I'm nearing the completion of my first novel and I'm slowly starting to get my head around the complexities of publishing, which will be the logical next step once my work is finished. I know the next step into the world of publishing will be difficult and I understand that this is more or less a numbers game especially when it comes to selling your work to traditional publishers. (you have to approach dozens in hopes that one will eventually respond) So I would like to know if there are lists of publishers that people go to when they are ready to publish. Who are those 50 publishers that authors normally send their manuscripts to in order to begin their numbers game? Also, how do agents fit into this? Are agents a necessary undertaking or a massive waste of money and time? (Curious minds need to know)
You can find the publisher and agent of any book you pick up. A great place to start is your own personal library. Reading what publishers put out there and what agents are making those deals is far more valuable than any list. That being said, there are places like Duotrope where you can find both agents and publications. Note, Duotrope and any place like it does not vet its listing. And doing your homework is key, but it is going to take some work on your part to know who the key players and publishers are in your genre. There's no other way of learning the publishing industry than being an avid reader. I think people like to say it's a numbers game just because it can be hard to get published and the odds are against you, so to speak. But it's not really a numbers game. If you have a bad novel, nit's not going to matter if you send it to 1 or 1 million publisher. It still won't sell. Now, maybe you have a great novel and it's a perfect fit for the first place you send it. I truly believe that good work gets noticed. Agents and publishers won't cost you any money. The agent takes 20 percent of your advance, but you probably aren't going to get an advance worth taking 20 percent of without an agent. Most publishers only consider manuscripts from agents. And once you have an agent they will find the publisher. But, see, anyone giving you a list of 50 publishers isn't likely to help you anymore than a google search on the subject, and/or seems like a big ask and a little lazy if you are hoping for someone to do the work for you. I'm all for writers helping writers, but, come on. asking for a list of 50 publishers... I'm not even sure how to take that. You don't ned 50 publishers, you need one good one. You might want to start your own list based on the books you read. Good luck.
Thank you @deadrats, for the good advice. What process do you go through when your work is ready for publishing? Do you research the publishers each time for the new work you have ready or do you rely on the list of publishers you submitted to previously?
If you're nearing completion of the novel, I strongly suggest you don't rush into the querying right away. I know it's exciting and you want to get it out there right away, but unless the work is very topical and has an expiry date, you're going to want to let it ripen a bit first. Meaning, let that manuscript sit for a couple of months at least and focus on other things (maybe short stories or your next book), and then come back to it once you're a bit separated from it and can see it with new eyes, so to speak. You'll probably find that there are many hours of editing in your future. You're going to want to really focus on your opening sentences, and first couple of pages. If your query letter is good enough (and sometimes synopsis as well) to get someone interested to the point where they will want to read your actual story, these days you generally have to hook the reader in immediately. No slow burns, no info dumps, no meandering - just action, action, action, right away. Exciting, interesting things happening that make the reader continue to turn pages. Do I agree with this format? No, there are plenty of ways to appropriately open a story. But that's just how it is with the business, because that's how it is with the majority of readers (most of whom aren't writers). With that out of the way, the agent route is the most appropriate for anyone looking to publish with the bigger houses. Like deadrats mentioned, there aren't many publishers who accept unsolicited novel submissions/queries. It's because there are so many absolute rubbish novels being submitted - to the point where it's simply not worth having a slush pile anymore. They use agents as the gatekeepers to determine whether something might be up to that next kind of level - and keep in mind, even if you manage to get an agent, that's far from a guarantee of being published. The only major publisher I can think of who still accepts unsolicited manuscripts is Baen Books. They typically take about a year to send you their form letter rejection. Agents are definitely not a waste of money; rather, I think they're the best chance at finding some level of success. The first step is becoming one of the 1% of people they request more material from following your query, and you go from there. If the agent route doesn't work out for you, then it may be time to consider the indie presses. They are also very selective as the margins are still rather slim. And you're going to have to be wary of scams, now. Vanity publishers, author mills, that kind of nonsense. The kind of scum who prey on the people who dream of having their work in print at any cost. I for sure recommend Duotrope over Google results as I've yet to find any scammers on there, whereas on Google your top results are probably going to be vanity publishers. Congrats on your upcoming completion of your first novel. Most writers never get that far. Best of luck with starting the long slog of trying to get it published !
Thank you @Set2Stun, you never disappoint with great quality advice! Funny you mention this because I wrote my first chapter with exactly this in mind, it's all action, action, action in the first chapter until it settles into a slower, more philosophical story progression and character development in the following chapters covering topics such as; the subject of free will, what makes us human, the subject of identity, the nature of disinformation and its effect on social psychology, effects of depolitisation, mechanisms of social unity and many others. I don't intend to rush to publishing straight away, I have further goals that I need to reach. First like you mentioned editing, then proofreading, then work on formatting it to the right standard. But at the same time (in parallel) I want to start researching the publishers little by little so I'm ready to hit the ground running once the above goals are reached. Great. Is Duotrope the right place to look for agents? Should I look for agents specifically from US or a local agent if I don't live in US? Thank you so much! I don't think I'd be able to come this far if I genuinely didn't have so many ideas that I wanted to commit to this story. I can't wait for the long, demoralizing and miserable slog of publishing.
It sounds like you are on the right track. I also started doing some agent scouting while I was in the midst of editing. I'll be doing a little more scouting today, in fact. For agents, I prefer QueryTracker. It's really easy to track progress there as most agents now use their submissions portal. Also, it's free, though you can unlock premium features for $20 a year, which is peanuts. Duotrope is what I prefer for short story submissions as well as indie presses. As for the location of agents, I do think you'd have better luck with an agency from your own country, though whether that'd be better suited for finding a home for the novel, I couldn't say. Pretty much all the big agencies operate in the US and/or the UK. When I started querying, I'd decided to focus on Canadian agencies first, but guess what - there's only a handful of them. LOL - that's the spirit! Always best to approach it with realistic expectations. But as was mentioned, it's not quite like winning the lotto. If the quality of the work and the query letter are high, naturally your odds improve quite a bit.
I was thinking about what you guys, @Set2Stun and @Mish,were saying about the need for action, action, action. Well I think it is extremely important for interesting things to happen in your story, I feel like a lot of this comes down to the delivery. I'm thinking about this from a reader's perspective. I'm not looking to read or write anything action-packed. Sure, there's probably a market for that, but it's not what I'm into. Or, perhaps, I'm just confused a little as to what you mean. I think some writers get away with things because they do it well and often masterfully. But a lot can go on in a story without it being an action story. I don't think readers want to be hit with everything all at once. I think stories need breathing room and can happen at a slower pace overall if that's what fits them. And a well written story like that can land an agent or publisher just as easy (or difficulty) as something done at a faster pace. I guess a lot of this is going to come down to knowing your market and who the key players are specific to your genre and looking at what the contemporary publishing scene looks like. And nothing is going to beat reading as much as you can sold and published by the agents and publishers you are interested in working with.
Yeah to be clear, I'm not talking about shootouts or car chases on an opening page. By action, I mean, things (any kind of things) are happening. Opening lines that have a hook, and the inciting incident taking place in the first few paragraphs. Stakes introduced quickly, that kinda stuff. Like I said, I don't necessarily agree with it, as I could make a long list of amazing novels that do not open in this way. But all the information I've gathered recently about the querying process supports this approach, and that's the only reason why I've decided to go along with it. Anything to improve my chances. I think writers get a lot more runway for indulging themselves once they've established a presence and have an audience. But for unpublished writers looking to break into the market with their debut, I think you've got to give the gatekeepers what they want, where it counts at least. As for the market, I've talked about it here and there, and I'm not some sophisticate who sips port by their fireplace while reading over the same paragraph over and again, marveling at the brilliance of the author and their many layers of subtext. I'm just a regular dude who reads for fun, and I think the vast majority of readers are doing just that - reading for fun. Entertainment. And to get regular kinda people turning pages, you gotta have things happening early on to pull them in.
I get ya. To be clear, I completely read for fun and entertainment. I've always read simply because I've always liked reading.
I agree with the above. Outside of the industry standards and in general an unknown writer needs a way to hook their readers in, otherwise between other books and writers out there, Netflix, family, work etc. there's too much competition for a person's time. I'm hoping that my first chapter will be the right hook for the reader to continue to read to find out how it's all going to end.
