Stephen Leather's writing guide

seun · Mar 25, 2010

http://www.stephenleather.com/howto.html

Some of this comes up here frequently but there's still good advice on his site - although he doesn't seem too fond of agents.

lucidzfl · Mar 25, 2010

I'm starting to see a lot of very published authors who aren't fond of agents.

ETA: It seems in his case, he didn't really understand the world of publishing before he started submitting, so you can't really blame the system for that.

seun · Mar 25, 2010

I don't know how true this especially of UK agents:

I would say that the majority of agents and publishers prefer to have the work emailed to them

That hasn't been my experience.

Greeble · Mar 25, 2010

lucidzfl said:
I'm starting to see a lot of very published authors who aren't fond of agents.

That's not so odd, considering how the agent system basically ruined publishing for new talents. Not much one can do, I'm afraid...

seun · Mar 25, 2010

Greeble said:
That's not so odd, considering how the agent system basically ruined publishing for new talents. Not much one can do, I'm afraid...

That's a bit of a sweeping statement.

shaldna · Mar 25, 2010

To a certain extent an agents preferences dictate what a house buys. After all, if every agent goes nuts for epic fantasy then that's what people will buy I guess, given few alternatives.

However, I don't think we can blame agents entirely for the way publishing has gone in recent years.

lucidzfl · Mar 25, 2010

I know I do wish I could submit direct to houses and bypass the agent portion.

job · Mar 25, 2010

Leathers said --

The Writers and Artists Year Book and The Writer’s Handbook both have comprehensive lists of agents in the UK, Ireland and the United States. Write to them all. Every one. That’s the beauty of the new technologies, you can print a hundred letters as easily as one.

which is a bit like saying -- if you want to shoot a duck, go stand out in a field, close your eyes, and start firing a shotgun in the air.

It does indeed seem Mr Leathers does not like agents. I imagine this is mutual. If this 'shotgun' approach is his modus operandi for query letters, I'm not surprised agents are 'rude' enough not to answer him.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 25, 2010

lucidzfl said:
I know I do wish I could submit direct to houses and bypass the agent portion.

What's stopping you? There are a lot of closed doors out there, but pretty much none of them are locked.

lucidzfl · Mar 25, 2010

Jamesaritchie said:
What's stopping you? There are a lot of closed doors out there, but pretty much none of them are locked.

Nothing's stopping me. In June I'm going to sub my book to 5 houses directly. It does seem like the Agent route is the easiest, if not the best route to get published however..

By probably September if I hear nothing from the houses, I'll pursue the agent thing.

willietheshakes · Mar 25, 2010

Greeble said:
That's not so odd, considering how the agent system basically ruined publishing for new talents. Not much one can do, I'm afraid...

I can name twenty people on this very site -- without breaking a sweat or checking a member list -- who would tell you that this statement is not only wrong, but foolish.

job · Mar 25, 2010

lucidzfl said:
In June I'm going to sub my book to 5 houses directly. It does seem like the Agent route is the easiest, if not the best route to get published however..
By probably September if I hear nothing from the houses, I'll pursue the agent thing.

You do know that agents are less likely to take on a manuscript that's collected a passel of refusals from the most likely publishing houses ... ?

Thought I'd mention, though I'm sure you already know this.

lucidzfl · Mar 25, 2010

job said:
You do know that agents are less likely to take on a manuscript that's collected a passel of refusals from the most likely publishing houses ... ?

Thought I'd mention, though I'm sure you already know this.

I wasn't aware, but uh, how would the agent know if its been refused?

Aside from that, I've heard theres no real problem resubbing to an editor, because after a few months they likely don't remember you anyway, especially if you changed it in the interim to improve it. (I likely would not, I would simply write another book)

Cranky · Mar 25, 2010

lucidzfl said:
I wasn't aware, but uh, how would the agent know if its been refused?

Aside from that, I've heard theres no real problem resubbing to an editor, because after a few months they likely don't remember you anyway, especially if you changed it in the interim to improve it. (I likely would not, I would simply write another book)

They'll ask, and I'm assuming you'd tell them which houses you'd subbed to. More than likely (if you've picked the appropriate publishers, which I'm also assuming you'd do, lol), it'd be on their list of houses to sub to as well, and you may have already exhausted the ones where they have contacts, etc.

willietheshakes · Mar 25, 2010

lucidzfl said:
I wasn't aware, but uh, how would the agent know if its been refused?

Full and fair disclosure on your part, before you sign with an agent.
If you don't do this, there's a very strong chance that it comes back to bite you in the ass, and likely agent-less.

lucidzfl said:
Aside from that, I've heard theres no real problem resubbing to an editor, because after a few months they likely don't remember you anyway, especially if you changed it in the interim to improve it. (I likely would not, I would simply write another book)

Maybe, but an agent's not going to do it.
No reputable agent is going to submit a book to an editor who has already rejected it. Doing so is a quick way to lose that repute.

third person · Mar 25, 2010

Stephen Leather? Never heard of him. Sounds like some kind of fetishist. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

heyjude · Mar 26, 2010

third person said:
Stephen Leather? Never heard of him.

Ack! He's wonderful. I love him. I refuse to read this article in case he says foolish things and it colors his books for me.

illiterwrite · Mar 26, 2010

lucidzfl said:
Nothing's stopping me. In June I'm going to sub my book to 5 houses directly. It does seem like the Agent route is the easiest, if not the best route to get published however..

By probably September if I hear nothing from the houses, I'll pursue the agent thing.

You will probably not hear anything by September if you submit in June. Summer is not the greatest time to expect a fast response, especially since there are many, many slush manuscripts ahead of you.

Priene · Mar 26, 2010

seun said:
although he doesn't seem too fond of agents.

That's putting it mildly:

[FONT=&quot]JUST BEAR IN MIND THAT MOST AGENTS ARE SCUM-SUCKING PARASITES![/FONT]

willietheshakes · Mar 26, 2010

illiterwrite said:
You will probably not hear anything by September if you submit in June. Summer is not the greatest time to expect a fast response, especially since there are many, many slush manuscripts ahead of you.

Good point.
If he submits in June to someone like Tor, say, he may hear back by September. 2012.

RJK · Mar 26, 2010

Agents have their place, just like lawyers. They have talents and skills we don't. Those skills are needed to get our work into bookstores.
It's true, you can find a small publisher, who will print your MS, and possibly get it listed on Amazon, but there it will stay. Small publishers don't have the ability to market your book the way the big ones do. Big publishers won't accept unsolicited manuscripts, you must have an agent to approach them.

Greeble · Mar 26, 2010

Priene said:
That's putting it mildly:

Well, considering how a while ago some agents made fun of submissions on the Interwebs. ..

Stephen Leather's writing guide

seun

Horror Man

lucidzfl

Back from the dead

seun

Horror Man

Greeble

seun

Horror Man

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

lucidzfl

Back from the dead

job

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

Jamesaritchie

lucidzfl

Back from the dead

willietheshakes

Gentleman. Scholar. Bastard.

job

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

lucidzfl

Back from the dead

Cranky

willietheshakes

Gentleman. Scholar. Bastard.

third person

She blinded me--with magic!

heyjude

Making my own sunshine

illiterwrite

Priene

Out to lunch

willietheshakes

Gentleman. Scholar. Bastard.

RJK

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

Greeble