How I Find Anthologies to Submit to

Hi all!

This week I wanted to talk about anthologies and competitions. I know I've mentioned this website in a previous blog post, but I want to expand a bit on it here. I found this website thanks to Christopher Fielden! His website also contains lists of competitions and magazines you can submit to, which you can check out here: Christopher Fielden

The Submission Grinder.

It's a website they filters various submissions for you. For example, you can search for competitions looking for 500 words of fantasy writing. They have various categories that you can choose from and it will bring up all available that are accepting submissions. Upon clicking on a certain listing, you'll be taken to a landing page with more details. You can see their website, what they accept and the length of the piece. You can also see how many submissions they've had through the website and what stage they're at.

I've used this website to find a few anthologies. I like expanding my writing portfolio this way and adding new publications to my website! I've submitted stories to quite a few places and some have been lucky enough to find homes. I've even found a publisher whose books and prompts I've fallen in love with, so I'll continue to submit to them!

All of the anthologies I've submitted to have had no submission fee, which is what I prefer. So, if you're on a budget, this site is perfect. There are also a few publishers who will pay you for your story, which is really exciting!

Before submitting anywhere I would recommend doing a bit of research. Just so you can get an idea about what kind of publishing company they are. You don't want to submit to a predatory publisher, or one who strips you of your story's rights permanently. I always do a quick Google search to see if anything negative immediately pops up for the publisher.

Overall, I love this website and will continue to use it in the future! I love submitting to anthologies and seeing my story amongst those of other authors. It also means that my bookshelf gets filled with more awesome books.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week.

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Submitting Short Stories

Hi all! 

This week I'm going to talk about submitting short stories to writing magazines and anthologies. There are a lot of places out there that are willing to accept work from authors, no matter if they're published or not. Like querying, I thought I would list some dos and don'ts. 

Do. 

Be polite. 

Make sure your cover letter is polite and pleasant. Anything offensive or arrogant will end up rejected. 

Read the submission guidelines. 

Make sure your story is within the specified word count and is a genre they are looking for. If it's not, find somewhere else to submit it. There are a few places that will accept writing that is a bit on the longer side.

Edit your work. 

Don't send a first draft, unless it's immaculate. Like with everything you write, make sure you edit it for simple mistakes. For a short piece places will expect minimal errors so keep that in mind. 

Be aware of fees. 

A few places will require you to pay a small fee to submit. First, check it's within your budget and be sure that you want to spend it. Second, research the place you're submitting to. Is the price worth it in your eyes? 

Be prepared to wait. 

Like querying agents, these places get a lot of submissions. While some might get back to you if you've been accepted or rejected, others won't. Submit to a few at a time and wait a few weeks before submitting to a few more. 

Read the fine print. 

Some places will ask for first publication rights and ask you not to publish elsewhere for a certain amount of time. Make sure you're okay with this before submitting. 

Don't. 

Send nasty emails. 

If you don't get accepted, don't send them nasty or rude emails. You will be blacklisted and they will not accept another submission from you again. Don't burn bridges just because you're upset. 

Trash talk them on social media.

Not only will it make you look bad, but it's also a sure-fire way to burn bridges in the publishing world. Magazines and anthologies talk to each other, and you will find yourself unable to submit to many places after your outburst. Think before you post anything. 

Steal work. 

Don't steal someone else's work and pass it off as your own. Even if they don't catch it straight away, someone will find out eventually and expose you. Use your own merit to get your achievements. 

Pay too much. 

If the cost is exceptionally high for a short piece, don't submit. Chances are you won't get your money's worth and you'll be out of pocket. 

Chase them constantly. 

An email asking for an update after a few weeks is fine, but don't bombard them. It's a quick way to get your submission rejected. 

Ignore submission guidelines. 

Your story will not be the 'one-off' they accept. Not adhering to the genre will get you rejected almost instantly. Going above the word count won't work either, as especially in magazines they only have a set amount of space to fit stories in. 

Give up your rights. 

Don't sign over the rights to your story without thinking. They should only ask for publication rights for a few weeks to months. Don't sign over the whole thing and let them use it as they please. 

Let rejection get you down. 

Rejection is rife in the publishing world and its inevitable that you will receive one at some point. Don't let that put you off however, keep trying and you'll get there eventually! 

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week! 

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Rough Word Counts for Books

Hi all! 

I've seen a lot of blog posts about this already but I thought I would weigh in on the subject. So many authors are unsure of their book length, whether it's too long or too short. I like to say that it should be as long as it needs to be, but many agents do require debut authors to be within a certain word count. This is because a book that is too long of too short is usually a lot harder for them to sell. 

Disclaimer: these are rough guidelines. Make sure to do more research of books in your genre to see what words counts they fall in. Some agents may want longer books while others want shorter, so make sure to look into each one and their guidelines carefully.

First off, I thought I'd go with writing lengths:

Flash - 0-500 words. 

Short Story - 500-5,000 words. 

Novelette - 5,000-20,000 words. 

Novella - 20,000-50,000 words. 

Novel - 50,000-120,000 words. 

Epic - 120,000+ words. 

These are usually rough guidelines, some agents are usually a bit more relaxed. 

Now for genres. Again, these are quite rough guidelines but are what a lot of agents follow:

Fantasy - 80,000-120,000 words. 

Science Fiction - 80,000-120,000 words. 

Horror - 70,000-90,000 words. 

Crime - 70,000-90,000 words.

Thriller - 70,000-90,000 words.

Mystery - 70,000-90,000 words.

Romance - 50,000-90,000 words. 

Historical - 80,000-100,000 words. 

Dystopian - 80,000-100,000 words. 

Literary - 80,000-100,000 words.

All books in the Elemental Dragons series stay within the 79,000-85,000 mark

Now, for age ranges:

Picture Book - 100-1,000 words.

Middle Grade - 40,000-50,000 words. 

Young Adult - 60,000-80,000 words. 

New Adult - 70,000-100,000 words.

Adult - 80,000+ words.

When querying it's best to stay within their guidelines if you can. Although most of the time it doesn't matter if you're a little bit over or under. If you find that you are way over the word count for your genre, go back through your work and see what you can take out. If there are any subplots, characters etc. that your novel doesn't need then don't be afraid to cut it out. If you're writing a series, you can add some of that into the next book if you don't want to get rid of it completely.

If you're writing in two genres, for example; Young Adult Fantasy, it's best to stay within the age range just in case. 

I hope this can help those querying, see you next week! 

The Worst Parts of Querying

Hi all,

As #pitmad was this week I thought I would talk about querying agents and publishers.

Before I decided to go down the self publishing route, I queried my novel with over 70 agents and publishers.

All of them rejected Blood and Water.

Querying is nerve wracking enough as it is, but for me, the responses were the worst part. Most of the agents were courteous in their rejections, but seeing that 'no' did make my heart sink. In this blog post, I'm going to talk about the reality of querying.

Some agents never reply.

It doesn't matter how much work you put into your first chapters and cover letter, some agents just don't reply. I know that they have to through thousands of queries, but I'd still much prefer a 'no' to silence. Out of the 77 I queried, 31 never replied.

Don't expect feedback.

With so many queries to go through, they can't afford to spend time writing a long email about what could be improved upon. If you receive one of those emails, great. Read their feedback and see what you can action.

Some emails will just be the word 'no'.

Don't get offended. With so many queries to go through, the emails may just be short and sweet. Just be thankful that you heard back so you can query someone else.

It's a lot of research.

A lot of agents like your query letter to be personalised for them, which means that they'll keep an eye out for bits where you mention their favourite book or what they're looking for. Some agents just reject a query if it's not personal enough, whereas some don't like personal details at all. Include one or two, like their favourite book, but don't go overboard.

Rudeness.

Unfortunately, there will be the minority of people who are rude. I had two agents reply to me in a rude manner. One told me that my idea was great but my writing terrible. She told me that I should hand over the idea to someone with 'talent'. Another told me to stop writing forever as I wouldn't get anywhere. Be aware that these responses are rare, and just shake them off. Don't let their words get to you.

Some will make you jump through hoops to send an email.

I once came across an agency that required you to watch three six minute videos to get special 'codes' so you could query them. Emails without these codes would be rejected outright. I would advise against querying these kinds of agencies, it's too much for a simple email.

Their website bios might not match what they actually want.

I queried an agent that stated in her bio that she specifically wanted books about YA books about dragons. Great! I sent her an email and a week later got one back that said she isn't looking to represent YA. I double checked her bio and it definitely stated YA. See what they post on their social media to see if your book would be a match.

You may be waiting months for a reply.

Although some agents reply within a few weeks, some take months. My quickest rejection was two days, but the slowest was seven months. Query between 6-8 agents at a time, and once most have got back to you, send out another batch of queries.

That's it for this week. Hope you enjoyed it, it's just a few weeks now until Blood and Water comes out, so if you want to pre-order your copy please visit my books page.

See you next week!

Tips for Twitter Pitch Parties

Hi all!

Since a lot of pitch parties are coming up on Twitter, I thought I'd share some tips with you all!

I have participated in a few pitch parties, and they're really fun! Not only can you pitch your book using hashtags that agents and publishers are looking through, but you can see everyone else's pitches too. The big thing to remember is that even if you don't get any interest from agents or publishers, that doesn't mean you can't query them anyway. They may not have seen your pitch, or didn't like the way you pitched your book. Either way, don't let that stop you from querying them if you want to.

Do:

Read the rules.

Make sure your book fits the genre and age group listed if there are any. Don't rule yourself out before you've even started.

Use the correct hashtags.

Make sure your hashtags are correct and fit your genre, other wise the agents you're looking for will struggle to find you.

Have four or five different pitches.

Twitter will delete duplicate tweets, so make sure you switch up the wording and hashtags in each tweet. Also, don't post the same pitch over and over. Mix it up!

Schedule your tweets.

When I participated in the parties I wasn't able to post the pitches all day because I was at work. So I used TweetDeck to write my pitches and choose a time of day for them to come out. Make sure you use a test tweet beforehand!

Retweet others pitches.

If you see a pitch you like, retweet it! That author will be grateful and may even retweet yours. If more people retweet your pitch then you're more likely to get noticed by agents.

Explain the main plot of your book.

I know it's hard to squeeze it into so little characters, but you can do it. Don't pick a subplot or minor character to focus on when your MC is off doing something else.

Research before you query.

Unfortunately, vanity publishers and fake agents love these events. Make sure you research carefully before sending anyone anything. There have been cases of fake accounts being set up to pose as agents and reject every author who queries them. Check their page, is it new? Does it have many followers? How many tweets are there?

Have fun!

Don't get disappointed if you don't get any likes from agents. Out off all the parties I participated in, I only got two likes. One was a vanity publisher and the other was a dodgy agency. Just enjoy yourself.

Don't:

Like others pitches.

It's in the rules, just don't do it.

Get angry if people like your pitch.

Not everyone knows the rules, just ignore it and move on. Don't call them out in a mean way, they just liked your tweet.

Bash anyone else's pitch.

It's rude, and it won't get you noticed.

Post duplicate tweets.

As I said before, Twitter will delete them. Switch up the words and hashtags every so often so your tweets stay up.

Schedule tweets to post exactly on the hour.

That's when most people post, go for a more obscure time like 13:21. It means that your tweet won't get lost immediately in the influx of posts on the hour. The less posts there are at that time, the more likely you are going to get noticed.

Use pictures.

Most pitch parties don't allow them as it's a way to sneak more words in. Check the rules to see if you can post pictures.

Participate in every pitch party.

There are so many, and some will not fit your book. If you're writing erotica, there's no point in doing #SFFpit. If you're writing fantasy, don't participate in #KissPitch. Make sure you participate in the correct ones.

That's it for this week! Hope you found it useful, and good luck to anyone participating in upcoming pitch parties!

See you next week.

How to Query Correctly

Hi all!

As promised, this week I will be writing about querying agents/publishers. I hope you enjoy!

Before I decided to self publish I queried both agents and publishers for nine months. It's a gruelling process, as each company has different guidelines and interests. Some will get back to you, and some won't. Some will like your work, some won't. You shouldn't take any of it personally, it's a subjective business. 

As you can guess, I didn't get represented.

But that doesn't mean it was a waste of time for me, querying made me realize that traditional publication wasn't really what I wanted. Although I got loads of rejections, they helped me grow as an author.

Always follow their guidelines.

Don't ignore guidelines, companies use them for a reason. It will not make you stand out if you just do whatever you want, it will make you come across as incompetent. If you don't follow the guidelines, your query will be rejected without a glance. If they want you to use a certain font size, use it. If they want your query double spaced, do it.

For agents, address them by name.

Many agents prefer you to use at least their first name when addressing them in your query. It clearly shows that you want them to read it and possibly represent you. Make sure you spell their name correctly, nothing will turn an agent off in the first sentence if you can't even spell their name right.

Don't spam them with emails.

Once you've sent the initial query, don't nudge them constantly. If on their website they have a time frame they will often state that you can ask them after that date. It's usually eight to twelve weeks. If you constantly spam them a few weeks after, you will be rejected.

Don't submit to multiple agents in the same agency unless specified.

Most agencies in the UK state that a rejection from one agent is a rejection from the whole agency. Don't submit to another agent if they say not to because the agency will find out.

Don't submit to agents who don't represent your genre.

It's simply a waste of their time and yours.

If you get rejected, don't berate them on social media.

This is the fastest way to get you blacklisted from many agencies and publishers.

If you get rejected, don't email them back with nasty comments.

It isn't necessary, just because one doesn't want to represent your work doesn't mean that someone else won't. Don't destroy your chances because you couldn't control your anger.

You will get rejected.

It's natural, but as I've said in my previous post about rejection, don't let it get you down. Keep going.

Research.

Make sure you research who you query. Some companies might look legit but are actually dodgy. At least give them a quick search before sending.

Keep track of who you have queried.

Keep a list of outstanding queries and rejections, this will help you keep track in the long run. I used links for each website and put them in different files based on the query status.

Keep writing!

Don't stop just because you're querying something! Writing something else on the side can keep you distracted while also making sure those creative juices are flowing.

That's it for this week, hope you enjoyed it!

Why Rejection is a Good Thing

Hi all!

Before we dive into this week's blog post I just wanted to say good luck to everyone participating in NaNoWriMo! It's my first time this year, and I hope to hit that 50K! My username is Jessica Turnbull If anyone wants to add me as a writing buddy. If you're unsure what NaNoWriMo is, it's National Novel Writing Month. You have the month of November to write 50K.

Anyway, on with the blog post!

Rejection is a big part of being an author.

Behind every book is a story of rejection.

Some authors decide to self publish after being unable to break into the traditional publishing world, which is what I'm also doing. This doesn't mean we gave up, we just decided to take things into our own hands. Some authors just decide to skip querying entirely to self publish.

Whether you've just started or are in the middle of querying, you aren't alone. Thousands of other people are going through the same thing.

Every single one has received that dreaded email in their inbox.

A rejection.

Rejection is normal, everyone gets rejections from literary agents and publishers, it's just a part of the publishing world. It doesn't mean your work is terrible, it just means that particular agent or publisher didn't like it.

But, rejection can help you improve.

After receiving a few rejections, you can look back over your query and first chapters and ask yourself a few questions.

Is my query strong enough?

Do my opening chapters pull in the reader?

How can I make this better for the next round of queries?

Those are all brilliant questions, as they can help you look at your work in a new light. Yes, your manuscript may not be perfect in your eyes anymore, but a fresh outlook can help you spot errors and plot holes.

Some rejections contain feedback from the person you submitted to. These are called personalized rejections.

A personalized rejection is a golden nugget for an author, as you can then see what needs improving. They may even tell you what they like and how you can fix what they don't.

These rejections are rare, but make sure you take the advice on board. Even if you don't agree with all of it, make revisions on what you agree with. You may change your mind when revising.

Now, onto negative rejections.

These rejections are also rare, but can be soul destroying. Instead of simply saying 'no' or not sending a generic email in reply, they pull you and your writing apart in a horrible way. These type of rejections do not help the author, and instead poke fun at you or the manuscript and can even tell you to stop writing altogether.

Do not listen to these rejections.

They are horrible, yes, but it saved you from working with someone with such a negative attitude towards their clients. If they act so negatively in an email to a potential client, then just imagine what the people who work with them go through.

I have received one of these rejections so I know what it's like. They said they loved the concept, but hated my writing and urged me to pass on the idea to someone with 'talent'.

Of course, I didn't listen. I just added that agency to my 'do not submit list' and moved on. It stung, but don't let these rejections put you off writing. Don't let them bully you out of doing what you love.

After receiving a rejection, do NOT do any of these things:

- Reply telling them what a mistake they're making.

- Post the rejection on social media, and encourage bullying of the agency or publisher.

- If you get a different agent or publisher, do not brag to the ones who rejected you.

- Do not name the publisher or agency on social media.

- Do not submit to another agent at that agency unless the guidelines say you can.

That's it for this week!

Next week I'm going to talk about traditional vs self publishing. Although I am self publishing, I want this blog to help authors who want to either self publish or traditionally publish, so I will make posts about both.

See you next week!