What's It All About, Cross???
Todd Moser at Chasing the American Dream asks in a comment here:
So how DOES one get published anyway?
The man asks a reasonable question.
The usual method is:
1.) Write book (fiction) or book proposal (non-fiction). In both cases, it helps to be famous or infamous. In the case of non-fiction, you can also be an expert in some arcane field of inquiry.
2.) Send same to agent. In the case of a novel, most agents only want to see a query. What's a query, you ask? It's a short (usually one-page) description of your story. The query for Beyond You & Me reads as follows:
Beyond You & Me is a novel-in-diary-form that tells the story of Cassie DiMarco, an astonishing young woman struggling within the stultifying restraints of a boring conventional life as the wife of a Yale graduate student in 1975. The 110,000 word manuscript is partly a ride through the erotic house of mirrors we call the 70s, partly a journey of self-discovery that recounts her affair with a handsome European undergraduate.
Cassie tells her story in an easy, direct manner that's not unlike a modern blog. Younger readers will relate to this, and older ones will remember their own struggles navigating the shoals of the Sexual Revolution. The novel is based an actual journal loaned to the author by the real "Cassie DiMarco" (on condition her identity remains a secret). Illustrated with dozens of beautiful, high-quality art nudes, the novel's controversial love scenes will scandalize readers as Cassie makes her way around the erotic banquet she's stumbled into with both men and women.
The novel chronicles a young woman gaining personal awareness through the dawning Women's Movement to free herself from the painful aftermath of the affair. With this new-found strength, she is able to find the life she both wants and deserves. Readers of both genders will root for Cassie as she tries valiantly at first to integrate the two men into her life, then empathize with her loss, first of her lover, then her husband. Forced to overcome her grief alone, she finally subdues her demons, leaves the wasteland of academia, and finds the life she’s always wanted in New York.
The novel's structure is a classic three-character play, and will make an easy transition to a motion picture.
3.) Agent agrees to represent you. This happened to me once before. Needless to say, agents don't always deliver. But when they can, their next step is:
4.) Sell publishing rights to mainstream publisher. Then nirvana happens, you're a successful author, you can smoke a pipe and wear tweedy jackets.
In truth, the way to getting published is quite varied, and we'll look at some others in the next post.
So how DOES one get published anyway?
The man asks a reasonable question.
The usual method is:
1.) Write book (fiction) or book proposal (non-fiction). In both cases, it helps to be famous or infamous. In the case of non-fiction, you can also be an expert in some arcane field of inquiry.
2.) Send same to agent. In the case of a novel, most agents only want to see a query. What's a query, you ask? It's a short (usually one-page) description of your story. The query for Beyond You & Me reads as follows:
Beyond You & Me is a novel-in-diary-form that tells the story of Cassie DiMarco, an astonishing young woman struggling within the stultifying restraints of a boring conventional life as the wife of a Yale graduate student in 1975. The 110,000 word manuscript is partly a ride through the erotic house of mirrors we call the 70s, partly a journey of self-discovery that recounts her affair with a handsome European undergraduate.
Cassie tells her story in an easy, direct manner that's not unlike a modern blog. Younger readers will relate to this, and older ones will remember their own struggles navigating the shoals of the Sexual Revolution. The novel is based an actual journal loaned to the author by the real "Cassie DiMarco" (on condition her identity remains a secret). Illustrated with dozens of beautiful, high-quality art nudes, the novel's controversial love scenes will scandalize readers as Cassie makes her way around the erotic banquet she's stumbled into with both men and women.
The novel chronicles a young woman gaining personal awareness through the dawning Women's Movement to free herself from the painful aftermath of the affair. With this new-found strength, she is able to find the life she both wants and deserves. Readers of both genders will root for Cassie as she tries valiantly at first to integrate the two men into her life, then empathize with her loss, first of her lover, then her husband. Forced to overcome her grief alone, she finally subdues her demons, leaves the wasteland of academia, and finds the life she’s always wanted in New York.
The novel's structure is a classic three-character play, and will make an easy transition to a motion picture.
3.) Agent agrees to represent you. This happened to me once before. Needless to say, agents don't always deliver. But when they can, their next step is:
4.) Sell publishing rights to mainstream publisher. Then nirvana happens, you're a successful author, you can smoke a pipe and wear tweedy jackets.
In truth, the way to getting published is quite varied, and we'll look at some others in the next post.
posted by W. S. Cross at 10:04 PM
5 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Yes, well, I'm all ears. And having a wonderful working website with its own pre-sold audience, I'm ready to help partner with a publisher to market the book. We could, for example, take pre-publication orders from customers, thereby improving the financial equation for the process.
And with my supporter sites to do an affiliate program giving them a small reward for directing customers to the book. Etc., etc., etc.
If you know of any publishers who would be interested in such a partnership with an author, please direct them my way. Thanks.
That would be a great thing WS. This trudging through the trenches is backbreaking.
Chin up kid.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
It has crossed my mind, though it would require wearing a multiplicity of hats. It would be better to partner with someone who already knows the publishing side of the business, but is a poor candidate to market things.
I would have no time for writing if I were to take up all the tasks of registering copyright, acquring an ISBN number, finding a distributor, etc.
Post a Comment
<< Home