Very basic question

ResearchGuy

Resident Curmudgeon
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
5,011
Reaction score
697
Location
Sacramento area, CA
Website
www.umbachconsulting.com
Hi ...

Situation: An aspiring author, has written a collection of short fiction. It is a clean, sound, approx. 59,000-word manuscript. He would like to have an agent or publisher look at it. How should he go about finding an agent? Or would he do better to make the rounds of all appropriate publishers that accept unagented submissions (as best can be determined from Writer's Market and any similar sources)?

Comments? Thanks.

--Ken
 

sgtsdaughter

Nearing the end of an era
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 16, 2005
Messages
685
Reaction score
145
Location
stuck between Wonder Woman and Lady Columbia
Ken,

My best advice is research the agents . . . find ones that market short fiction and collections (even though they tend to be harder to find). It's gruelling, but in the end the hardest work pays off. :box:
 

ResearchGuy

Resident Curmudgeon
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
5,011
Reaction score
697
Location
Sacramento area, CA
Website
www.umbachconsulting.com
sgtsdaughter said:
Ken,

My best advice is research the agents . . . find ones that market short fiction and collections (even though they tend to be harder to find). It's gruelling, but in the end the hardest work pays off. :box:
Thanks. I found some ideas at http://www.sfwa.org/writing/agents.htm. I will point my friend (the author) to that.

-Ken
 

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess
Kind Benefactor
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
6,704
Reaction score
1,314
Location
Far from the madding crowd
Website
www.victoriastrauss.com
ResearchGuy said:
Situation: An aspiring author, has written a collection of short fiction. It is a clean, sound, approx. 59,000-word manuscript. He would like to have an agent or publisher look at it.
Unless he already has a track record of publication, it's not very likely that a reputable agent or publisher will be interested in a collection. People who sell collections usually have sold fairly extensively in professional markets beforehand.

This author should try to build a track record by selling individual stories, before trying to market a collection.

- Victoria
 

ResearchGuy

Resident Curmudgeon
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
5,011
Reaction score
697
Location
Sacramento area, CA
Website
www.umbachconsulting.com
victoriastrauss said:
Unless he already has a track record of publication, it's not very likely that a reputable agent or publisher will be interested in a collection. People who sell collections usually have sold fairly extensively in professional markets beforehand.

This author should try to build a track record by selling individual stories, before trying to market a collection.

- Victoria
Thanks. I will bring that to his attention. For that matter, I will encourage him to join in here.

--Ken
 

Daughter of Faulkner

Always a writer
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
195
Reaction score
21
Location
Southeastern, Massachusetts
Website
mysite.verizon.net
Victoria is right

It is important to have as many of your short stories published in fine literary or mainstream magazines / journals, and the like.


I have been advised that unless this is the case and you have developed a following, most publishers aren't interested in short stories.


What I did, though, was to take 11 of mine and weave them into a novel. It worked, took a lot of time, but by the grace of God, I just finished the last sentence today.
:Clap:


OR you can take one short story and created a novel around it if you find yourself prolific! I began with my first published short story and that is now the ending of my novel.
:idea:
Go figure, huh? What I composed first was the beginning of the end.


Best wishes to you.