but I'm working on a few other ones as well. I'd like to be able to make some money off this endeavor. I haven't seen any separate threads for comic creators, so maybe I should start my own?

Either way, some great advice in here. Thanks!

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On 5/17/2016 at 0:22 PM, C.T. Phipps said:

Generally, novelettes are things which are the centerpiece for anthologies. Which means I'd probably hold onto that until I have a anthology it fits or you're going to a collection of your own work. Either that or work to expand it to the 40K range and make it a novella which can be sold individually.

Anyone interested in my writing career should note I've done an update for my upcoming books this year and next.

http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2016/05/update-for-may-2016.html

 
 

Thanks to everyone who replied, but ugh, I kind of figured this was the case. I can never seem to write something that fits the right length. I always end up too short or too long. I'm liking short more lately. You'd think publishers could find a way to make this take off with e-publishing as that cuts the cost, but eh, what do I know?

Edit: Although, if there was ever anything that would work to expand with more stories it is this one. I always kind of wanted to do some short stories with this character/world. I guess I can work toward that. Maybe try mashing them together under some overarching theme. 

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Actually your best bet is Tor.com's new novellette imprint called...  Tor.com The Imprint.

It's primarily ebook but select titles are made available for print-on-demand, and audiobooks options are on the table too.  >17,499 words.

 

Guidelines here.  Currently closed for submissions, but they usually open for subs on short notice a few times a year as I recall, with one of those times being mid to late summer.

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5 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

Actually your best bet is Tor.com's new novellette imprint called...  Tor.com The Imprint.

It's primarily ebook but select titles are made available for print-on-demand, and audiobooks options are on the table too.  >17,499 words.

 

Guidelines here.  Currently closed for submissions, but they usually open for subs on short notice a few times a year as I recall, with one of those times being mid to late summer.

 

Yeah, that looks perfect (except genre). I really hope more publishers look at this--I think Tor's really onto something, though given the saturation of gigantic fantasy tomes out there, I can see why it is this specific genre experimenting in this direction. Not just as a writer, but as a reader I'm all for tighter, shorter written stories.

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Am still busy collecting rejections on my short stories. Having a bit of experience of the market now, I can't help but snigger at George R.R. Martin's advice to "sell short stories for five years, since by then editors will be asking you about that first novel" - I've already sold my first novel, but (apart from poetry) have still yet to sell a single piece of short fiction. Got to keep trying though. :)

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3 hours ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Am still busy collecting rejections on my short stories. Having a bit of experience of the market now, I can't help but snigger at George R.R. Martin's advice to "sell short stories for five years, since by then editors will be asking you about that first novel" - I've already sold my first novel, but (apart from poetry) have still yet to sell a single piece of short fiction. Got to keep trying though. :)

The market has really changed with a much larger variety of opportunities available for independent authors but the "Big leagues" every bit as impenetrable as before. This despite the fact the Big Leagues are also becoming much-much less profitable for existing authors in traditional formats.

Due to more favorable compensation models, it's now entirely possible to make a living as an author of a large number of medium press books (note, I didn't say small) or self-publishing while potentially reaching a 90s sized brick and mortar store audience. It's also possible to get completely hosed by trying to go this way as well and to get a massive runaround while trying to get into the big leagues.

Esoterrorism and Wraith Knight will be in stores, audio, and traditionally published thanks to my medium press getting merged into IPG but that was almost pure luck as I actually left a more established medium press which folded under its new management and effectively fired (or more charitably squeezed out) everyone who'd previously been accepted by them. Yet, I've also sold 15K of my Supervillainy Saga's first book (note, sold, not given away) in my first quarter which was done by a small author-owned press which I was the first  client of. It's the Wild West out there.

A tier above me is Peter Clines who published his Ex-Heroes books with an independent press (the very one which I left) and they achieved a cult following before getting an agent to contact him in order to offer him a deal with a much-much larger press. They were interested because his books had a proven capacity to sell and upgraded him.

So there's no one way to Rome now.

For me, the real thing I advise authors to try to do is to get out there and figure out what they want to achieve. Much like acting, there's no paying your dues as some people get discovered straight away and some people chug away at smaller roles for the rest of their life. It's more a lifestyle than a race I think.

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Pause, of course, the most practical piece of advice I ever got was, "Make friends with authors who can pitch your book for you."

:)

I got lucky with a couple of author groups who did that for me.

Of course, I try to do the same now for friends and now I'm deluged with like 40 manuscripts from friends.

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On ‎19‎/‎05‎/‎2016 at 3:01 AM, C.T. Phipps said:

Awesome, the pre-order for my paperback is out today.

http://www.amazon.com/Wraith-Knight-Three-Worlds-Phipps/dp/1941987788/

Wraith Knight is a book which I'm very proud of.

Dark Fantasy fun I've wanted to write since I first read the Hobbit.

Congratulations. 

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10 hours ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Am still busy collecting rejections on my short stories. Having a bit of experience of the market now, I can't help but snigger at George R.R. Martin's advice to "sell short stories for five years, since by then editors will be asking you about that first novel" - I've already sold my first novel, but (apart from poetry) have still yet to sell a single piece of short fiction. Got to keep trying though. :)

 

It's awesome you have sold a novel though. I've heard short fiction is near impossible comparatively now. Kind of flipped since people don't buy a lot of magazines anymore, I'm guessing. 

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25 minutes ago, Simon Steele said:

It's awesome you have sold a novel though. I've heard short fiction is near impossible comparatively now. Kind of flipped since people don't buy a lot of magazines anymore, I'm guessing. 

It's basically that with short fiction you have every man and his dog competing over a small handful of magazine slots - including the best authors in the world. With novels, they're more time-intensive, so the competition is less vicious, and you're only competing against other first-time novelists for acceptance, not the elite. Despite this discrepancy, novels are also still where the money is - even selling short stories to the top genre magazines won't net you very much - and while few authors can sustain themselves entirely through writing novels, no-one can sustain themselves through exclusively writing short stories.

Personally, I'm just focussing on shorts at the moment because they're fun to write. I really should go back to work on the novel sequel at some point... 

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On 5/24/2016 at 4:22 PM, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

It's basically that with short fiction you have every man and his dog competing over a small handful of magazine slots - including the best authors in the world. With novels, they're more time-intensive, so the competition is less vicious, and you're only competing against other first-time novelists for acceptance, not the elite. Despite this discrepancy, novels are also still where the money is - even selling short stories to the top genre magazines won't net you very much - and while few authors can sustain themselves entirely through writing novels, no-one can sustain themselves through exclusively writing short stories.

Personally, I'm just focussing on shorts at the moment because they're fun to write. I really should go back to work on the novel sequel at some point... 

I wish I would get some short story plotbunnies instead of those epic monsters who keep bringing their whole family along. :) It would be nice to work on something I can finish within a few weeks for a change. ;)

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Sent my Resurrection Men sample to Inspired Quill on 7 May, while I wait for them to (hopefully!) request the full novel, I've returned to a contemporary urban fantasy/supernatral detective novel Ibstarted in 2012.

Also started planning Resurrection Men's sequel.

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I wanted to share my fail with you guys in hopes it'll motivate.

So, last week I had a brief brush with Internet fame (because of this board and Game of Thrones. -- Google "hold the door" and Myrddin). Suddenly not only was "Myrddin" being mentioned across Twitter, Reddit, and on countless news and geek sites, but also my real name, which was cited as being a "fantasy author". My neglected website got visited more in one day than all the previous visits since its creation 10 years ago. People were reading the posted Prologue as asking publicly and through IM, "Where can I buy your book?"

My sad answer was, "You can't. It's not done." And it's not done because I stopped working on the revision over a year ago. I seriously haven't a thing, except a sad attempt last fall to get back into it.

So. I had the perfect opportunity to capitalize on a lucky spike in traffic and Internet notoriety, and couldn't do a damn thing.

Learn from my fail. Finish your manuscripts and get them published. Keep your online presence active (and something you won't mind being dug up). If lightning strikes, be ready to grab the bolt and ride it hard.

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Speaking of short stories, if anyone writes old-school sword and sorcery shorts, these guys are open to submissions for the month of June: http://www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com/?page_id=39

In novel-related news, I've finished the latest round of edits, which always feels good. This round was mainly notable in that I had to go and research the best ways of surviving a fall from an aircraft (turns out that water is Not Your Friend there. Trees are much better).

 

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On 6/1/2016 at 6:16 PM, SpaceChampion said:

A little earlier than I expected, Tor.com is open for novella submissions between 20k and 40k words until the end of June from the 5th.  This round is strictly for science fiction (space opera, cyberpunk, near future thriller and time travel stories).

Thanks man, I'm definitely going to take advantage of this.

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