Strange Chemistry Open Door 2012 - Over (Now "The Waiting Games")

Little Ming · Mar 14, 2012

In case you haven't heard yet, Strange Chemistry is open to unagented submissions April 16-30, 2012. Only sci-fi and/or fantasy YA need apply.

Here's the Bewares thread and the Science Fiction/Fantasy thread (Angry Robot).

And here's the thread for Angry Robot's open door 2011.

But I thought that YA section deserved a thread too.

***

Edited Title. Good luck everyone.

amlptj · Mar 14, 2012

I'm hoping to submit there this year!

Sage · Mar 14, 2012

Yep, I've been gearing up for this.

Netz · Mar 15, 2012

Thanks for posting this, Little Ming. Might give it a whirl!

fredXgeorge · Mar 15, 2012

Damn. This sounds great but my WIP won't be finished in time.

lauralam · Mar 15, 2012

They'll probably do this once a year.

I made it through to editorial last year, and have met the AR/SC crew a couple of times, and they're lovely.

KateSmash · Mar 15, 2012

Stupid move means I won't have anything ready this year.

Good luck to everyone submitting.

Alexandra Little · Mar 15, 2012

I was hoping to make this, but my manuscript needs a good polishing. I could make their submission requirements (first five chapters, or 15,000 words), but it would be mighty embarrassing if they requested more and I didn't have it ready.

JeffRen · Apr 3, 2012

I think I'll have my WIP finished in time - but they want a minimum of 60,000 words and I'm a bit short. yikes

Becca C. · Apr 3, 2012

I wish I wrote sci-fi/fantasy

Good luck to everyone submitting!

lauralam · Apr 4, 2012

So...I've signed with Strange Chemistry. My book will be out next April! I got a revise & resubmit last November, so I worked on that, resubbed, and got an offer and an agent. I have a stupidly long and excited post about it all on my website.

http://strangechemistrybooks.com/2012/04/04/strange-chemistry-signs-two-more/

Stiger05 · Apr 4, 2012

Congrats lauralam! How exciting!!

huu · Apr 4, 2012

KateSmash said:
Stupid move means I won't have anything ready this year. Good luck to everyone submitting.

This

Good luck to the rest of you guys though.

EMaree · Apr 4, 2012

I'm hoping to enter this year. Amanda Rutter seems like a fantastic editor and Strange Chemistry's work so far has been impressive.

Erin · Apr 4, 2012

lauralam said:
So...I've signed with Strange Chemistry. My book will be out next April! I got a revise & resubmit last November, so I worked on that, resubbed, and got an offer and an agent. I have a stupidly long and excited post about it all on my website.

http://strangechemistrybooks.com/2012/04/04/strange-chemistry-signs-two-more/

Awesome! Congrats!!!!

Netz · Apr 5, 2012

lauralam said:
So...I've signed with Strange Chemistry. My book will be out next April! I got a revise & resubmit last November, so I worked on that, resubbed, and got an offer and an agent. I have a stupidly long and excited post about it all on my website.

http://strangechemistrybooks.com/2012/04/04/strange-chemistry-signs-two-more/

Congrats, Laura!

eyeblink · Apr 5, 2012

lauralam said:
So...I've signed with Strange Chemistry. My book will be out next April! I got a revise & resubmit last November, so I worked on that, resubbed, and got an offer and an agent. I have a stupidly long and excited post about it all on my website.

http://strangechemistrybooks.com/2012/04/04/strange-chemistry-signs-two-more/

Congratulations, Laura!

shiva777 · Apr 8, 2012

I saw that too and I've been going back and forth between self publishing and finding a publisher.

I have an almost completed manuscript that has been well edited. I have a really good book cover (I've received many compliments on it already) and I know how to do Internet marketing. What can a company like Strange Chemistry offer me?

Is it rude to ask how much of an advance you received?

thanks!
shiva

shiva777 · Apr 8, 2012

JeffRen said:
I think I'll have my WIP finished in time - but they want a minimum of 60,000 words and I'm a bit short. yikes

They only want the first 5 chapters or 10-15K words to start...

shiva

Sage · Apr 8, 2012

shiva777 said:
I saw that too and I've been going back and forth between self publishing and finding a publisher.

I have an almost completed manuscript that has been well edited. I have a really good book cover (I've received many compliments on it already) and I know how to do Internet marketing. What can a company like Strange Chemistry offer me?

Distribution. There's a whole section on self-publishing if you haven't seen it. There's a lot of pro and con threads there, and I'd be surprised if one's not stickied.

shiva777 said:
They only want the first 5 chapters or 10-15K words to start...

shiva

Don't ever submit any fiction without finishing the novel. What if you submit 15K words, having only written that, and they happen to read your submission quickly (it happens), and ask for the full thing. Will you be able to submit a completed and polished novel to them in a reasonable time? Always finish, edit, beta, and edit some more before even querying

Debbie V · Apr 9, 2012

Alexandra Little said:
I was hoping to make this, but my manuscript needs a good polishing. I could make their submission requirements (first five chapters, or 15,000 words), but it would be mighty embarrassing if they requested more and I didn't have it ready.

If you can revise within a few months, go for it. If they request the full, you can let them know you are polishing and give them a date by which you will send the finished work. If it will be six months, that may be too long, but three isn't unreasonable in this business.

shiva777 · Apr 9, 2012

Sage said:
Distribution. There's a whole section on self-publishing if you haven't seen it. There's a lot of pro and con threads there, and I'd be surprised if one's not stickied.

Thanks I'll look around. I've read that Strange Chemistry has their books in B&N which I suppose is good until they go out of business! Seems like the future of books is online...Guess I am wondering if the percentage that they will be taking will be evened out by their marketing efforts.

Sage said:
Don't ever submit any fiction without finishing the novel. What if you submit 15K words, having only written that, and they happen to read your submission quickly (it happens), and ask for the full thing. Will you be able to submit a completed and polished novel to them in a reasonable time? Always finish, edit, beta, and edit some more before even querying

Good point.

shiva

Sage · Apr 9, 2012

Unless you're in the adult romance/erotica market, e-publishing (your own or with a publisher) won't likely get you the market that being in an actual store will.

lauralam · Apr 9, 2012

I'm not going to mention my advance as that's between me, my publisher, and my agent, I'm afraid!

SC has distribution in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and the NZ. They have professional covers and you'll have a professionally edited and copyrighted book with a pretty cover that will be in bookshops. They have various avenues for marketing that a self-published author does not normally have and they front those costs. So it's a trade-off because yes, you'd get less per book sold, but there's a likely chance you'll sell more copies, get your name out there more, and build your profile. SC is new, but Amanda is awesome and Angry Robot have been around for awhile and won awards and such, so you'd be in good hands with them.

*waves Strange Chemistry pom-poms*

And thanks everyone for the congratulations! It still hasn't quite sunk in yet!

lauralam · Apr 9, 2012

Debbie V said:
If you can revise within a few months, go for it. If they request the full, you can let them know you are polishing and give them a date by which you will send the finished work. If it will be six months, that may be too long, but three isn't unreasonable in this business.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree here and say that it would be unprofessional to do this. You should have a completed, polished MS.

I did query a fairly rough version of my MS last year, and in retrospect it was beyond stupid and I wouldn't have done it if I knew then what I know now. I sent off the full MS and I'd read through it a few times (I thought that meant it was polished-AHAHAHA), but it still had some structural problems that betas would have caught. But I still sent it off to them 2 days after Angry Robot requested it because it was finished. But I stacked the cards against me. If I'd emailed them back and said "err, I'm not done polishing, I'll send it in 2 weeks," they'd probably have replied with "don't bother."

It's in the guidelines, folks. And this is one Open Door Period, but they'll probably have another one in the future.

Strange Chemistry Open Door 2012 - Over (Now "The Waiting Games")

Speling & grammer murderer, Sorrie!

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