Hi, all. Newbie here, please let me know if I make any faux pas. I'm not even sure which section I should be posting this in. I've written an urban fantasy novella about a group of kids with autism spectrum disorder, fiction, but drawing on my own experience with autism, and I think it's quite good. Unfortunately, I've queried the limited number of literary agents I can find accepting novellas, and entered a few contests, and no luck so far. I had thought the topical subject matter would help me, but I'm also concerned that maybe I just can't write a decent synopsis, and that might be the problem. I self-published my first novel (at, like, 300,000 words, no agent would touch it), and it was an awful experience that's gone pretty much nowhere. I don't want to do that again. I was hoping someone here might have tips or resources for me, I would appreciate any help at all. Thank you kindly for your attention.
when you say self publishing was an awful experience... in what way was it awful ? Because i was about to say that a non niche novella self pub feels like it might be an option. For self pub it is essential that the book is properly edited, has a decent cover and blurb and that you advertise it effectively... that aside querying agents and publishers is the way forward if you want a trad deal - but expect a lot of rejections before you get an acceptance
Well, the good news is you don't need an agent to get your novella published traditionally. Most novella markets are open to submissions directly from authors, at least periodically. Like short stories, novellas rarely make enough money to be worth an agent's time. My advice would be to find some publishers looking for urban fantasy novellas--the Submission Grinder is a great tool to help with this--and follow their submission guidelines. If you still don't have any luck, you might need to rework the synopsis or the manuscript itself.
