#sshannonauthor publishing asks

[sshannonauthor]

Hi Samantha! I really love your work. So, I loved to read as a child, but stopped when I got to middle school just due to falling out of it, I guess. No other real reason. I rediscovered my passion for it when I was about 18 and entering college. I ended up falling so in love with it I changed my major to English after a year, and picked up some creative writing courses as well. I’ve never tried to write a book, or even a story, really. But it’s something I desperately want to try, it’s a dream. I also have a little job working with books and I love the insight I’m getting into the publishing world. I guess I’m just really nervous about the idea of starting, because I feel like I’ve missed the chance. I’m 21, and I feel like I’m too old to start now. I feel like so many authors have been writing since they were very young, working on the same book for many many years, and that authoring a book has to be a journey you got a start on early in life. It makes me sad, but I haven’t even attempted anything, just letting my ideas fester in my brain because it just feels like there’s no point now. Sorry to rant! But I’m just wondering, what are your thoughts on the author journey? I know not all author journeys are the same and I don’t always see them being shared. Have you ever felt like you missed a chance with something in the book writing world?

It makes me so sad that you feel you're too old to start writing when you're only 21. I really hope this doesn't sound patronising, as I know I'm only nine years ahead of you, but 21 is so young. You have so much time ahead of you.

I do feel this is partly the fault of the publishing industry, which often heaps an unusual amount of praise and attention on young authors. I know that firsthand, because I was one of them. Even at the time, I was worried about other writers potentially having thoughts like these when they saw my story, and those of other authors who got their deals in their teens or early twenties.

I started writing as a serious hobby at the age of 12, but if you make time for a bit of writing every day – or even most days – until you're 28, you'll have built exactly the same amount of experience that I had when I wrote my debut, The Bone Season, at 19. Every time you write, even if it's just for an hour or less, you gain a little more experience and skill. It is never too late to start. Please don't let yourself believe you've missed your chance to get your ideas out there. Leigh Bardugo was 35 when she wrote Shadow and Bone. Sally Green, author of Half Bad, started writing when she was about 49. There are many, many examples of authors who started ‘late’ and have very successful careers.

[sshannonauthor]

Hey. My friend just talked me into buying your novel. Is it written with american grammar? I've just started but you say maid of honor instead of honour.

I write my books with UK spellings, but they have generally been Americanised by the US side of my publishing house, so you likely have an American edition of the book.

Bloomsbury has largely stopped Americanising books now, so A Day of Fallen Night (the prequel to Priory) will not be Americanised, although the whole of my Bone Season series will be, for consistency.

[sshannonauthor]

Hi Samantha,

I recently bought the first two books in the bone season series because I loved Priory so much, and I got them both with these covers in paperback from my local bookstore:

I've found The Mask Falling in paperback with a cover that matches these, but I can't seem to find The Song Rising in this style at all.

I've been looking around and now I'm slightly confused about collectors editions and changed covers? If you know how I could find The Song Rising to match with the rest of the set, or what the deal is with all the different versions, that would be wonderful.

Lots of love, and thank you for the beautiful books you write.

– 

Ah, yes. This is a thing. Let me tell you the tale:

Back in 2015-16, Bloomsbury made the decision to follow what was, at the time, a broad trend towards minimalist covers, and they changed the entire look of the Bone Season series, to refresh it. They gave The Song Rising the cover you'll see in bookstores now – the one with a white background and a flaming crown – and also rejacketed the previous books to match this updated design in paperback. The colourful originals were supposed to be discontinued in favour of this look.

At the time, I didn't feel able to stop this happening, despite being wary of mid-series cover changes. I don't blame Bloomsbury for giving it a shot, because they really thought they were doing the right thing for the series, to keep it eye-catching on shelves. However, I knew readers would be upset, because a lot of people care about their books matching. It was disappointing for me, too, because I loved the original designs so much – I still think they're fantastic – and it was gutting to think that they were just going to disappear. So I wrote a letter to Bloomsbury and asked them to preserve the original design in some way. They kindly agreed to create a Collectors' Edition for each new instalment of the series – a limited run of hardbacks with a design reflecting the original vision, so readers had a chance of getting a matching set.

As the years went by, trends in cover design swung back towards colourful and ornate. Now, I've never seen a publisher do this before, but Bloomsbury actually decided to renege on their decision, because it was clear that the originals had been, and remained, far more beloved by readers. They designed a beautiful golden cover for The Mask Falling and decided to print all future hardbacks with the colourful designs, rather than just doing those as a limited Collectors' Edition. The UK is now keeping the white designs only in paperback format, while the US has reverted to the originals across the board. 

Unfortunately, this whole experiment left a bit of a mess in its wake – the only way to get a matching set is to get the UK white paperbacks. (You were actually quite lucky to find those two designs in paperback form.) The Song Rising was the instalment that really suffered for all of this. Only 5000 copies were printed with the purple design, and all of them sold out. I only have two copies of it myself, such is their rarity. They are therefore not available to buy. I have requested a reprint, as have many readers, but my feeling is that this is something Bloomsbury would consider only when the whole series is finished.

On the positive side of things, all the other hardback books in the series will match the dark blue cover of The Bone Season's first edition. My hope is that Bloomsbury will do something like a box set once Book 7 comes out. 

[sshannonauthor]

Hi Samantha, I'd love to apply for the UK proof - can anyone apply, or are Bloomsbury likely to prioritize book influencers?

The form seems to be mostly designed for bloggers and influencers, but you could ask via [email protected] if you don't have a social media platform.

The key to getting an ARC will be to convince Bloomsbury that there is some kind of benefit to you getting the book before it goes on general sale in January. ARCs are, primarily, marketing and publicity tools – the point of them is to get word out about a book, whether to the publishing industry or to readers in general. That's why influencers often find it easy to acquire them, because their reach means they can put a book on a lot of people's radars.

Bloomsbury does sometimes give ARCs to people with smaller platforms in order to help them grow, which I really appreciate – so it's definitely worth applying, whatever your platform or profession.

[sshannonauthor]

I’m curious, who usually writes blurbs for books?

Sometimes it's the publishing house that handles it. Bloomsbury wrote the blurb for The Bone Season and I think The Mime Order as well (possibly Priory, I don't fully remember); I did the rest.

[sshannonauthor]

"The US didn't run their changes past me before it went to print (a few things slipped the net during the pandemic, understandably), and I felt the process stripped a little of the Irishness from Paige's voice – it made no sense for an Irish character to be speaking and thinking like an American. They corrected this for reprints, fortunately."

WHAT!?!?!?

I should stress that they usually do run the changes past me, and I wouldn't normally have approved them. 

As I said, a few things inevitably went awry, as The Mask Falling was typeset and printed during the pandemic and published straight into a full lockdown. We didn't have chapter illustrations in the hardback, for example, because the person in charge of that caught COVID-19 at a crucial time. They were under a lot of pressure. 

Bloomsbury are, on the whole, very good at including me in the process and checking I'm okay with everything. I even wrote the blurbs for some of my books. 

[sshannonauthor]

How can ARCs be already available if the book is not even finished?

ARCs go out when a book has gone through its penultimate stage of editing, which is called copyediting. At this point, the story is structurally fixed, and it can only be changed on a sentence level. This means readers will get a decent idea of what the final text will be like, even if it's not exactly the same.

[sshannonauthor]

Hi Samantha!

I am currently in the process of querying what would be my debut novel if I manage to sell it. It is a stand alone novel, fantasy (not high fantasy though, something closer to Addie La Rue, or The Starless Sea) and it is just under 145k words.

Every rejection I've had so far sites word count. I had my book reviewed by an editor and my beta readers/ critique partners long before I started the query process and at this point I (based on their feedback and my own instinct) feel strongly that there may be some filler words and sentences to cut, there is nothing major to get rid of that wouldn't weaken the story I am trying to tell.

But I feel like folk reading my queries aren't even making it past the word count before rejecting because no one has given me any other feedback or requested the full manuscript. Meanwhile, everything on the internet screams UNDER 110K OR DON'T BOTHER for debut novels.

So I guess my question is, as someone who knows the industry and has successfully published a "long" debut ( TBS 1 is just over 130k right?). Is there anything I can do to convince people to give my chonky boi a chance? Or is this a "be patient and the right person will see its value" situation?

The Bone Season was about 128K, yes. Unfortunately I can't remember if it was longer or shorter when I first sent it to my agent, but I don't think it was ever under 110K.

This is an interesting topic, and I feel for you that you're in this position – it must be very frustrating to feel like you're caught between a rock and a hard place. Personally, I don't recall being challenged about my word count, but it's worth noting that there was precedent at Bloomsbury, on the Adult side – Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was a successful Bloomsbury debut, and I believe that's thicker than Priory. Clearly an editor just fell in love with it, and they were willing to take a significant gamble on Susanna Clarke's vision and skill.

I don't claim to know all the inner workings of publishing, but I suppose the agent and/or editorial team must weigh the word count against other factors. A higher word count increases the cost of printing a book, which is a bit of a risk to take on an unknown author. With me, I suspect Bloomsbury (1) judged that The Bone Season had sufficient commercial potential to justify the length, and (2) correctly identified that my age would make me marketable – and if so, they were right, because the media quickly positioned me as this young prodigy of a debut and the Next Big Thing. I imagine that, and other factors I may never know, contributed to why the book was allowed to remain thick.

In my view, you have three basic options here: (1) try to cut it down, (2) keep trying for an agent who'll love it despite the word count, or (3) try pitching a shorter project as your debut and return to the thick one later. You could try Option 2 and then choose 1 or 3. It's really up to you.