Part 2: How Do I Get Started in the Publishing Process?
Wow, I posted this like 2 weeks ago while I was on vacation, and I think the overseas internet ate it! So sorry! Here's it again.
The ask was:
Hey! Sorry if you’ve already answered, I went back a bit in your writing tips tag a bit but didn’t see anything related. I was wondering if you’ve got any tips for getting agents/publishers interested? I’ve been writing fic a while and am working on some original work now (like the romcom with some deeper themes genre) and I’d really love to get it published but the whole process and just even starting with that can seem so daunting Love your work and excited for your book! Thanks so much, hope you have a great day!
Part 1 was a dive into the three types of publishing paths: traditional, self, and indie.
Here's part 2:
Now that you know what the three main paths are, it's time to start thinking about which of these paths are speaking to you and which have you running for the hills. And also remember: everything changes. I started writing my first book assuming I'd self publish. Then my dream was to be published by a small lesbian press. Then I decided to try to get an agent and get trad pubbed. When that dream was very very close to dying, I was ready to pull the trigger to self-pub. Then a lot of things happened, and now, very many painful years later, I have a 3-book deal with a large traditional publisher. The best laid plans, etc.
Some questions to ask yourself to help you drill down into what you might want to try for first:
Do you have a specific hook/genre/niche that a small indie press might be into? Ylva, for example, publishes lesbian romances. They have a particular interest in people who have written big fics for big fandoms (swanqueen, rizzles, supercorp). Many of their books are revised versions of those fanfics (especially for an author's first one or two with the press). I believe they operate a print-on-demand model, so readers can buy an ebook or a paperback, but bookstores don't stock them, and I'm not sure about audiobooks. You don't need an agent; you can submit directly to them. Others like this include Bella Books, Bold Strokes, etc.
How much rejection can you handle? As Part 1 specified, anything other than self-pub has a ton of rejection inherent in it, and even self-pub can have lots if you're trying to go viral or whatever. Imagine spending a year trying to get an agent or a small press deal, and not succeeding. Does that motivate you to keep going? Does that make you want to die inside? No one likes rejection and it can be really unpredictable how you'll handle it, but this is one of the major factors in trying to secure an agent or a publisher. It really sucks! I personally am terrible at handling rejection, and I surprised myself by being able to survive four years of it, but it really, really hurt.
How much does being in bookstores matter to you? Is this part of your dream? Does it matter to you if you're available in paperback, hardcover, audio? Most libraries will carry indie press ebooks (Ylva, for example, has their books in many libraries e-catalogues) but often not on their physical shelves. My books will be in bookstores in paperback (no hardcover is being printed) and available in audio and ebook because they're trad pubbed, and that's something that's always been important to me.
What are your goals for wanting to get published? Being famous? Having books people can buy? Writing things you care about? Working collaboratively with a team? All of these goals are good, but they'll often point you in different directions.
Are you excited about marketing? Are you willing to do all of the heavy lifting required to market a self-pubbed or indie published book? If not, and you don't get a trad deal, will you still pub? There is always always always the option to self-pub and not do all of the marketing juggernaut, and simply believe that some people will find your book organically and read it and like it and that's enough. If you're someone who loves marketing, self-pub or indie could be a really great option for you. I know several trad-pubbed authors who love marketing and are frustrated that they aren't in charge of the marketing process for their books. I personally would rather die than market or be on tiktok, which is a main reason I didn't want to self-pub; I knew I'd fail at this very crucial step in building a readership.
Are you dead-set on getting an advance? Are you planning to try to live off of writing money? If so, good luck! Some YA romantasy authors and others are living large, but most of the rest of us keep our day jobs, even if we do get advances. Another thing to think about is that self-pubbing gets you money when you make it, whereas trad and indies often pay on a quarterly or even twice-a-year basis. My advance itself was split up into 3 payments (signing, final manuscript, and publishing), and for my first book, those will come in 3 different calendar years. It's a small advance, too! That's not living-on or counting-on money to pay any bills. If you're trying to make a living from this, you'll need to be prolific as well as lucky!
Do you want an agent? Are you willing to go through the querying process? What will you do if you don't get an agent with the manuscript you query with? Will you query a different book? Self-pub? Indie pub? Shelve the project and move on? I personally am madly in love with having an agent, but I really lucked out with having such a wonderful one. But it's quite lovely to have someone in my corner always, who can defend me from anything bad that comes my way, and knows what contracts are supposed to look like, what's a good deal, what's sketchy, etc.
You also asked for tips for getting agents or publishers interested. That's the magical question that everyone on the internet pretends to know the answers to (for the low price of subscribing to their substack!) but no one really does. It's a crapshoot. Every agent/editor has their own personal taste, their own backlist of titles they're working on or recently published, their boss's priorities, etc. Writing a book and publishing take so long that by the time you've jumped on a trend, it's over or it's glutted and no one wants to acquire it anymore.
For example, I wrote a dating reality show book after I wrote my Love is Blind Sanvers fic because that was so much fun to write. It took about a year to draft, then my agent and I revised it in three slow rounds. By the time we sent it out to editors, there were a lot of these books on the market. The editors loved the book, but they all said they already had something similar on their list, or had just published a reality show and weren't ready for another. The timing was just off, even though the pitch was strong and the book was great. Just a shitty situation! So you really can't take the rejection personally; in fact, they were some of the best, nicest, kindest rejections I've ever gotten. Their interest does not always mean they're going to move forward on your project, and a good book doesn't always interest them.
I think the best thing you can do is write the book(s) you want to write it, and make it as good as you possibly can. Study your craft, read books and listen to podcasts or whatever, however you learn best, to ensure your book is fitting nicely within an existing popular genre and has an interesting twist or gripping plot. Work with beta readers who are also seeking agents (or ideally, those that have secured agents already), not just fic beta readers, because there are very different genre expectations for romcoms vs. fanfics and you want readers who are attuned to exactly what you're trying to produce.
Be able to pitch it in 1-2 sentences (LOL that's so hard) and then work like hell on your query letter or pitch letter. Don't get too fancy with it, keep it simple and compelling. Demonstrate that you know what you're doing, and you have a product they would be able to easily sell.
And then hope like hell!
If anyone has more specific questions about publishing, querying, the landscape for wlw/sapphic romances/romcoms, or whatever, please feel free to ask!