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| SFReader Forums > SFReader > Ask The Expert > Word count for a new fantasy writer? | Forum Quick Jump
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Jim C. Hines
Goblin Herder
      
Date Joined Feb 2007
Total Posts : 88
| Posted 2/15/2007 10:20 AM (GMT -5) |   | Going back to the original question for a moment, my novels were 95,000 and 93,000 words, respectively. So far, nobody has complained 
Every publisher's submission guidelines should specify the minimum and maximum word count they'll look at from a new author.
As for posting online and the rights issues, some publishers don't care. Others do. My thinking is, why risk cutting off even some of your potential markets? And deleting something from a public web site isn't the answer, because there are plenty of places where that will still be cached...
In the history of grand adventures and heroic quests, goblinkind has never been more than a footnote. That's about to change....
Goblin Quest -- Available from DAW Books.
Goblin Hero -- Coming in May, 2007. | | Back to Top | | |
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Hermit
Diavhrati Luminary
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1785
| Posted 5/25/2007 11:39 AM (GMT -5) | |
crystalwizard said...I would suggest you post in the SFReader Forums > Writing > On Writing forum. You have to expect a long wait from most publishers and Oscar, do yourself a favor, get a good literary agent. do NOT send your manuscript out. Get a good, well recomended literary agent, and work with them. You're new to this so there are a lot of pitfalls you can avoid. You do need to learn patience though, you'll need it. Read through the boards here. The people here are experienced in this industry. LISTEN to them, they've been where you are headed and have learned a lot of things the hard way.
I was under the impression that agents avoid newbies. But, I tend to have a great many bits of misinformation that melt to mist when held up to the light of reality . What's the best source, in your opinion of course, for a newbie to find a reputable agent for fantasy fiction? At what point of writing should one find said agent? Is it better to pitch the book or the series to the agent? I feel that I'm a long way from the agent search, but I am curious as to the process.
(Feel free to PM me with an agent reference. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.)
Exile of my own dull vice. . . | | Back to Top | | |
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Hermit
Diavhrati Luminary
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1785
| Posted 6/4/2007 7:57 PM (GMT -5) | | | It's not a problem so much as a complication. As a writer, your best bet is to include information for the previous publication - if not consent from previous publisher(s) - making it totally clear that you own the copyright and can unequivically grant them permission to reprint the story. Common courtesy, if not law, demands that we publishers credit the original publisher(s) for having the good sense to publish what we deem worthy of publication.
The complication in question is more about legality and litigation than anything. Too often, writers don't realize what rights they've sold or given away - or they are mistaken because of verbal acrobatics in the contracts. This is really the biggest reason we use release forms: to clearly state what rights we are asking and what rights the author retains (now I have to go check our form to either verify or correct this). While there are a few dishonest ones out there, I like to think that most of us small press publishers are just honest schmucks trying to do our part. Which is to say that we're just folks and can sometimes get caught up in all the regular pitfalls such as trying to use fancy legal jargon to (accidentally, I hope) obfuscate the matter at hand.
Ease the publisher's mind about that, and the publisher loses one critical category on which to reject the work. For some of us, it simply is a matter of convenience and peace of mind. We don't have the time or other resources to dick around with copyright claims, so we use it as a default rejection to narrow down the slush. Got nothing to do with the work, per se, or with the author. Has everything to do with efficiency and security.
That's the way it is. Deal with it. (As a writer, I feel a compulsory need to apologize; consider this my apology  )
Exile of my own dull vice. . . | | Back to Top | | |
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Michael
Estranged Earth
Date Joined Apr 2007
Total Posts : 137
| Posted 6/4/2007 10:19 PM (GMT -5) | | | | |
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