What I Learned's blog

New publishing companies get swamped with submissions

I always check the publisher of the books my daughter brings home from the library. “When a Dragon Moves In” was published by FlashLight Press. (http://www.flashlightpress.com/index.html) I had never heard of them before. I assumed it was an imprint of a larger, impenetrable publishing company.

I was pleasantly surprised that it was its own company. A little bit of research showed they were owned by a company that published adult books, but it was still small. It was still approachable.

Which means it's approached by EVERYONE.

Their submission guidelines had changed in that they only respond if they really like it. They said it was because they got way too many submissions, and they couldn't respond to them all.

That's the way it is with us writers: Once the door opens a crack, we all rush toward it so the door cracks off its hinges.

There are so few publishing companies out there that actually accept unsolicited submissions that those who do get swamped very quickly. I only hope that my submission stands out from the herd.

What I Learned: There's huge competition even at the little publishers. The same rules apply: Make it your best effort, and make your book stand out. (This is better than the big ones, in which you can't even enter the competition.)

Don't abuse the little publisher that could. They're nice enough to offer you chances to have your work published. The least you can do is buy their books and keep that door open.

“It's OK to steal from the Internet,” they say

I wrote a short story for a client, and it turned out really good. Then, after all was said and done, my client mentioned he stole the idea from the Internet.

If all you need to do is right-click on something, why be original? Creativity isn't rewarded, it's just copied. People who want to copy something because they like it, but don't realize there's a value there.

There's an assumption that if it's online, it should be free. If this was the case, no one would be making any money off their creations and you'd see much less of it online.

Anything can be ripped off. That's why it's even more important to be 100 percent original. Don't fall into the easy trap of generating content mashed up from other people's ideas. You won't stand out. You'll be exactly like everyone else who is doing it.

We don't revere people like Steve Jobs because he copied other people. He got the respect he did because he created something new.

When anything can be copied off the internet the only thing I have is originality. People want original content, not the same old thing. That's why, for instance, Charlie Sheen jokes got old very quickly.

My writing might not be much, but at least it's my own.

 

Here's my YouTube channel. You'll find some bizarre but funny and very nsfw material:

 

YouTube channel

Character: the most important part of writing, especially if you can make a toy out of it

Megan McCafferty, an of young adult novels, was speaking today to students at Central Regional High School, where she graduated. She said that she came up with what she thought was a great idea for a picture book.

Her agent declined it because there wasn't enough potential for a stuffed animal to come out of it.

“Wow,” said English teacher behind me, sadly.

Christopher Nolan was told by the film studio to make his Batman movies more “Toyetic.” Now, I suppose, books need to be.

This should come as no great shock, really. Everything is merchandised.

But two things make this worse. The first is that here's this New York Times bestselling novelist, and she doesn't have the muscle to get a non-toy book published. Secondly, marketing toys to children when you're trying to get them to read is a downward slope. Reading should open doors to more reading, not to buying commercial products.

My wife and I were in Toys R Us and were surprised to see Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious dolls. Reading is a very private thing, most of the time. And despite the popularity of these series, we just never thought of the idea that hundreds of thousands of kids read them. Hundreds of thousands of potential customers.

I saw a Splat the Cat at Barnes and Noble. I almost got it, but I didn't because:

1. I'm cheap

2. My daughter has enough stuffed animals already

3. I don't think she'd play with him the way she'd play with her other toys. Maybe I'm wrong about this.

This is depressing. But I guess you have to think of it in terms of children's TV shows. There isn't any children's program on TV right now that isn't trying to sell you something. Except maybe the public broadcasting shows. But if Sesame Street is any indication, with Elmo's face on everything, the other shows will have marketing potential too. A quick Google turned up Word Girl (My favorite PBS show) costumes.

So, I guess we just have to live with it. Books aren't just for education or entertainment anymore. The main thing they teach us is how to be a consumer.

Stephen King inspired by Hurricane Irene?

This morning, the weather channel listed Bangor, Maine as along the destructive path of Hurricane Irene.

 

It's probably Flagg's fault.

 

You see, most of Stephen King's stories take place in and around Maine, with Bangor being a hotbed of demons, psychos and curses. By next year, we'll be seeing his next bestseller about a family that loses power in the storm, and a drifter asks to stay with them and they can't turn him away, but he's secretive and creepy, and the hurricane winds bring in some kind of winged creatures, and the father must overcome his alcoholism.

 

Writers can be inspired by anything. And to see the awesome power of a storm of this magnitude – it will certainly get the creative juices flowing. However, right now, the real horror show is just outside. I'm too terrified to even open my curtain to see the 60-foot trees swaying like a “wacky inflatable flailing arm tube man.”

 

Maybe after this all blows over, and it calms down a bit, I'll find some inspiration.

 

 

 

Suspense story to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine

I submitted my suspense story to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine last week. It had previously been turned down by Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. This submission makes sense since the story was inspired by a story in EQMM which was in turn inspired by Hitchcock's “Rear Window.” What's kind of nice is that the submission guidelines are more about format than style. I'm glad they are less picky about that. Although format guidelines in general are annoying, especially numbering pages. The Hitchcock guidelines are here: http://www.themysteryplace.com/ahmm/guidelines/ The magazine is pretty decent, although sadly much more thin than I remember it being.

Abduction = Bourne Identity + The Face On The Milk Carton

Abduction = Bourne Identity + The Face On The Milk Carton

 

Before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2, there was a trailer for this movie called "Abduction."

First of all, the minute I see Taylor Lautner, a) I already sign off on not seeing the movie and b) flagellate myself for knowing his name. (Maybe I'm being mean. I'm sure he's a swell guy.)

As the trailer hints at the plot, and the girl shows him the age-progression photo, I think that's not a bad little scene. Then I remember "The Face On The Milk Carton," a story by Caroline B. Cooney about a kid who learns he's been abducted.

But then, VIOLENCE!

Suddenly there's shooting, and who do you trust? And he's jumping around like he's got spider-powers. And seriously, can we just get back to "I Know My Name Is Steven?"

Because what this looks like to me is that he's been involved in some kind of super soldier program, genetically bred to be better than the rest of us, and kidnapped to be programmed, but maybe programmed for good rather than evil and instead of having any real emotional story it just descends into bullets and screaming and trailer scenes.

Deathly Hallows 2: A Race to the Finish

About 30 minutes into this movie, I thought, "Geez, this is going by awfully quickly." I had completely forgotten that all the build-up was in the last movie. If I could watch more than one movie in a sitting, it might be that they form a more natural build to a plateau of action.

That said, the director David Yates understood timing. There were many shots that were long enough to take in the scenery and the emotion. They were even a welcome break from the scattershot action movie trailers that came before.

But the speed necessitated that things had to be cut. We never saw the Fred Weasley death scene, unless you sort-of saw it when Voldemort called off the Death Eaters. We also got gipped on Lupin and Tonks. Occasionally, the movies will show something the books didn't, and this is one thing my wife and I both wanted the movies to fill in. We saw them reach for each other, so I guess that was more than the book gave us. I was hoping for a little more from the Molly Weasley/Bellatrix Lestrange fight, but it got the job done. We'd never seen Molly duel, and it would be cool to see her let loose like McGonagall, who kicked ass!

I wonder how much Emma Thompson got paid for her 3 seconds as Sybil Trelawney? Certainly, I'm glad she wasn't dropping crystal balls on Fenrir, who also showed up for 3 seconds. But, that's the nature of movies, they excise or marginalize lesser characters and parts. Hagrid was a huge casualty. Did we really need to see the Carrows?

The one scene from the book that was missing - the only one that really sticks out - was Harry's declaration in front of everybody that Snape was a hero. This could have happened when they were done apparating. The apparation fight was a nice touch, and as they are flying wild, they could have landed right in the middle of everyone.

I'm glad they only hinted at Dumbledore's past. My main criticism of the books has been that more than half of the action happens more than a decade ago. Everything that's happening now got it's start at various times: When Dumbledore was gathering power; when Tom Riddle and Hagrid attended Hogwarts; when James, Lily, Remus, Sirius and Severus attended Hogwarts; and when James and Lily were killed.

I was happy with Neville Longbottom, who has always been my favorite. I root for the underdog, and I feel that if I was in that world, I would be the bumbler who always felt like a second-string extra.

I found that I had to try to cry quietly because I didn't want to miss any of the dialogue. The biggest tearjerker was Snape's pensieve scenes.

http://whatilearnedbywriting.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/deathly-hollows-2-everyone-will-cry/

My wife started crying in the opening scenes, with Snape looking out over Hogwarts. No one knows why.

Now, it will continue in Pottermore, which is just as well, but it's hard to deny that there was an ending here. And it was a satisfying ending.

 

I had written a review of Part One here:

http://whatilearnedbywriting.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/review-deathly-hallows-part-one/

Deathly Hollows 2: Everyone will cry

I'm not ready for the last Harry Potter movie.

I'm ready for the deaths of key characters. I'm ready for the war. What I'm absolutely not ready for is the credits.

The first movies of the series filled us with wonder as we first saw Hogwarts in all its glory. Hagrid's Hut. The Shrieking Shack. Now, we'll see it all be dismembered pixel by pixel in vivid computer animation. At least I'll only be seeing it in 2D (Yes I bought my tickets already).

Once those credits roll: That's it. There's no more. It's over.

No more movies. No more anticipation. No more hours-long discussion over how they're going to handle different parts of the books in the next movie. No more debate over whether something is going to be changed. No more releases of studio pictures. Cast interviews. Trailers. Nothing!

The journey of reading the books for the first time is long over. The end of that was painful as well.

Now, we'll have to say goodbye to its celluloid legacy. It's going to be a theater full of people crying, and I'm not prepared for that at all. It's going to be like Toy Story 3.

Child's Play International submission

 

I had sent a board book script to Child's Play International. A few months later, I received the following e-mail:

Many thanks for sending me your manuscript which I enjoyed reading.

Unfortunately, the Child’s Play publishing programme is complete for the

foreseeable future and we are unable to accept your work for publication.

 

Because of the large number of manuscripts we receive every month, it is

impossible for us to offer criticism on individual projects.

 

Best regards

Sue Baker

Child's Play International

 

Looking at their publishing list (http://www.childs-play.com/bookshop.html) I don't know that my storybook would have definitely fit in. And maybe that was my mistake.

 

 

 

 

Every week, I try to send something out to publishers. Finding markets, my opinion of them, writing queries and cover letters - I'll write about it here, every Submission Sunday.

 

 

Every week, I try to send something out to publishers. Finding markets, my opinion of them, writing queries and cover letters - I'll write about it here, every Submission Sunday.

 

 

writing, submission guidelines, how to, query

children's, picture

 

 

 

4/17/11

Last week, I sent out a post-apocalyptic story with a really disturbing ending. My wife hates this story.

I first checked out The Absent River Review, a collection of fantasy, horror and science fiction. The work on this magazine was very clean and professional. I read "Gnawing At The Root" by Kevin Pinkham. The required word count wasn't right.

But Interzone had the right word count. I sent it there for consideration. One thing I like about their submission guidelines:

 

• Please include a covering letter but don't worry too much about it, just introduce yourself and list any relevant credits, things like that. If you've never been published before tell us that too — we've published many debut stories over the years.

 

After everything you read about submissions, it feels good when a prominent publisher says "relax."

 

 

5/8/11

 

When I find a book I like, I check who published it. A lot of times I've seen those little eyeglasses logo peering up at me. So I'm sending my next book to Chronicle Books.

My picture book is about an event told from the point of view of my two cats. It's quirky, and has personality, and that's why I chose this particular company. I think they'd "get it."

So, I tailored my cover letter toward them, keeping in mind all the books I've seen by them, crossed my fingers and tossed it in the mail.

 

In other news, I received my rejection from Interzone this week as well. They have very well written rejection e-mails.

 

 

 

6/5/11

 

I had sent a board book script to Child's Play International. A few months later, I received the following e-mail:

Many thanks for sending me your manuscript which I enjoyed reading.

Unfortunately, the Child’s Play publishing programme is complete for the

foreseeable future and we are unable to accept your work for publication.

 

Because of the large number of manuscripts we receive every month, it is

impossible for us to offer criticism on individual projects.

 

Best regards

Sue Baker

Child's Play International

 

Looking at their publishing list (http://www.childs-play.com/bookshop.html) I don't know that my storybook would have definitely fit in. And maybe that was my mistake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had sent a board book script to Child's Play International. A few months later, I received the following e-mail:

Many thanks for sending me your manuscript which I enjoyed reading.

Unfortunately, the Child’s Play publishing programme is complete for the

foreseeable future and we are unable to accept your work for publication.

 

Because of the large number of manuscripts we receive every month, it is

impossible for us to offer criticism on individual projects.

 

Best regards

Sue Baker

Child's Play International

 

Looking at their publishing list (http://www.childs-play.com/bookshop.html) I don't know that my storybook would have definitely fit in. And maybe that was my mistake.

 

Submission: Cat book to Chronicle

When I find a book I like, I check who published it. A lot of times I've seen those little eyeglasses logo peering up at me. So I'm sending my next book to Chronicle Books.

My picture book is about an event told from the point of view of my two cats. It's quirky, and has personality, and that's why I chose this particular company. I think they'd "get it."

So, I tailored my cover letter toward them, keeping in mind all the books I've seen by them, crossed my fingers and tossed it in the mail.

 

In other news, I received my rejection from Interzone this week as well. They have very well written rejection e-mails.

(http://whatilearnedbywriting.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/post-apocalyptic-scifi-to-interzone/)

 

 

Every week, I try to send something out to publishers. Finding markets, my opinion of them, writing queries and cover letters - I'll write about it here, every Submission Sunday.