lah%ucbmiro@Berkeley (05/30/85)
From: lah%ucbmiro@Berkeley (First Lieutenant Leigh Ann Hussey) Re: Publisher & Editor Reviews... >(Note that for a novel, you should send a query with an outline and >sample chapters, *not* the whole novel. You don't even need to have >the novel finished.) Sorry, but that's a bad piece of advice. I only hope that you haven't taken it already and suffered an unnecessary rejection. When you have five books or so out, then you can start thinking about sending outlines. Most of the writers I know, however, sent their first novels complete. When an editor knows for certain what he/she is buying from you, ie, will it sell, they won't care (much) what it's about. James Hogan said (Baycon '85) that the only myth-making he does these days is in the writing of his outlines; te subsequent stories sometimes come out very differently. Hogan, however, is an acknowledged seller. In addition, he sent HIS first novel in complete. Meanwhile, an editor can't be sure of what he/she's getting on the basis of an outline and a few chapters unless he/she's seen your work before. Send the whole thing, with return postage (unless you don't want it back), and hope for the best. I'm marketing my first novel, too. (By the way, the above commentator was right about stories -- having a short story of my own out does not seem to have made much difference; what HAS is going to conventions. Know your editors and colleagues-to-be, get your face seen and your work heard -- in that case, having a prior short story or two published is good, as it gets you into cons as a guest and you can meet more people that way). Re: The Black Cauldron I have heard that it will be a glomming-together, in typical Disney fashion, of more than one of the books in the Chronicles of Prydain series. I am hoping for the best, nonetheless -- those books are among my favourites. Re: Trade Paperbacks (the incipient flame) "...those silly, oversized, overpriced "TRADE" paper editions!" Well, that's a matter of opinion. There are many books out which one can only get in trade paper, and are therefore well worth the price. And again, there are some books whose trade editions are better than the mass-markets. I'm thinking specifically of the Bluejay edition of Mildred Downey Broxon's Too Long a Sacrifice. Nice interior illustrations, great centerfold painting (many of Bluejay's books have them; why, though, didn't Door Into Fire have one as its companion volume did? Too bad...), reasonable cover, good binding (sewn in signatures!)... I could go on for days, just out of sheer pleasure in Devil's Advocacy. Besides that, incidentally, it's a very good book, I recommend it (an Irish couple in the sixth century get involved with the Sidhe, leave a fairy mound after a seeming year and find themselves lost in modern- day Northern Ireland, separated. And something more than the usual conflict is afoot... For those who say, "Oh ye Gods, not another Northern Ireland book full of politics and bloodshed and hungerstrikes," I say, read it. You'll be surprised). Phew! Leigh Ann Hussey (lah@ucbmiro.BERKELEY (horatio@ucbmiro.BERKELEY)
psc@lzwi.UUCP (Paul S. R. Chisholm) (05/30/85)
< Smokey the Bar says, "Help stamp out software pirates" [squish!] > > From: lah%ucbmiro@Berkeley (First Lieutenant Leigh Ann Hussey) > >(Note that for a novel, you should send a query with an outline and > >sample chapters, *not* the whole novel. You don't even need to have > >the novel finished.) > > Sorry, but that's a bad piece of advice. I only hope that you haven't taken > it already and suffered an unnecessary rejection. When you have five books > or so out, then you can start thinking about sending outlines. Most of the > writers I know, however, sent their first novels complete. When an editor > knows for certain what he/she is buying from you, ie, will it sell, they won't > care (much) what it's about. >... > Meanwhile, an editor can't be sure of what he/she's getting on the basis of an > outline and a few chapters unless he/she's seen your work before. Send the > whole thing, with return postage (unless you don't want it back), and hope for > the best. I'm marketing my first novel, too. (By the way, the above > commentator was right about stories -- having a short story of my own out does > not seem to have made much difference; what HAS is going to conventions. Know > your editors and colleagues-to-be, get your face seen and your work heard -- > in that case, having a prior short story or two published is good, as it gets > you into cons as a guest and you can meet more people that way). >... > Leigh Ann Hussey > (lah@ucbmiro.BERKELEY > (horatio@ucbmiro.BERKELEY) As the poster of that advice, I bow to your superior experience. The idea that going to cons and meeting editors helps sounds especially right. -- -Paul S. R. Chisholm The above opinions are my own, {pegasus,vax135}!lzwi!psc not necessarily those of any {mtgzz,ihnp4}!lznv!psc telecommunications company.
crm@duke.UUCP (Charlie Martin) (05/31/85)
In article <2138@topaz.ARPA> lah%ucbmiro@Berkeley writes: >From: lah%ucbmiro@Berkeley (First Lieutenant Leigh Ann Hussey) > > > >Re: Publisher & Editor Reviews... >>(Note that for a novel, you should send a query with an outline and >>sample chapters, *not* the whole novel. You don't even need to have >>the novel finished.) > >Sorry, but that's a bad piece of advice. I only hope that you haven't taken >it already and suffered an unnecessary rejection. When you have five books >or so out, then you can start thinking about sending outlines. Most of the >writers I know, however, sent their first novels complete. .... At the Editor's panel at Disclave last weekend, the editors all agreed that they would consider an outline *first*, over a complete manuscript, and that they by far prefer to see outlines over manuscripts. Now, if you are a new writer, the response to your outline may be "sounds good, can I see the whole manuscript when it is available?" For some non-obvious reason, I forgot to put the editors's names into my notebook, but they were from several big name companies like Berkely. -- Charlie Martin (...mcnc!duke!crm)