UConn · Publishing

Sometimes I know who's looking for publishing jobs when I hear about them, but sometimes I don't, especially if you've been out of the class for a couple of years. Or are you working in publishing but looking to move up to another position? Keep me posted (email me offlist) if you're looking for things (and a copy of your resume wouldn't hurt).

From a writer friend on the West Coast: "Wanted to post... about this blog started by Scott William Carter, a writer I know through the Oregon Coast Professional Writers Network. It's called "The First Book." Once a week, Scott posts an interview with a first-time novelist whose book is just being published. He's covering writers and books from across all genres. Seems like nice exposure: http://thefirstbook.wordpress.com/"

If anyone here is curious about my adventures in the Philippines this past January before they show up in my next few books, you can visit http://leigh.rowena.org/journal_menu.asp

I recently got a request about a fairly specialized publishing job in NYC, and realized I didn't have a deep list of qualified folks to recommend. If you're a former publishing student who's still interested in working in the field (I promise I won't tell your current employer) drop me an email so I know to keep you in mind if I hear about something that's a good fit.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/news/20070424a

Something the other gamers and game designers on this list will want to know: Tom Moldvay, one of the designers of Dungeons and Dragons, died earlier this week.

I just got a call about an entry-level production job, looking for a publishing course grad or former intern to fill it. It's a great place to work though, like all publishing jobs, the pay's not great.

Call or email me ASAP if you're interested - I'll be going away for a week after tomorrow.

Crossposted at DailyKos
The series so far:</p>

Part 1 - Why bad things happen to good books.
Part 2 - Avoiding publishing scams.
Part 3 - Literary Conventions (with an emphasis of SF Conventions).

Literary Conventions

By request, I’m going to use tonight’s (very long) segment to talk about literary conventions. As a writer and editor, I’m less interested in the highbrow (and high-priced) literary conferences aimed at new writers, since I think your chances of learning your way around the field at them are significantly worse than the genre conferences. And I’m very skeptical of for-profit conventions. But in terms of breaking into the field, meeting people, and maintaining publishing connections, I think there is no better place than the nonprofit genre conventions run by fan groups. (Think YearlyKos for specific groups of readers, with a lot more programming and about the same level of intellectual discourse and liberal focus. Lunacon, a medium-sized convention near NYC every March that I’ve run the program for over the last few years has about 20 simultaneous tracks of programming at peak hours for its 1,500 attendees - including about 200 pros - and programming running until 2:00 a.m.) The ones I’m most familiar with are science fiction conventions (so I’ll be using them as a metaphor to talk about genre conventions in general), but there are conventions for mysteries, romances, true crime buffs... you name it.

Our story thus far:
Part 1 - Why bad things happen to good books.
Part 2 - Avoiding publishing scams.


The Basics
Science fiction conventions have been gatherings for writers, editors, artists, and fans for several generations now, and a breeding ground for new writers. The idea of writers hanging around in hotel bars with fellow writers and kicking ideas around - one of the main things that goes on at conventions if you’re a pro - is at least as old as Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe hanging around in bars and doing the same thing, though most of us hope for a better end than Kit. (We don’t always get it: Writer Paul Edwin Zimmer fell dead of a heart attack at Albacon in Albany a few years ago.) Don't believe the media image of lots of people running around in Star Trek costumes. (The typical media depiction of SF fans is only slightly less condescending than the Lieberman camp’s view of bloggers.) Not all conventions include costuming at all, and in the ones that do feature masquerades (which sewing fanatics from around the world who also like science fiction spend months preparing to compete in, sort of like figure skating competitions) typically only about 5% of fans wear costumes. (Readercon’s costuming policy, for instance, was something on the order of “while Readercon has no costuming policy, no one at a Readercon has ever worn one.”

What do people do at conventions? They go to panels on books, media, science, fandom and its history, gaming, costuming, etc.; they hang out in the bar or Con Suite and talk to old friends who they only see once or twice a year at conventions; they go to art shows (where they can also bid on paintings, sculptures, and other artwork); they buy hard-to-find books or DVDs, jewelry, and crafts in the dealers' room; they listen to readings by their favorite writers or new writers who they've never heard of; they watch movies or anime; and they participate in all sorts of other activities that go on. (Occasionally the other activities get out of hand: Disclave had been running every May in the D.C. area for nearly 50 years until a bondage enthusiast in the convention hotel decided to tie his girlfriend to the sprinkler head, with predictable results. A more low-key convention called Capclave - which I’ll be a guest at for the first time this year - eventually returned to D.C., and now runs every October.)

There are conventions going on somewhere pretty much every weekend. Each of them tends to have a different focus, and some are much more useful to new writers than others. I go to about five a year, usually including some of the following:

Arisia - a general-purpose con held in Boston every January, with a mix of books and other media, and a younger feel than a lot of other cons. Something of a party convention.

Boskone - a book-oriented convention with a lot of tech, art and media panels as well (but no costuming), held in Boston every February, typically on President's Weekend.

Lunacon - the New York City regional convention, with a general focus but an emphasis on developing new writers and artists. Held near NYC every March. (Full disclosure: I’ve been organizing the Lunacon program on a volunteer basis for the last 4 years, and will be doing so for the conventions 50th anniversary this year as well before turning the program over to a former student of mine.)

Philcon - A general-purpose convention held in Philadelphia in November or December, with an emphasis on the history of genre fiction and early fantasy and horror.

Readercon - a small but very intense convention held near Boston every July, with a focus on literature. Readercon draws alot of canadian writers, and focuses more on literary “highbrow” SF. (And baseball... I was a panelist on this year’s baseball panel at Readercon, and one of the con organizers does some consulting for the Red Sox.)

Connecticon - A raucous convention held in Hartford every July, with more of a focus on games and anime than books... lots of 13-year-old girls running around in anime costumes and squealing, but still a fun convention as a once-a-year thing. (I write roleplaying games, too... remember?)

Capclave - a smallish convention held in D.C. every October, focusing on short fiction.

Some of the biggest conventions travel every year, such as Worldcon every Labor Day weekend (In Anaheim this year and in Japan in 2007) or the World Fantasy Convention held every Halloween weekend, this year in Austin and next year in Saratoga. The Hugo Awards (voted on by the fans) are presented at Worldcon every year, while the World Fantasy Awards are presented at WFC. Worldcons are enormos, drawing 6,000-8,000 fans and pros, while WFC is much smaller (with a membership cap), but draws a disproportionally professional attendance.

These conventions are mostly run by nonprofit fan groups or science fiction clubs, such as NESFA (the New England Science Fiction Association) which runs Boskone, as well as publishing editions of classic SF authors who have fallen out of print. There are also slick for-profit conventions which tend to be more media and gaming oriented and have less book content.


What’s in it for Writers?
Most conventions tout the panels and workshops as a terrific thing for writers, and to a certain extent this is true. There’s a lot to be said for attending panels where editors tell you what they’re looking for (and what they never want to see again), or workshops where writers work with you on specific problems, or discussions of trends in the field. While those panels will be useful, and especially at your first couple of cons you’ll probably attend a lot of them, there are other parts of the convention that will ultimately prove more useful to you as a future publishing professional.

To a certain extent, there are two conventions going on at the same time. There’s the convention of the panels and art show and dealer’s room and various shiny things where fans (and that includes you until you sell something or land a job in the field) can go to hear their favorite writers and artists and editors and agents speak, and can interact with them more closely at meet the pros events, coffeekatsches, readings, and autographings. But there’s also the convention where those same writers and artists and editors and agents hang out together with fellow pros who they only see a few times a year (except online), kick around ideas, make deals, hang out at the bar, and go to parties.

The parties can be just as important to you as the panels. Most pros in the field will be very helpful if you’re polite, friendly, reasonably well socialized, don’t interrupt, and in general don’t give off a creepy vibe. Conventions are where a lot of future pros learn how to interact with other pros, make friends with the people who will eventually mentor them in the field, and get a chance to connect both with working pros and with the kind of support group it takes to be successful as a writer. Nancy Hanger of
Windhaven Press - one of the best copyeditors in the field, incidentally - has a theory of what she calls the nexus: that as you break into the field, 80% of the people you know were introduced to you through one or two people (directly or indirectly). John Betancourt of the Wildside Press was the first nexus for me (and I met a lot of folks through Nancy as well, when I was in my first editing job at the late Byron Preiss Visual Productions). Nowadays I suppose I’m a nexus for a lot of people.

Conventions can be a sort of minor league from which a lot of future editors and writers emerge - both directly, through contacts made at cons, and indirectly through the socialization process that they encourage.

As you may have gathered from the first two segments of the series (and the comments) genre fiction is incredibly gossipy and incestuous. The line between employer and employee is very fluid, especially in a field where many people cobble together an income from several freelance jobs, and where people depend on word of mouth for information, support, and livelihood. Plus, as professional communicators and people who aspire to it, conventions are filled with great storytellers, and people for whom communication and ideas, rather than establishing a pecking order, is the most important part of conversation. (Seriously, in fandom,
language is used differently.) I tend to come back from a convention filled with new ideas and very energized to write.


What do Conventions Cost?
The entry fee at conventions is fairly nominal (since they’re nonprofit, and staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers), typically about $30 for the weekend if you buy ahead or about $50 at the door. (One-day memberships are usually available as well.) Except for the very largest conventions, most cons are held in hotels (which make function space available to the con for free in return for having a full hotel on what would be an otherwise dead weekend). If you’re a starving college student, there are lots of ways to do cons on the cheap: cram lots of people into a hotel room or commute from a friend’s house nearby to cut costs, bring your own food instead of eating at the hotel restaurant, etc. If you volunteer to help out at the con they’ll feed you, and if you work enough hours they’ll comp your membership.

Assuming you don’t want to starve or share your hotel room with anyone you’re not sleeping with, you’ll probably spend $400-500 for a convention within driving distance. Don’t pretend you won’t buy books or
jewelry in the dealer’s room, or artwork from the art show (ranging from $5 prints to paintings costing thousands of dollars... these conventions are for artists as much as for authors.)

Incidentally, other than the guests of honor, all the pros who you meet have paid their own way to the convention as well. Usually if you speak at a con they comp your membership and sometimes a guest, but you have to pay for meals, hotel room, etc. And you never come close to selling enough books to cover your costs, no matter how much you try to rationalize it. So be nice to the pros you meet - they’re being helpful to you because they genuinely have a desire to make the field better, not because they’re being paid for it.

Conventions tend to be very conscious of accessibility, and any established convention is likely to be designed with the needs of disabled fans in mind. (Disability isn’t an abstraction in fandom... cons are designed to be accessible because the people designing them have specific disabled friends who attend the con in mind.) Conventions also tend to be very tolerant of alternate lifestyles, a wide variety of religions, personal quirks, and differences in general. You may find people who are politically conservative at conventions (though likely libertarian, and most fans are very liberal), but you’re unlikely to run into people who are socially intolerant. If you have issues with gay couples or transgendered folks or outspoken disabled folks, or kids running around in packs looking for their favorite writer, or old-style southern libertarian rants about the Civil War, or late-night parties, or people bringing their dogs to the hotel with them, you may have problems with conventions - because all of those things coexist at most of them. Conventions are about conveying ideas, and there’s a decided intolerance for intolerance.


A Few Tips for Surviving at Conventions

Stay at the hotel if at all possible. A lot of the important stuff goes on late at night, either at parties or in conversations in the lobby or hallways, and you won’t want to have to miss that to drive back and forth.

Teresa Nielsen-Hayden of Tor Books - and the wonderful Making Light blog - first taught me the rule for surviving conventions (which may not have originated with her: two meals a day and five hours of sleep - don’t reverse them.

Bring fruit and vegetables or something nutritious and snacky to keep in your hotel room. There’s a ton of free sugar around (in the Con Suite and at parties) and a fair amount of coffee, chocolate, and alcohol, and it’s easy to binge on sugar and caffeine... especially since you won’t be sleeping much. Don’t get so excited by the ideas being kicked around that you forget to eat (or shower, but I hope I don’t have to tell y’all that.)

Feel free to come up and introduce yourself to me (or other writers you meet at a con who you may have encountered online), ask whatever questions you want, but be socially aware. If you’re talking with me at the end of a panel, don’t block the next panelists from setting up; if I’m talking with someone else, don’t interrupt. (I won’t ignore you if I see you’re there, but give it a minute... I’m not going to blow off the person I’m talking to.) I’d love to meet you, but if you come across like one of those creepy “you’re a real writer, can I touch you...” kind of fans, I’ll avoid you. (Most fans are very friendly, but I have two different writer friends who have been stalked, and had to get protection against credible death threats.)

Anyway, way overlength, and the scene I’m working on still isn’t written (I spent most of today working on a database for Lunacon and spreading the word that Joe Lieberman has decided to show up to the strongly pro-Lamont event the DTC I belong to is sponsoring on Tuesday night). I’ll write a bit while I stick around for questions, then be around tomorrow afternoon (meeting on campus in the morning, sorry).

Segments in the works soon: how publishing lists work, how to submit a book, finding an agent, writing book proposals. Let me know in comments if you have a particular topic you’d like me to concentrate on first.

crossposted from DailyKos

Now that we’re finally starting to reclaim the best-seller lists from the likes of Ann Coulter, and many bloggers are turning their thoughts to writing books, I thought it might be helpful to do a series on how the publishing process works, why some books sell and others don’t, and how to go about finishing your book, finding an agent, and getting published. I’ll also touch on self-publishing and avoiding scams, as well as any other publishing-related questions people would like answered.

A bit of background: I’m the author of nine published books and a former NYC editor, who still does a fair amount of work for various publishing firms. I teach writing and book publishing at the university level, and remain tied into the publishing world (particularly science fiction and fantasy) on various levels. I’ve written and edited both fiction and nonfiction, and I’ll talk about both in this series.

I am not currently an acquiring editor (so don’t send me your manuscript unless I specifically ask to see it) but hopefully this series will steer some of you in the direction of people who will buy your books.

Anyway, in this introductory part, I’ll talk a bit about how publishers are organized and buy books, and the first few steps you can take, before getting into more details in later episodes (assuming y’all are interested in reading more). I’ll probably write it in chunks of 1,000 words or so while I’m avoiding my current deadline. (The first draft of my new novel has been promised to my agent in late August.)


1 - Finish the Damned Thing First

If you’re a first-time author (meaning you’ve never sold a book before, not that you haven’t written professionally) it’s very likely that you will need to have a completed book in hand before you can sell it to anyone. The exception here is for people who are selling the book based on their fame rather than their writing skills - but if you’re Paris Hilton it’s not like you’ll be writing it yourself, anyway. Or like anyone will be reading it for your writing ability.

Experienced writers often do not write the entire book before selling it: A publisher will frequently buy a book based on an outline and sample chapters. But that’s because an experienced writer has a track record of being able to finish a book - which lots of first-time writers can’t. The single biggest problem with new writers is endings; almost anyone can start a good book, while it often takes lots of experience to actually finish one in a way that will be satisfying to readers.

Ray Bradbury famously said that it takes about a million words of writing before a writer really gets good (the average novel is about 100,000 words these days), and there’s a lot of truth to that. For many eventual published writers, the first book you write won’t sell - but it will teach you to write a book that will sell. The first two books I wrote didn’t sell (though they landed me my first agent), but most of what I’ve written since has sold. Piers Anthony wrote 13 books before he sold one (and went on to become a best-seller). My friend Walter Hunt (a fine writer in his own right) sold his first novel - but it took nearly 20 years. (Ironically, after 20 years that book - which concerns an alien culture that wants to destroy humanity because their religion tells them we shouldn’t exist - came out a month before 9-11, and ended up with huge sales because of that fluke of timing.)


2 - Why Good Books Can Still Get Rejected
While publishers are in the business of making money, and your book may be tremendously commercial, that doesn’t mean that every publisher will be interested in it. Publishing houses (and imprints within those publishing houses) have different strengths and weaknesses, and more importantly, their sales forces have different strengths and weaknesses. Editors, who are competing with each other for precious publishing slots, tend to be highly attuned to what they thing their publisher can sell. Yes, sometimes they go out on a limb, and sometimes they have blind spots, but by and large, whether your book sells is based on:

Good writing

Finding the right publisher, and following that publisher’s guidelines

Convincing that publisher there’s a viable market for the book, and that market isn’t too saturated

Having good timing

A well written, comercial book is likely to sell eventually, but it can still be rejected (for good reasons) at the first place (or places) it’s sent to. For example:

You’ve written the best 14th-century Scottish romance novel in the history of creation. You submit it to me, and I love it. Unfortunately, I just bought another 14th-century Scottish romance novel last week, and if I buy your novel, the two books will be competing with each other. Regretfully, I have to pass on your book. A year later, you see the other book on the shelves, say “my book was way better than this” (and you’re right), and wonder why yours got rejected.

Conversely, the opposite can also happen:

14th-century Scottish romance novels are the hot new genre, and the sales force is screaming for one that can be slotted into the November publishing month. Unfortunately, no one’s been writing them. After a long search of all the submissions we have in house we find your 14th-century Scottish romance novel, which has been sitting in the slushpile for a year and a half unread. It’s not great, but with a heavy edit I can make it at least publishable, and the sales force will have something that they know they can turn into a big-seller.

If there’s a market for 14th-century Scottish romance novels, that book is likely to eventually sell (or the next one will), as long as you don’t give up after the first rejection. Incidentally, this can be a very long process: I know several editors who routinely take up to two years to look at submissions - and most publishers won’t take simultaneous submissions.

Another key piece of advice: If an editor asks for a revision, do it. She isn’t saying it just to avoid hurting your feelings, or out of the joy of being overwhelmed with more submissions (of which she gets literally hundreds every month). No editor asks for revisions unless that editor sees a lot of promise in the work, and thinks that she may be able to make an offer on a revised version of the book. (More often, editors will suggest changes, but not want to see the book again. How to decide whether to make those changes or not is a subject for a different thread.

Anyway, back to the deadline I’m currently ignoring: I’ll be around for a while to answer questions, and then check again late in the morning.



Next up: how publishing lists work, how to submit a book, finding an agent, and avoiding scams (or as much as I can fit in one diary)

Still to come: everything from how to finish a book to contract negotiating tips

Here is my schedule:

Saturday 3:00 PM. Panel Baseball and the Fantastic.
Walter H. Hunt, Cecilia Tan, Paul Tremblay, Eric M. Van
(+M), Rick Wilber, with relievers Leigh Grossman, Resa
Nelson

We have a pretty good idea why baseball is the favorite
sport of many science fiction fans: the game invites
counterfactual analysis from the grandest scale ("how
can you leave Pedro in?") to the smallest (determining
whether a run is earned or unearned literally requires
the construction of an alternate history). What's much
less obvious is why the sport lends itself so well to
the fantastic, from the magic realism of Bernard
Malamud's The Natural to the postmodern sf of
Michael Bishop's Brittle Innings.

Sunday 11:00 AM. Kaffeeklatsch

I'll be running another group rate this year, but if you want to register directly with the convention, the rate is $30 until July 5, then $40 afterward. (You can register at www.lunacon.org.)

This will be the last year I organize the Lunacon programming, after which it will be taken over by fellow list member Nuance Shaffer.

Jim Baen is in a coma after a stroke several days ago; the prognosis is not good. There is a succession plan in place for Baen Books, but there already seems to be factional fighting that may keep it from being carried out. I don't think anyone on this list knew him - I talked to him a couple of times but knew him only through mutual acquaintances - but those of you who are genre fiction fans may want to keep him in your thoughts and/or prayers.

I may need a Spanish-language proofreader for a small freelance job in the next couple of weeks. (You have to be local to Pomfret, though you can do the job in your own home.)

Drop me an email if you're interested.

From another list:

SJ Games is looking for a full-time editor. This could definitely be a telecommuting position, but some preference will be given to candidates in Austin or Montreal.

Duties will include both copy editing and fact checking, as well as some liaison with writers. Word-processing skills are required: Word, on Mac, will be most compatible with our systems, but we can put you on a PC if we have to. Quark skills would be a definite plus.

The ideal candidate will have experience as a professional editor and be familiar with the GURPS Fourth Edition system. (You don't have to be an expert right now, but we DO expect you to get there eventually.) Any candidate will need a good knowledge of gaming, especially roleplaying, and a wide background of general information.

Whatever your other qualifications, please do not apply if you suspect that your grammar and spelling are less than perfect; you will be responsible for correcting others' work, and your own work must not need checking. Illiterate applications for editorial positions are posted on our office bulletin board for general mockery. A new hire whose work contains spelling and grammatical errors, or who cannot catch at least 98% of the errors made by others, will simply be a drain on others' time, and will be dismissed quickly and with minimal apology. You have been warned.

Physical Requirements: Constant typing is necessary. A candidate should not suffer from any condition which makes typing difficult or painful (and should take appropriate ergonomic precautions to avoid the possibility of repetitive stress injury).

For more information, or to send in your resume (in ASCII or PDF format), please send email to editorjob@sjgames.com.

I believe the saying "Long Time, No See" would be very appropriate at this point in time.

The update on the life and times of Chris Morth:

Despite acceptances to a couple of Graduate Schools in sunny Florida with fairly comfortable financial aid packages, Chris decides that being a Yankee IS all it's cracked up to be and remains along the Connecticut coastline to pursue coaching career. Friends and family are somewhat surprised, cats remain apathetic.

Fast forward 10 months, 2 state championships (and one more on the way), an Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year honor, and many, many, many hours obsessing over high school track results online and here I am. Being the renaissance man that I am, I decided to put my English degree (and the semesters of Engineering, Chemistry and Calculus) to good use and become a Personal Trainer in my free time.

As it stands right now, I live in Niantic in a small house/apartment right by Rocky Neck State Park and roughly a five minute walk from the beach. I coach Soccer, Indoor and Outdoor track at Griswold High School and personal train in a local gym and privately in my spare time. The ultimate goal is to move into the college coaching ranks within the next 2-3 years. The idea of being able to make a living strictly via the avenue of track and field is almost too incredible to fathom. In the meantime, I spend long hours in the gym and on the track to pay the bills and make the world a little better in my own way. I haven't completely given up on my English degree, but it's with more of an interest in doing freelance work than making a career out of it. The kids on my team have taken great advantage of this and made a killing off me as a free tutor/editor.

Basically, things are pretty good right now. In great shape, have enough free time to enjoy my age/location, and I love one of my jobs more than should be allowed in the working world. The bills are paid and there's food in my stomach, so the money is what it is. I don't know if anyone else here was in any of my classes with Leigh. I was in his Fantasy Lit class in the fall of 2001, his Sci-Fi lit class in the spring of 2002, and his Book Publishing class in the Winter or Spring of 2002....I think. My memory has blurred, but those seem like reasonable estimates. Hope everyone else is enjoying life after college as much as I am (Though I certainly miss Uconn more than I thought I would. I still wake up on a lot of days yearning to walk the halls of CLAS and the athletic center).

Chris Morth

Oh, and by the way, I didn't even know I still had a LiveJournal account...but apparently the one I had from Freshman year of college was still active. The last entry is at least 5 years old. I can't believe what a degenerate I used to be. Who skips 9 classes in a row? I don't think I missed a single class my last two years at Uconn.