Seeking a publisher

KyraDune · Aug 8, 2011

I recently finished a 65,000 word YA fantasy and I'm trying to find a publishing house to submit it to. I tried Google, but I'm not having much luck there. I was hoping somebody who'd had such a book published might point me in the right direction. Thanks.

AlishaS · Aug 8, 2011

Here's a list of some e-pub that also do print.
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=216798

You can also use querytracker to look up publishers.

Though, might I ask why you are going straight to publishers and not trying to find an agent? There are a lot of doors closed for writers without agents, since the bulk of publishers don't accept unagented submissions.

underthecity · Aug 8, 2011

You don't Google for publishers.

Write a solid query letter (taking it through Query Letter Hell in SYW). Seek agents through agentquery.com. Submit to those who represent what you wrote, follow their submission guidelines.

(Of course, this information is already repeated on AW at a number of different places.)

Sargentodiaz · Aug 8, 2011

It appears to me that the trend of seeking representation by agents is fading daily. After years of trying, I went the direct to publishers route and now have contracts WITH TWO PUBLISHERS!

If it reaches the point where there are offers for more than worldwide digital and print rights - then I'll think of looking for an agent.

Mharvey · Aug 8, 2011

lvcabbie said:
It appears to me that the trend of seeking representation by agents is fading daily. After years of trying, I went the direct to publishers route and now have contracts WITH TWO PUBLISHERS!

If it reaches the point where there are offers for more than worldwide digital and print rights - then I'll think of looking for an agent.

That's pretty interesting. How'd you go about this? Did you query publishers directly (as if they were agents), or did you just get found in the slush pile?

Momento Mori · Aug 8, 2011

lvcabbie:
It appears to me that the trend of seeking representation by agents is fading daily. After years of trying, I went the direct to publishers route and now have contracts WITH TWO PUBLISHERS!

From my last conversation with my agent, I'd disagree with that. For all the furore about self-publishing over the last few months there are still plenty of people out there looking to go down the agent-commercial publisher route. Certainly my agent hasn't seen any slow down of submissions.

The simple fact is that there are publishers and then there are publishers. Not all of them are equal and not all of them are a good deal for new writers.

The important thing is to research - learn how the industry works so that you can make an informed decision. Too many times I've seen people on the Bewares Forum reporting bad experiences with small publishers - many of which could have been avoided if they'd done some research first.

Personally, I'd always look to go down the agent and commercial publishing route first because that takes a lot of the risk out of the process of publishing (of course, self-published authors will point out that it also limits your potential reward as well).

MM

Katrina S. Forest · Aug 8, 2011

Tor comes to mind as a publisher that will take unagented submissions in the F/SF category, but asks that you wait 6 months for a reply, just as a warning.

I agree to seek an agent first. Use AgentQuery and Publisher's Marketplace to find agents that represent your genre. If you don't get any offers, you can seek a publisher then, but you can't do it in reverse.

veinglory · Aug 8, 2011

While this is interesting, does anyone have specific ideas for publishers, or even specific ideas for agents OP might want to consider?

Cyia · Aug 8, 2011

KyraDune said:
I recently finished a 65,000 word YA fantasy and I'm trying to find a publishing house to submit it to. I tried Google, but I'm not having much luck there. I was hoping somebody who'd had such a book published might point me in the right direction. Thanks.

Unless you want a small publisher (or one of the few big ones who will accept subs from writers directly) you'll need an agent to approach the major publishers, so you should be researching agents, not publishers.

Go to Query Tracker and fill in the search fields for your genre (65K is light for YA fantasy, btw) and see who it says reps that genre.

Make a list of names and bring it back here or go to Google and check their reputations.

Send them queries and hope someone bites.

Mandiloo322 · Aug 8, 2011

I'm also querying a YA fantasy at the moment. I've found http://www.agentquery.com/writer_or.aspx to be extremely helpful with finding agents who represent this genre.

Choosing whether to go to a publisher, an agent, or with self-publishing depends on what kind of writing career you want. I know plenty of people who are happy just to have their own hard-copy of their novel. My dream is for a publisher to put my book on bookshelves around the country and pay me for it.

I tried looking into publishing houses first, and most of the big ones (and thus reputable ones) don't accept unagented submissions. Smaller presses can't take on many projects a year. And I found out the hard way that plenty of vanity presses masquerade as small presses. (Black Rose Writing, anyone?)

Whatever way you choose, best of luck with your writing goals!

Katrina S. Forest · Aug 8, 2011

veinglory said:
While this is interesting, does anyone have specific ideas for publishers, or even specific ideas for agents OP might want to consider?

Apologies. I think I began with thinking of Tor as a recommendation and went off on a tangent. Trimmed my post.

underthecity · Aug 9, 2011

veinglory said:
While this is interesting, does anyone have specific ideas for publishers, or even specific ideas for agents OP might want to consider?

If you want to bypass the agent route, you'll have to focus on smaller presses because the largest houses require agent representation.

The best place to find these would be the latest Writer's Market, available at your library, which has listings for publishers in every genre. Find the ones that accept unagented submissions and look them up on Preditors&Editors to see if they are recommended or not. See if their books are stocked in bookstores. Check their website for current submission guidelines and send them the best query letter you can.

And wait for a hopefully positive response in a timely manner.

Sargentodiaz · Aug 9, 2011

Mharvey said:
That's pretty interesting. How'd you go about this? Did you query publishers directly (as if they were agents), or did you just get found in the slush pile?

I used QueryTracker.net AND Google. I then visited each website, checked out submission guidelines and contracts, where available. I then sent a query to them exactly as I had to a whole lot of agents. I then got SIX responses asking for partials or fulls. Out of the fulls, I actually came up with three to look into further.

JamieB · Aug 9, 2011

You could check out Duotrope's Digest as well. http://duotrope.com/

Smish · Aug 9, 2011

lvcabbie said:
I used QueryTracker.net AND Google. I then visited each website, checked out submission guidelines and contracts, where available. I then sent a query to them exactly as I had to a whole lot of agents. I then got SIX responses asking for partials or fulls. Out of the fulls, I actually came up with three to look into further.

Which publishers?

Mharvey · Aug 9, 2011

lvcabbie said:
I used QueryTracker.net AND Google. I then visited each website, checked out submission guidelines and contracts, where available. I then sent a query to them exactly as I had to a whole lot of agents. I then got SIX responses asking for partials or fulls. Out of the fulls, I actually came up with three to look into further.

Thanks for the info.

KyraDune · Aug 9, 2011

Thanks for the help.

Katrina S. Forest · Aug 9, 2011

Writer Beware has a really helpful post about using search engines (aka Google) to find publishers:
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2009/10/victoria-strauss-perils-of-searching.html

I don't think there's anything I can add to it.

If you want to be sure that a publisher can get your book on physical bookshelves, go to a bookstore, pick up books that look similar to yours and see what company published them.

Another thing I thought of -- does anyone remember if Delacorte's annual "First Young Adult Novel Contest" is open to the F/SF genres? I know that's the only time you can submit unagented works to them.

ghost · Aug 10, 2011

Smish said:
Which publishers?

One of them is mentioned on his blog and 'not recommended' by P&E. There's also a heated debate on AW about this publisher.

They're not listed on QueryTracker as far as I can tell. It just goes to show that google is not your friend unless you add the word 'scam' after those searches.

Sargentodiaz · Aug 10, 2011

ghost said:
One of them is mentioned on his blog and 'not recommended' by P&E. There's also a heated debate on AW about this publisher.

They're not listed on QueryTracker as far as I can tell. It just goes to show that google is not your friend unless you add the word 'scam' after those searches.

You're referring to XOXO Publishing of Ontario, Canada. There was a major shakeup within the company and part of the problem was that one employee tried to take a bunch of authors with her. I've seen the results of the shakeups and it appears the staff is quite professional and conscientious.'

I signed a contract with then June 18th AND IT SHOULD BE READY FOR RELEASE IN SEPTEMBER!

Before, their list was mainly erotica but they are trying very hard to expand for General Adult and Young Adult. They are also expanding to fiction and non-fiction.

So far, I've been more than satisfied with the way they've treated me and worked with me on putting the best possible product on sale.

There were two in Australia but I signed a contract with Bluewood Publishing of New Zealand for the Father Serra's Legacy trilogy. They have also dealt with me professionally.

Katrina S. Forest · Aug 10, 2011

I pointed out about XoXo "not recommended" status in my earlier post, but then I trimmed it out because, as veinglory said, that wasn't the original question of this thread.

lvcabbie said:
I signed a contract with then June 18th AND IT SHOULD BE READY FOR RELEASE IN SEPTEMBER!

lvcabbie, writing things in all caps is like shouting at us. It's also not really polite to self-promote in a topic that isn't designated for that specific purpose.

Here's the XoXo thread: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33369

I think if we don't want this thread locked, best to continue any further conversation we want to have about XoXo there.

ghost · Aug 10, 2011

Fully agree and my apologies for thread derailment.

I was trying to agree with the others that seeking an agent is a better choice than googling publishers.

polleekin · Aug 11, 2011

I found the annual SCBWI market survey useful, but you have to be a member to access it. It's a list of children's and YA publishers and imprints, what kind of books they publish (genre, age ranges), how many books they put out a year, and whether they accept queries/partials/full ms submissions or nothing at all.

I've looked at the children's Writers Market also, but as it was a few years ago I don't remember if the information was about the same or if it was different or what. I'd probably go to that as an initial step though, since you can borrow it for free from the library. But make sure you get the latest edition, and you'll also want to double check any info you get from either source because they may go out of date if a publisher updates their guidelines or changes their address during the year.

But off the top of my head, Bloomsbury Children's USA is one publisher that still accepts unsolicited manuscripts. http://www.bloomsburyusa.com/childrens_submission_guidelines

Sargentodiaz · Aug 11, 2011

Me too! Didn't mean to shout.

Stacia Kane · Aug 15, 2011

lvcabbie said:
I used QueryTracker.net AND Google. I then visited each website, checked out submission guidelines and contracts, where available. I then sent a query to them exactly as I had to a whole lot of agents. I then got SIX responses asking for partials or fulls. Out of the fulls, I actually came up with three to look into further.

I notice that your research didn't include the first and most obvious thing to do; look at who published the books in your genre that you like to read.

I notice also that your research didn't include--not that you mentioned, at least--actually buying books from any of these publishers and reading them to see if your book fit in/how they were edited/if you thought they were any good/etc.

KyraDune said:
I recently finished a 65,000 word YA fantasy and I'm trying to find a publishing house to submit it to. I tried Google, but I'm not having much luck there. I was hoping somebody who'd had such a book published might point me in the right direction. Thanks.

See above. Who publishes the books you like to read, in your genre? See what their submission requirements are, and follow them.

Remember, anybody with some software can set up a website and call themselves a publisher. That doesn't mean they know what they're doing, or that they can select publishable books, or edit books, or sell books, or keep accurate records and issue royalty checks and all of that. And it certainly doesn't mean being "published" by them counts as any kind of publishing credit to the industry as a whole.

Seeking a publisher

Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces

Is swimming with creativity frogs

Finestkind

Liker Of Happy Things

Tired and Disillusioned

volitare nequeo

Rewriting My Destiny

[Shhhh....I'm writing.]

Finestkind

Reads more than she writes.

Liker Of Happy Things

Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces

Hey, that's my bike!

Hey, that's my bike!

Girl Detective