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So... I did reply to the fellow whose letter sparked yesterday's post. I thought I might give you my reply, since while the first paragraph gives him his answer, I went off on a tangent based on something else he'd said in the missive. For the purposes of anonymity, we'll call the gentleman "Bob" here:
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Bob --
I read the letter that you gave to Andy Miller and me, and I'm sorry but I've no interest in collaboration -- and that has nothing to do with you or your idea. The truth is (and I suspect it's true of most writers) that it's not ideas I lack, it's the time to write up all the ideas and stories of my own that I already have. So -- I must decline.
I do want to comment on one thing you said in the letter. You stated: "From writing workshops [I have attended, I know that] first time writers almost have no shot with publishers." I don't know what writing workshops you've attended or what the presenters might have told you, but that's an utterly false statement, in my opinion. That's the kind of scare tactic scam artists use when they're trying to get you to pay for publishing your book through a vanity press, or to pay them to be your 'book doctor' or your 'professional editor,' or to pay them a reading fee before they'll consider 'representing' you.
Here's the truth: The publishers are *ALWAYS* looking for new writers, and each and every editor I know is open to (and actively looking for) new voices.
There are no 'odds' in publishing. Publishing is not a lottery. If your manuscript is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, if it's not in proper manuscript form, if your characters are wooden, if your dialogue is flat, if your setting is flat and generic, if your plot is thin, if there's no proper tension or conflict, if there's no satisfying resolution, if you're re-telling a story they've heard a thousand times before no better than anyone else has told it, if you simply haven't followed the submission guidelines... If any of those things are true, well, then your chance of selling to a publisher is exactly ZERO. It won't matter who you send it to or how many times you send it out: it's not going to sell.
But... if you hand them a professional-looking manuscript with vivid, believable characters that we care about and empathize with, and those characters are moving in a well-realized and solid setting, and you wrap all that in a plot that shimmers with proper tension and conflict and comes to a rousing, proper conclusion, and if your prose voice is sparkling and unique... Well, then I'd say your odds are in the 90% range that you'll get an offer. The trick to getting published is very simple: write a great story that knocks the socks off the editors who read it. If you do that, I guarantee that you'll sell it somewhere -- and it doesn't matter whether you're a new writer or a well-established one.
It's very simple. It's just not very easy. I wish you luck!
Best, Steve
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I wasn't as blunt as I could have been. If I were to judge his writing ability from his letter (which may be unfair), I would say that until he has a much better grasp of the rules of the English language (or finds someone who's willing to fix the technical problems), he will remain in the first category. (See the brackets inside the quotation from the letter? Those words weren't there...) That's leaving aside any consideration of his ability to create characters, dialog, setting, plot, theme, voice, style, etc.
Today's question: was I too easy on him, or somewhere close to right? (I don't think 'too harsh' is an option, but if you think differently, say so...) I always agonize over these things... I want to be encouraging to new writers, having been one once, but I also want them to understand reality.
************
Bob --
I read the letter that you gave to Andy Miller and me, and I'm sorry but I've no interest in collaboration -- and that has nothing to do with you or your idea. The truth is (and I suspect it's true of most writers) that it's not ideas I lack, it's the time to write up all the ideas and stories of my own that I already have. So -- I must decline.
I do want to comment on one thing you said in the letter. You stated: "From writing workshops [I have attended, I know that] first time writers almost have no shot with publishers." I don't know what writing workshops you've attended or what the presenters might have told you, but that's an utterly false statement, in my opinion. That's the kind of scare tactic scam artists use when they're trying to get you to pay for publishing your book through a vanity press, or to pay them to be your 'book doctor' or your 'professional editor,' or to pay them a reading fee before they'll consider 'representing' you.
Here's the truth: The publishers are *ALWAYS* looking for new writers, and each and every editor I know is open to (and actively looking for) new voices.
There are no 'odds' in publishing. Publishing is not a lottery. If your manuscript is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, if it's not in proper manuscript form, if your characters are wooden, if your dialogue is flat, if your setting is flat and generic, if your plot is thin, if there's no proper tension or conflict, if there's no satisfying resolution, if you're re-telling a story they've heard a thousand times before no better than anyone else has told it, if you simply haven't followed the submission guidelines... If any of those things are true, well, then your chance of selling to a publisher is exactly ZERO. It won't matter who you send it to or how many times you send it out: it's not going to sell.
But... if you hand them a professional-looking manuscript with vivid, believable characters that we care about and empathize with, and those characters are moving in a well-realized and solid setting, and you wrap all that in a plot that shimmers with proper tension and conflict and comes to a rousing, proper conclusion, and if your prose voice is sparkling and unique... Well, then I'd say your odds are in the 90% range that you'll get an offer. The trick to getting published is very simple: write a great story that knocks the socks off the editors who read it. If you do that, I guarantee that you'll sell it somewhere -- and it doesn't matter whether you're a new writer or a well-established one.
It's very simple. It's just not very easy. I wish you luck!
Best, Steve
*************
I wasn't as blunt as I could have been. If I were to judge his writing ability from his letter (which may be unfair), I would say that until he has a much better grasp of the rules of the English language (or finds someone who's willing to fix the technical problems), he will remain in the first category. (See the brackets inside the quotation from the letter? Those words weren't there...) That's leaving aside any consideration of his ability to create characters, dialog, setting, plot, theme, voice, style, etc.
Today's question: was I too easy on him, or somewhere close to right? (I don't think 'too harsh' is an option, but if you think differently, say so...) I always agonize over these things... I want to be encouraging to new writers, having been one once, but I also want them to understand reality.