New answers tagged publishing
1
Self-publication, alas, often ends up making a black mark on your track record to traditional publishers, as it says the following:
I don't want to go through the quality checks required to get traditionally published, and therefore am likely unwilling to go back and re-edit.
Regardless of my quality, I still want the ego hit of being read.
I don't care how ...
0
I totally get how you feel, and, I'm sorry to say, there isn't really a quick fix.
You're right in that stories in styles very specific to western culture can feel out of place in an indian setting - you can always tell the story of detective Ram taking down the bombay mafia after a lady in a red sari came begging for his help, but it isn't the same (bad ...
1
Anyone can self-publish, but it's not a great route for everyone. From experience, successful self-publishers are always great salespeople. If you are willing to do non-stop school visits, readings at libraries, book-signings, book tours, speaking engagements and interviews, you can do very well as a self-publisher. As a self-publisher you can sell ...
7
When this question is asked, many companies specifically exclude self-publishing or require a certain number of copies sold to count. Typically the intent is to find out if you are a proven quantity with a track record.
80 copies with no promotion isn't nothing, but it's not the kind of numbers a publisher will be looking for. So I think it likely comes ...
5
It's about marketing.
From a purely logical standpoint, you are already a published author, since you did publish a book and you did sell some copies, no matter how few. So, in theory you have your answer.
Yet, some publishing companies may look down on you.
Self-publishing has not a great reputation among traditional companies; so telling everyone that ...
0
In my personal experience, it's more restrictive to try to NOT be what you are than to expand the horizons of what a YOU-type person can be. In the first scenario, you're constantly second-guessing everything you do, and judging it as "too Indian" or "not Western enough." The result can't help but be derivative and stifled. In the second case, you're ...
1
Language you already mastered - your writing does not come across as too typically Indian, at least when you consciously address an international audience. Just stick to that.
Fantasy names in western fiction are only sometimes borrowed from the cultural background - and even then, more as a pun or a hint than as a norm. In many cases, especially in sci fi ...
4
Stop being an Indian writer, and become a writer. There is an Elton John bio movie coming out. He was born Reginald Dwight and changed his name. In one of the preview clips somebody tells Reginald "You have to stop being the person you were born to be, and become the person you want to be."
Same thing for you. Being born Indian doesn't mean you have to ...
4
Allow me to introduce you to a game-changing author who at age 19 wrote a morally complicated "pot boiler" about a privileged jerk who plays god then abandons his responsibility. This novel has everything: an anti-hero who fails his redemption arc, a villain who is articulate and sympathetic, and a heretical theme so aggressively feminist that Christianity ...
6
You may benefit from taking a big breath and looking at the situation from outside.
You are Indian and you grew up in a society with richly pervasive traditions to which you feel bound.
A Japanese person has also grown up in a society with richly pervasive traditions to which they naturally feel bound and which will influence everything they write. An ...
2
Never give up a book based SOLELY on the response to your queries. The reason is that the response rate you get to queries tells you relatively little about your book's quality. Query writing is its own form of writing, and one that it is highly rewarding, but surprisingly difficult to master. It's quite possible that a good book could have bad queries. ...
0
It is maybe off topic answer but I got a friend of mine in a similar situation some years ago. This answer is based on what he did and it is a personal experience that maybe can't apply in your case. He refused to let down, he created a small company, and invest his own money to a professional printer to get 500 copy of his book, then he manages to get some ...
1
You stop pushing a particular work when you cannot think of new opportunities to do so. You resume pushing it when you have the opportunity to do so.
While rejections or being ignored hurt they rarely come with actual cost attached. So neither is a reason to give up. As long as you think there is a chance of a positive result go for it. What level of chance ...
6
Converting comments to an answer as suggested by @wetcircuit
WHY BOOKS SUCCEED
I was in the same place with my first novel. Many writers assume that the doors aren't open to them or there's some magical query that will open them. Remember: books are picked up based on how marketable they are, not how good they are. So, ask yourself, is it as good as the ...
10
Answer: You stop when you are ready to stop. You begin again when you wish to begin. New agents come on the scene every month or two. New publishers too.
Part of the answer, which complements the excellent existing answers, is to assess what you are gaining from the experience. You might be learning through the process, and this may be valuable in and of ...
9
My answer is a little broad and maybe even opinion-based… so here goes.
I think you can divide your decision process into 3 "problem areas" – it's a little difficult to say these things in a neutral nonjudgemental way, so hopefully you will have the patience to translate my words into ideas. I say the word "problem" but the reality is there may not be a ...
26
The most likely explanation is that your queries are poorly written, or the agents you are querying are poorly suited to your work (or feel they are after reading your query).
If you are getting rubber-stamp rejections, look online for lessons in writing queries; one example is at Query Letter, but there are many such sites.
I would also look for agents ...
3
I have heard that the number of queries you should expect to write is somewhere between 100 and 250. However, if you're not getting the kind of response you're expecting there are a few things you can double check on. Basically, this is a list of things to consider that might indicate whether you should keep going or stop.
You can find someone who has had ...
1
Many poets, particularly if they are slam poets, or otherwise connected to live poetry audiences, self-publish "chapbooks" which can be easily and cheaply constructed from several sheets of letter-sized paper (folded in half, and stapled down the middle, with a sheet of heavier bond paper or cardstock for the cover). Able to be produced yourself in a ...
2
I'm not posting the results of this query because I don't have the time to copy, format, etc. The Poets & Writers site Poets & Writers has information available under the "Publish Your Writing" tab. It has a rudimentary search and since I searched on just "poetry" and "simultaneous submissions" the list went on for many pages. You may be able to trim ...
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I would suggest that to reach an international audience you need a publishing house with international reach that is used to dealing with multiple languages and markets. Alternately talk to your existing publisher about relationships they have with local publishing houses overseas, they may be able to introduce you to people who can assist you in reaching a ...
2
Ditto Monica Cellio.
Let me just add, registering the copyright before you submit it to a publisher would just be a waste of time and a headache. The publisher is almost certainly going to insist on doing some editing, making some changes. At which point the original copyright is no longer valid, as it's not the same content. So it would have to be ...
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If you live in a country that is a signatory to the Berne Convention (most countries are), then your work is copyrighted as soon as you create it, regardless of whether you go through any registration process. To a publisher, your work is already copyrighted, and if they want the copyright and not just publication rights, they'll have to ask for that in the ...
1
It looks like you're looking for readers of your works in progress. My instinct with that was never to use the shotgun method. I've always just sent my drafts to one or two trusted readers. That might work for you if you're looking for feedback on drafts.
(Even then I temper their feedback based on my own instincts. A teacher of mine had three readers. One ...
4
There are dozens of different paths and strategies to gaining a readership. Listing all of them would take some serious doing, but I can give you some easy examples.
Get published by a major house. The path here is: Finish an entire novel; polish it as much as you can on your own and with beta-reader feedback; find an agent; find a publisher. Being ...
0
Sounds like a kids book. You can self publish it you might want to have some pictures in it but no there have been worse things written remember the attack of the 50 foot chickens?
3
I'd say, for a short book, pitch it as a young children's book. Imaginative and silly are great for that. Get rid of your trademark issue with Fruit Loops, come up with some other name that doesn't infringe. e.g "Flavor Rings" or "RingaDings" or something (and Google whatever you come up with to ensure it isn't trademarked also).
Edit your story to exclude ...
1
Nothing is too weird to be published. Truly, nothing. But plenty of works will not interest any of the publishers that currently exist. Even many works that are totally mainstream don't get published because nobody the author submitted to wants to publish them.
Assuming you fix the problem of using a trademarked phrase (Fruit Loops), your silly story ...
2
There are some very odd writers with passionate fans, and sometimes critical acclaim or even fame and fortune. Daniel Pinkwater, Samuel Delany, Steven Hall, Francesca Block, Haruki Murakami, Lewis Carroll, Dav Pikey and Walter Moers are just a few of the very idiosyncratic writers who might make that list.
But most of them are also extraordinarily good ...
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