Will short story publications help get manuscript read?

billyf027 · May 9, 2008

My short stories have appeared in journals in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the USA. My first novel is almost complete and wondered if listing all of the publications in the query made a difference or not in getting a manuscript request.

scottVee · May 9, 2008

Hi,

Novels are really very different from short stories. Not everybody can (or needs to) write both. So I doubt that short story credits demonstrate any skills as a novelist. On the other hand, having some published credits shows that you're not coming in totally out of the blue.

I've had 400+ stories and poems published, including a two stories in Analog, and I'm not sure even that is relevant to the eventual sales of a novel. (But it can't hurt!)

Ultimately, the writing says it all. If you start with a bang and the reader can't put it down, it doesn't matter what's on your resume.

I know ... could a person BE any less decisive? ;-)

= scott

pdr · May 10, 2008

Actually...

a writer's CV showing published work in magazines and journals an editor knows does help the query along.

The reasoning goes somethingnlike: 'If this person has been published and their query sounds interesting then why not have a look at the manuscript?'

This, by the way, is with British and Commonwealth publishers. I don't know about American publishers, but it seems a reasonable assumption to say that the editors would also think that way.

Kalyke · May 10, 2008

If you've been published in The New Yorker, or the Atlantic Monthly or one of those more important magazines, believe me, it does no harm.

Shweta · May 10, 2008

Lots of guesses

disclaimer: "you" = generic you, not referring to anyone in particular.

At least for SF/F, what I've heard is that it doesn't help unless you've been up for a major award or something. Because novel editors don't have time to read short fiction for fun.

But I'd guess it does help your query if you've been published somewhere cool. And what counts as cool depends on the editor/agent.

My guesses for the cool scale:

-lots: Scammy scam market that you don't seem to know is a scammy scam.
0: Somewhere the editor/agent has never heard of. Might even be a bit negative if it reads as desperation.
5: Market the editor/agent has heard of and thinks well of.
10: Market the editor/agent actually reads, esp if they liked your story.
20: if the person you're querying is the editor who loved and bought one or more of your short stories.

Deirdre · May 10, 2008

Writing grammatically correct sentences usually helps.
Being in the habit of writing grammatically correct sentences couldn't hurt.
Just sayin'.

billyf027 · May 10, 2008

I depend on revision a lot. Nothing comes natural for me and after writing all day I often get sloppy on message boards.

Shweta · May 10, 2008

Off topic: cognitive science geekery sort of

billyf027 said:
I depend on revision a lot. Nothing comes natural for me and after writing all day I often get sloppy on message boards.

People do often get sloppy on message boards, and that's fine.
But.
I have a strong suspicion that being careful about grammar and spelling is the only way to make them easier in the long run.

's not a good idea to excuse being lazy or sloppy, either at the sentence level or at the idea/expression level, because brain cells have that "use 'em or lose 'em" quality. At a single-cell level, the neural connections you make most often get strengthened, and those you don't use get atrophied. I'm not sure how that maps over to higher levels of cognition, but I suspect it does.

Maryn · May 10, 2008

Returning to the original question: Short story sales to major markets in the same genre as the novel do help, or so I've heard from more than one source. They mean someone who knows their stuff has screened your work and decided it's not only good but marketable. It's a feather in your cap and may earn you a request for a partial. However, it takes more than a feather-laden cap for your novel to fly.

Maryn, not wearing a hat, with or without feathers

job · May 10, 2008

An editor or agent who sees short story sales -- to almost any print market -- is going to assume you are businesslike, sane, and can write readable prose.
That puts you in the top 3% of over-the-transom submissions.

Any print publication -- certainly dozens of short stories sold -- will get you a more attentive reading of your synopsis and chapters. If the agent is wobbling on the edge, it'll nudge him towards that request for a full.

This is talking about print markets.

If your pub credits are to e-zines, they will do you no good at all.
In this case, you may not want to mention them.

WendyNYC · May 10, 2008

I'd guess yes, based in part on this interview with Nat Sobel (I posted this in the short story forum a few weeks ago):

There's a great interview with literary agent Nat Sobel in this month's Poets & Writers Magazine. Aside from the fact that he started one of my favorite bookstores, he said this about the importance of literary magazines:

Tell me about how you find clients.
My great love, and where we've found most of our fiction writers, has been the literary journals. I don't know how many other agents read the journals. I know it's a lot more than it used to be, but I certainly read them more extensively than anybody else.

How many do you subscribe to?
I don't know the exact count, but it's somewhere over a hundred. My heroes in publishing are the selfless people who work at these journals, who either are not paid, or volunteer, and who spend their lives putting together these journals with relatively small circulations, but enjoy it. Over the years I've developed a number of friends among them. I admire them. I admire what they do. And they are responsible for many of the writers I represent, including Richard Russo, who I found in a literary journal out of Bowling Green, Ohio, which had a circulation of something like three hundred copies.

ishtar'sgate · May 10, 2008

billyf027 said:
My short stories have appeared in journals in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the USA. My first novel is almost complete and wondered if listing all of the publications in the query made a difference or not in getting a manuscript request.

Nice going! ANY writing credits are better than NO writing credits unless you're submitting fiction and your writing credits are all nonfiction. I don't think I'd list them all, though. Maybe the top three and allude to the fact that there are others. Pick journals that have the highest profile and are most likely to create a good impression. Of course, credits can't stand on their own. Your premise and query have to be topnotch or they won't even GET to the credit paragraph.

Linnea

Deirdre · May 10, 2008

job said:
If your pub credits are to e-zines, they will do you no good at all.

There are a number of quality e-zines, but whether they do you any good depends on what you actually sell to -- and whether the editors in your field actually care about them.

In science fiction, they definitely can count.

That said, speaking as an e-zine editor, there's definitely lots of bad e-zine markets out there.

waylander · May 10, 2008

I'm pretty sure that my solid track record of short fiction sales got me some partial requests from agents when querying my fantasy novel. Of course, your writing in the novel has to hold up to that standard.

Feathers · May 10, 2008

I'd include two or three of your best publishing credits or awards. Don't make a list unless the guidelines ask for it. If for some reason you're dying to make a list, at least put it on a separate page and state in your query that you did so.

I honestly don't see a problem with including a few of your credits. I mean, all the query-writing guides say that's a good idea. So why not?

-Feathers

Gillhoughly · May 10, 2008

If you got PAID for those stories, then yes. That is legit resume stuff to put in a query. It tells a book editor that another editor thought well enough about your writing to pay for it.

No pay? You can mention them, but don't expect much. Money talks.

I started out writing gaming adventures--no short stories at all. I was paid .03 a word and was glad to have it.

It totally counted with the editor who called to make an offer on my first book.

SPMiller · May 10, 2008

Gillhoughly said:
If you got PAID for those stories, then yes. That is legit resume stuff to put in a query. It tells a book editor that another editor thought well enough about your writing to pay for it.

No pay? You can mention them, but don't expect much. Money talks.

I started out writing gaming adventures--no short stories at all. I was paid .03 a word and was glad to have it.

It totally counted with the editor who called to make an offer on my first book.

A D&D writer who submitted to a (fantasy or sf, most likely) editor familiar with the game. If I felt like it, I might be able to figure out who you are...

Cathy C · May 10, 2008

SPMiller said:
A D&D writer who submitted to a (fantasy or sf, most likely) editor familiar with the game. If I felt like it, I might be able to figure out who you are...

But why would you want to? :Huh:

Lots of people hang out here who don't want their real names known. But trust me, Gillhoughly has the chops and is totally correct.

SPMiller · May 10, 2008

Cathy C said:
But why would you want to? Lots of people hang out here who don't want their real names known. But trust me, Gillhoughly has the chops and is totally correct.

I do not doubt either of you. It was just some friendly ribbing regarding his profile. If he doesn't want to be found out, he ought not supply clues which make it possible.

Shweta · May 10, 2008

Feathers said:
I'd include two or three of your best publishing credits or awards. Don't make a list unless the guidelines ask for it. If for some reason you're dying to make a list, at least put it on a separate page and state in your query that you did so.
-Feathers

Quoting for emphasis.
I misread the OP. Didn't see the all. As far as I know, listing all your credits is a bad idea no matter what. Unless you only have 3 or less, I guess

job said:
If your pub credits are to e-zines, they will do you no good at all.
In this case, you may not want to mention them.

As Deirdre says, this depends on your genre. Not at all true in SF/F. The OP seems to be a literary fiction writer, so it may well be true, but not everyone reading the thread is.

Gillhoughly said:
If you got PAID for those stories, then yes.

Again, this seems to depend on genre. From what I've read, even some of the most prestigious literary short fiction markets don't pay at all. They're still excellent credit.

And for the record, even within F/SF this can be true. If you're writing somewhat out of the normal run within those genres, some of the higher-prestige markets are token pay or no pay. You submit to them for the eyeballs, not the money.
My very most prestigious publication (so far) is in an e-zine that I thought was no-pay till after they accepted the piece. (And it's prestigious enough to have made a seasoned and awesome pro say she was jealous

)

ishtar'sgate · May 10, 2008

SPMiller said:
I do not doubt either of you. It was just some friendly ribbing regarding his profile. If he doesn't want to be found out, he ought not supply clues which make it possible.

Clues won't likely do you much good. I racked my brains trying to figure out who one writer was, just to see if I could - read stuff he'd published under a pseudonym, read his blog - all to no avail. He'd let slip a few snippets but not enough to make any real difference. Rats and double rats. My sleuthing skills stink. :Shrug:

Linnea

IceCreamEmpress · May 10, 2008

Gillhoughly said:
If you got PAID for those stories, then yes.

Well, there are some very high-prestige non-paying short story markets. Prairie Schooner, for instance, doesn't pay.

But, yeah, if you didn't get paid, AND the magazine isn't a highfalutin literary journal that's available in university libraries, then it's a hobby thing and not so relevant on your query.

KTC · May 10, 2008

you said highfalutin! (-;

I was speaking with an acquisitions editor last weekend. He said that you SHOULD list short story publications and memberships in writing organizations, etc. This tells them that you are a serious writer and looking to move forward with your craft. The publication he acquires for actually demands that those submitting have had exposure in literary (ie highfalutin) journals, etc. It tells them they should take this submission seriously. This is just one opinion... but it's right from the ~~horse's~~ acquisition editor's mouth.

Soccer Mom · May 10, 2008

Relevant credits can always help in getting an ms read, but landing the agent/publisher only happens on the strength of the novel itself.

blacbird · May 10, 2008

If it didn't help, they wouldn't ask.

caw

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