Science Fiction/Fantasy Publishers

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jchines

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They made an offer on mine straight from the slush, and I had zero connections with Baen.

It took 2.5 years though, which is one of the potential downsides of submitting directly to the publisher.
 

defyalllogic

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They made an offer on mine straight from the slush, and I had zero connections with Baen.

It took 2.5 years though, which is one of the potential downsides of submitting directly to the publisher.

o_O

did you actually wait that long to hear or had you been shopping around and working on other projects. did you even remember at first?

what was their work like after they contracted you? were they still slow or was that just because you were back logged and they were rechecking their queries?
 

SPMiller

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Because they specifically say not to send a query letter. And I quote, "It's practically impossible to judge a project from a query."
 

CScottMorris

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Yes, it is always a good idea to read the entire submission guidelines page before you submit. A lot of publishers(and agents) list very specific guidelines, as a way of weeding shotgun submissions. Where to put your word count, or bio or especially what to put in the subject line if emailing.
If you can't be bothered to read the whole page and submit -exactly- the way the want, they don't want your work.
 

Lydia Sharp

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They made an offer on mine straight from the slush, and I had zero connections with Baen.

It took 2.5 years though, which is one of the potential downsides of submitting directly to the publisher.

Wow. Their guidelines say 9-12 months and I thought THAT was long. Still reasonable, though, since they're reading the whole ms, and no doubt get buried with submissions.

Tor, and if you're unagented, whatever you do, don't send them a query letter.

Baen doesn't want queries either. Makes sense to me. It's easier for an aspiring author to send a single page query rather than the whole sha-bang. Requiring everything up front might be a way of weeding out the authors who aren't ready to commit yet. It also kinda forces you to do your homework. Would you send a publisher the entire novel if you weren't absolutely sure they are the right place for your work? Or that said work wasn't as perfect as it could be? Some might. But I sure wouldn't.

Unless you have a personal "in," the odds aren't very good.

Not sure where you got that idea from, especially regarding Baen Books. They're one of the few places still in business that is known for seeking out new talent, no matter who you are or who you know, thanks to the model Jim Baen left behind for them to follow.
The odds aren't good because most people either submit crap writing (as in, they're a fan of Baen Books and thought they could write one based solely on their fandom... don't believe me? check out the "Introducing" subs at Baen's Bar), or submit stories that don't fit they're guidelines. They are very specific in what they're looking for.
 

Flint

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Wow. Their guidelines say 9-12 months and I thought THAT was long. Still reasonable, though, since they're reading the whole ms, and no doubt get buried with submissions.



Baen doesn't want queries either. Makes sense to me. It's easier for an aspiring author to send a single page query rather than the whole sha-bang. Requiring everything up front might be a way of weeding out the authors who aren't ready to commit yet. It also kinda forces you to do your homework. Would you send a publisher the entire novel if you weren't absolutely sure they are the right place for your work? Or that said work wasn't as perfect as it could be? Some might. But I sure wouldn't.



Not sure where you got that idea from, especially regarding Baen Books. They're one of the few places still in business that is known for seeking out new talent, no matter who you are or who you know, thanks to the model Jim Baen left behind for them to follow.
The odds aren't good because most people either submit crap writing (as in, they're a fan of Baen Books and thought they could write one based solely on their fandom... don't believe me? check out the "Introducing" subs at Baen's Bar), or submit stories that don't fit they're guidelines. They are very specific in what they're looking for.

Well they're not reading whole manuscripts are they? Don't authors send out query packages containing the first 2 to 4 chapters at most?
 

Lydia Sharp

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Well they're not reading whole manuscripts are they? Don't authors send out query packages containing the first 2 to 4 chapters at most?

It depends on the publisher; preferences vary. If you click on the link to Baen Books in my first post, you'll see this in the submission guidelines:

Query letters are not necessary. We prefer to see complete manuscripts accompanied by a synopsis.
 

DeleyanLee

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Seeing the complete from the get-go also guarantees they won't waste their time if they're interested.

Makes total sense to me.
 

Flint

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It depends on the publisher; preferences vary. If you click on the link to Baen Books in my first post, you'll see this in the submission guidelines:

Oh I see. Damn. I can't even imagine what their offices must look like with ppl sending in whole manuscripts. You know they can't possibly be reading more than 1 to 3 chapters of every submission unless they see something they like of course, which is probably not very often. Isn't this what happens at every publisher?
 

Death Wizard

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They have open submission policy, so it would seem they judge the work based on the quality, rather than personal relationships. Otherwise why would they bother accepting slush? did you read something that suggests otherwise?


My comment came from personal experience and from meeting a couple of their authors. But it's only my opinion, and I probably shouldn't have said what I said.
 

Death Wizard

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Tor which accepts unagented slush submissions
Bantam Spectra which doesn't
Del Ray which doesn't
Subterranean Press (couldn't find their guidelines section.)

One thing you're not seeing here is a very long list of publishers who specialize in our genre. Once you get past the big guns, who reject 99 percent of submissions, then there's not a whole lot left -- while other genres, and of course non-fiction submissions, still tend to have loads of options in the mid-sized and smaller range. Makes it all even more difficult. I wish I had written my series back in the 1970s, '80s or even '90s. Things would have been so much easier.

Or maybe it's more accurate to say, 99 percent of epic fantasy submissions.
 
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arkady

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One thing you're not seeing here is a very long list of publishers who specialize in our genre. Once you get past the big guns, who reject 99 percent of submissions, then there's not a whole lot left -- while other genres, and of course non-fiction submissions, still tend to have loads of options in the mid-sized and smaller range. Makes it all even more difficult.

Also true of fantasy agents. There are a lot fewer agents who take on fantasy, as opposed to other genres.
 
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