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.

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.

Children's book to Charlesbridge

Charlesbridge is a kind of publisher that I'm never sure I'm good enough for. They have a lot of books that impart a gentle lesson.

I'm not real good on lessons.

Often, my subtle lesson is really really subtle. More often, I just tell (what I think is) a good story with no lesson. So, we'll see.

 

The first part of their guidelines are here:

http://www.charlesbridge.com/client/client_pages/authorguidelines.cfm

Fantasy comic to Dynamite Entertainment

Last week, I submitted a sword and sorcery mini-series to Dynamite Entertainment. Their submission guidelines are here:

 

http://www.dynamite.net/htmlfiles/editor.html

 

Dynamite Entertainment is another company that focuses on the cream of the crop, both in terms of creators and characters. Most of the main characters you will have already heard of, from Blackbeard to Darkman. And the people putting out those comics you've probably heard of as well.

 

And of course, no one has heard of me. I plugged the fact that between my YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/verylittleknowledge) and this blog, 20,000 people viewed my work last month. Maybe that counts for something. So, we'll see how this submission goes...

 

Also:

My suspense story was rejected by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. I e-mailed it in July 12, and received the response July 21. At least they were quick...is that a good or a bad thing...?

Stalker story to Ellery Queen

My story isn't really a mystery. There's no whodunit. It's suspenseful, though. And I've noticed from reading Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine that a fair share of stories don't have anything to solve.

In a traditional sense, that is. If you broaden the definition of mystery to include suspense, it still works. Because suspense is wanting to find out how something ends. Even if there's no smoking gun and parlor scene for this to happen in.

This, and because my story was inspired by a story in its June 2011 issue, I sent it to them.

My favorite part of their submission guidelines is that they have converted to electronic submissions except:

"We will continue to accept paper submissions only from established authors who do not have the technical capability to submit electronically. "