#nathanbransford

[rhiannoneltonauthor]

cstu.io/7d3dae Cardboard Villain

[cbairdash]

Gestures can convey so much in a novel. Well-described gestures can help us divine what a character is thinking, they can create suspense, they can take our breath away. But in order to work, they need to mean something. So often when I’m working with authors on edits I see gestures that just don’t really …

[danielbrauer-blog]

a nice rejection letter, and more on self-publishing

The last post, and the Bransford post it references, with all its talk of big publishers being wary of literary i.e. hard-to-market fiction, reminded me of a rejection I got from an agent a few weeks ago.  I've gotten similar messages before, but this was the nicest:

Dear Dan, I'm sorry it has taken me this long to get back to you on THE ARTIST'S GUIDE TO CRIME, the only  excuse I can give you is that I didn't want to let this go. You are clearly a talented writer, there's much to be admired in these pages. You have a great ear for dialogue, and I found this caustically funny and keenly observed. That said, after much deliberation I just can't see a way to market this book successfully to a general trade publisher, nor can I see a way to revise it that won't compromise some of the elements I liked here. My instincts tell me this is something that's a better fit for a smaller/ independent publisher, and I'm afraid those circles are just lesser known to me. Given my reservations, I'm going to step aside so you can go ahead and find an agent who will give this project the enthusiasm it deserves. I'm sorry to disappoint you, and to pass on work by a writer who is clearly talented. Others will surely feel differently, and I certainly wish you every success in finding the right agent and publisher for your work (if you haven't done so already.) Best, [super nice agent]

With all the hullabaloo over self-publishing these days, you'd think that I would want to cut out all the middlemen completely and go straight to the e-presses myself.  But, like I said in the last post, it's not really that easy.  I have one published story (not online, but subscribe to Prairie Schooner anyway) and a couple of little pieces up somewhere or other.  Doesn't make for much of a platform. 

I have made one promise to myself, though, with regards to self-publishing: if I get two more stories published, I'll start experimenting, either putting them online for sale, or harassing artist friends into helping me make fancy illustrated editions, or something.  Who knows what.  But something.

[danielbrauer-blog]

self-publishing and literary fiction

Nathan Bransford has an interesting post today about self-publishing and literary fiction:

Major publishers have been a tad wary of literary fiction for some time, and while reputable small presses have picked up the slack, when I was an agent I saw too many great literary books languish for lack of a publisher. The infrastructure [for self-published literary fiction] is developing - already you have thriving online blogs communities devoted to literary fiction, like The Millions, HTMLGIANT and Bookslut, and with review space declining in print anyway, who's to say that you have to have the imprimatur of a publisher to find attention.

No doubt self-published literary fiction will get out there, and there’ll be successes that get press.  But I think in general self-publication will only work for authors who already have some kind of audience or platform, even if it’s just a few short stories published in journals.  They’ll need something to help them stand out and take the place of today's gatekeepers.

Right now, as far as I can tell, all the big self-pubbed names are pulp writers: they write for a well-defined audience, and they release constantly.  J.A. Konrath, self-publishing evangelist, talks often about how you have to keep releasing product.  The best way to advertise, according to him, is to keep releasing, and hope you get lucky.   Maybe the five paranormal teen-vampire urban-fantasy techno-thrillers you released in 2010 went unnoticed?  That sucks, but here’s hoping your sixth will get attention, and then you’ll have a deep backlist for people to plunder. 

This approach can’t be ported to literary fiction, where each novel may take years to write. And there’s a reason why print publishers are wary of literary fiction—however good an individual novel may be, it’s hard to pin down, to market, to sell.  Self-pubbed writers won’t have an easier time with that just because they cut out the publishers.

But!  If they do have some kind of audience (for example, Bransford mentions an Indian author publishing his own English translation), or something, anything, that can take the place of the gatekeepers, then maybe this could be an awesome new way to get their work out.