Hello! I am not sure what to do, and would like to humbly request for advice.

pomegranatetears · Jun 25, 2018

I'm not good at asking for help, but am doing so because I am completely at a loss as to what to do next. So, here it goes. I wrote a novel. I was actually going to shelve this novel because it's a zombie novel and I wasn't for sure if that's even a thing anymore, but I read it to my students and they discussed, analyzed, begged for more, etc. I even had multiple students tell me that they loved my book because they could "see it in their head" and they've never been able to do that before.

This made me think that maybe this story will be of interest to others, or at the very least I ought to give it a shot.

Except. How? Do I try to find an agent or do I self publish? How do I even find an agent? How does one even begin to self publish and build an effective audience? I had been moving away from social media, forums, the internet over the past five years, but am realizing that I probably need to keep up with it if I want to be successful. But, how do I do that?

Any help would be appreciated, even if it's pointing me to another site or whatnot.

Maryn · Jun 25, 2018

I am not the expert many others here are, but I got here first, so nah-nah on them.

Your next step is to get feedback from people who do not know you or like you.

Once you reach 50 posts, you put your novel's first 1500 words or so up for critique at the appropriate SYW (Share Your Work) forum, password vista. The very best way to reach 50 posts is to talk writing with others and to do critiques for others. Both will be learning experiences.

Soon enough you'll have a handful of critiques and most likely some ruffled feathers, because you thought this novel was pretty good. Now that people point it out, yeah, that's a weakness, and that other thing there, and OMG, that too! You go over your whole novel seeking and fixing similar goofs or flaws.

Now it's time to seek a beta reader--that last pair of non-professional eyes to see your novel before you seek an agent or publisher, or self-publish. Like getting critique, it's very helpful to do beta reads for others.

And like as not, your betas will point out still more things that need fixes, so you fix them. And then you need to make the decision about whether you want trade publishing that places books in stores and/or ebooks on dedicated websites owned by publishers, or whether you want to self-publish and do all your own marketing.

Maryn, hoping this doesn't discourage you, because people here will help you every step of the way

Denevius · Jun 25, 2018

The best way to find the answers to your questions is probably just to be patient and investigate as many avenues as possible to publishing, self-publishing, and finding agents. There’s a lot of information on this site, but it’ll take a while to go through it. There’s also a lot of suggested links that will bring you to where you need to go.

You’ll probably end up having regrets if you don’t take your time and read the information already out there.

But definitely post some of your novel here and get some feedback. Get a critique partner or two. And finally, keep in mind that what people say they love, and what people will spend money on, are two vastly different things.

Best of luck with your novel! I hope it works out the way you envision it!

screenscope · Jun 25, 2018

I don't know how to go about self-publishing, but once your novel is in good shape finding an agent to query is as simple as typing 'zombie novel literary agents' into Google, looking at the resulting Agency website submissions pages and following their instructions.

There are also a lot of publishers who take direct submissions if you can't find an agent.

Hello! I am not sure what to do, and would like to humbly request for advice.

pomegranatetears

Maryn

Baaa!

Denevius

screenscope