I’ve been doing some research and trying to figure out where to take my book to publishers. Only thing is, it’s a novella and I consider it a drama/fiction and it has some cursing but I believe it helps the story’s tone. Any suggestions on publishing houses that do this genre?
Which genre? "novella" is not a genre, neither are "drama" or "fiction". How familiar are you with the publishing trade? Do you know about agents and when one needs those?
If you're looking for a publisher for a novella, you can try The Grinder (or The Submission Grinder). If you google the term you it will show up. There are probably other ones (beside Duotrope--which you have to pay for access--or at least the last time I looked, which was a while ago) but I am not sure as general fiction is not the area in which I write. It allows you to sort by genre, length of work and other options. That's a good place to begin your search. Once you target some publishers, begin to do some research on them. Check the quality of their covers, maybe use the Amazon 'look inside' feature to get a feel for editing quality and layout. See how their novella length works (and novels) are selling at Amazon and/or B&N. Have any of their works won noteworthy awards, things like that. Then, there will be the contract, which is a concern to authors and, especially if you're unfamiliar with literary contract language, you might strongly consider having a literary attorney review it. Things like that. It is unlikely that an agent will represent a novella, but as you're looking directly for a publisher, you know this (just info for others that come across this thread). Hope that helps you get started. I am sure there are other aspects that other authors will add to this thread.
Genre means things like romance, thriller, sci fi... Like that It will be difficult for an unknown to get a novella published tbh... You may wish to consider self publishing it, or saving it until you've written several that can be put together into a longer work
Not very familiar. I know the agent can be extremey helpful if one is familiar with the bargaining and negotions and can help figure out where your work has the best chance, which alleviates some of the work that I have to do. Can you tell me a little more?
I've heard genre used to distinguish between poetry, fiction and nonfiction so it can be used that way too. As far as what to do with a novella... Sure, not the easiest piece of writing to sell, but some literary journals and magazines do publish novellas as well as small presses. I'm sure they have their word count limits. I have read a few novellas inside the pages of McSweeney's Quarterly. They seem to like dark comedy and things that are a little different or quirky. It sounds like your novella might be more serious. Duotrope has search options to find things like this. It's $5 a month and has proven to be a very valuable tool for me. There are free versions, but they just aren't as up to date, accurate or have all the same info from what I've seen. How long is your novella? If you want to message me some details, I have duotrope and don't mind doing a quick search for you. Maybe it will help give you some directions or options to consider.
I also have been pacing back and forth on this. The question is always about the budget and the quality of the book that you can afford or provide. If it's all okay, then i think googling the best publisher in your area would gives you all the result. Or else, you would have to focus down on the specific publisher.