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| SFReader Forums > SFReader > Ask The Expert > How does one pitch a collection? | Forum Quick Jump
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Gustavo
Sage
      
Date Joined Aug 2007
Total Posts : 1399
| Posted 11/5/2008 11:10 AM (GMT -5) |   | | So you've done the rounds, braved the slushpile and collected an interesting number of publications. Suddenly, you realize that "WOW, there's enough previously-published material here for a single-author collection!" Rights are reverting left and right.
Now comes the problem. Subbing a short story is a pretty transparent process, and there are also some pretty firm rules for subbing a novel, whether you want to go the agented or non-agented route. Collections on the other hand seem a bit of a grey area - the big houses don't want to hear about it unless you're Asimov (logical considering their cost structures and overheads), so agenting it is basically out. I'm also fervently uninterested in self-publishing.
My questions are the following:
1) Is it better to use only previously published stories or to mix and match?
2) Is mixing genres acceptable? Does a humorous Viking story fit well with a dark sci fi story?
3) How do you go about pitching this?
4) Will anyone actually be interested in a collection by an unknown author?
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Jordan Lapp
Ebony & Ivory
Date Joined Sep 2006
Total Posts : 2952
| Posted 11/5/2008 1:35 PM (GMT -5) | | Collections rarely do well. I think at best, they are expected to sell 1/4 as many copies as a regular novel by the same author. If you haven't written a novel, or at least won several major literary awards, they do badly indeed.
I remember Sean T.M. Stiennon sold a collection of Flinteye stories a while back. He's a great author with a decent following, but he said once he'd only sold a couple of dozen copies, despite exposure on About.com and here on SFReader.
It's my intention to save my best short works, and then release a collection soon after I release my first novel. This will do two things. First, it will give me more "shelf space", so I don't have an orphaned book, and secondly, it will give my fans something to tide them over while they're waiting for the sequel.
Jordan Lapp
Managing Editor, Every Day Fiction
First Place Winner, Writers of the Future Q3 2008 | | Back to Top | | |
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von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 3120
| Posted 11/5/2008 5:16 PM (GMT -5) | | Getting a collection into a big house is difficult - even for the professional names. Short form fiction fights an uphill battle when bound in longer formats. Anthologies - unless attached to renowned names such as Datlow - don't sell so well either.
I like Jordan's plan - I like that he has a plan first of all! - but I honestly do not know if such a plan will increase his odds or not. I'd tend to think not, to be honest. I believe the big houses would consider a collection of assorted genres and characters as too scattershot - remember, they're looking for repeat customers. They aren't buying 1 book from an author - they want a career. Careers are made by addicting readers. If readers love your first novel, that's what they'll want to come back for. The conglomeration approach sounds somewhat risky to me.
Small press, too, usually fares no better with collections. Novellas, standalone or collections of 3 or 4, will typically do better than collections of a number of short stories. The difference with small press is that the small press authors are most recently come from small press-heavy venues and their reader base consists mostly of those who found them via short fiction. Offering an addictive character or world at least gives the existing fan base reason to follow along and purchase.
3 years ago, I didn't read collections. Not unless they came from big named authors, and even then, very rarely. I did read an occassional antho, but I enjoyed novel-length fiction most. Now I read much more short fiction and I think there is both a growing need and home for it. I think collections have a good chance of picking up steam in today's societal norms and I think that we - all small press publishers and authors - should be heavily pushing them.
RBE has solicited 6 collections. All are or have been under creation. Two of them have since been converted to novels. Once their authors got into assembling the stories and writing new material they found the urge to tie everything all together in one coherent whole too much to resist. I'm fine with that and think, in the long run, that it serves them better. We'll just have to see what the final story becomes.
Simply because I know what I want in my RBE collections, I'll toss this out here:
RBE wants 75-90k words, at least 45% previously unpublished (though I'd prefer closer to 55%), and no genre mix-n-match. I only want fantasy adventure consistent with the RBE drive.
I wish you the best Gustavo, and am interested in learning what you decide and how you pursue it.
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Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
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von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 3120
| Posted 11/5/2008 9:20 PM (GMT -5) | | Your statements are good news, CW. That's what I want to hear, as that encourages my points about the need for collected short fiction.
But Sarah should still be benefiting from her existing fan base and their immediate word of mouth. And I'd certainly be hoping to see decent numbers from the onset of a new release - any new release. It's the ensuing numbers in the months to come that will paint a better picture.
There are two advantages in collected short fiction that I see:
The first is convenience. The speed, ease, and managability of access, climax, and completion can't be beat. The closest competition would be magazines, but they come with misleading covers and advertising - banes to reading enjoyment.
The second is chance. The opportunity granted the reader on every story to love it, hate it, skip it, reread it. And then move on to the next one. Novels don't allow the reader to do that. They're pretty much all or nothing prospects. The anthology/collection allows the reader to stop reading he/she doesn't enjoy and move on to the next. Such collected short fiction allows the reader to experiment more, to get more for his/her buck, to taste more of what's out there.
What are the two most bemoaned characteristics of today's generations? Short attention spans and the need for instant gratification. Both advantages answer both of these traits.
I hope Sarah and Colin's books continue to do great and I definitely hope the steadily increase in sales and attention. I hope that small press anthologies and collections take off everywhere.
(I'm cross posting this over on my blog cause I'd like to explore it further and see what kind of input it generates, just in case anyone's interested.)
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Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
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Jordan Lapp
Ebony & Ivory
Date Joined Sep 2006
Total Posts : 2952
| Posted 11/6/2008 1:49 PM (GMT -5) | | Sarah, absolutely, I never suggested otherwise.
However, when you get your novel onto store shelves, the small press you published your collection with may not be able to do the same, whereas the publisher of your novel could have.
Of course, they could always reprint, or buy the rights to your collection, or, knowing CW, she'd move hell and highwater to put it there herself, even if she had to visit every bookstore in America. ;)
Jordan Lapp
Managing Editor, Every Day Fiction
First Place Winner, Writers of the Future Q3 2008 | | Back to Top | | |
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Kuroboshii
Shogun
Date Joined Apr 2004
Total Posts : 549
| Posted 11/6/2008 4:18 PM (GMT -5) | | My own collection, Six with Flinteye, was published. . .almost three years ago, now, but a small press (Silver Lake Publishing) which is now defunct. They read complete collections as part of their open submissions process, and didn't really care about the mix of the content--horror, fantasy, and SF could be freely blended, and length wasn't particularly an issue either. Silver Lake covered a pretty broad range of material.
My collection was six space opera tales about my recurring character Jalazar Flinteye (hence the name), so there's a pretty strong unity of character/tone. Two of the stories had been previously published in Deep Magic (also sadly defunct), making up a little over one third of the book, and the other four were new.
Sales were actually pretty strong for a press of Silver Lake's--I think, between print books and Fictionwise ebooks, we sold about a hundred copies--not including the twenty or so I gave away or sent to reviewers. Reviews were also strong; Nathan Meyer did an awesome one for About.com, and a pretty positive one ran here on SFReader.com.
No novel deal yet, but I have no regrets about the collection--if nothing else, it as a huge ego boost, and I've had plenty of people tell me that their teenage kids absolutely loved it. So, mission accomplished, as far as I'm concerned  .
No novel deal yet, but hopes are high. . .and, hey, if any big publishers out there are interested in looking at a Flinteye novel, it's written and ready for ya!
Oh, yeah, and Six with Flinteye is still available through Amazon.com and a couple other online retailers. Just so you know.
Sean T. M. Stiennon (AKA Kuroboshii)
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Gustavo
Sage
Date Joined Aug 2007
Total Posts : 1399
| Posted 11/6/2008 5:26 PM (GMT -5) | | | | |
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