Why You're Not Getting Your Novel Published.

My pal Larry over at The Nonfiction Novelist has a good entry about why you’re not getting your book published. There are plenty of reasons that could be, but many times it has nothing to do with the quality of your work. Give it a read and check out Larry’s other entries.

Five Reasons You Can’t Get Your Novel Published – And Why It’s Not Your Fault

By Larry Kahaner

Dear Author:

            Thanks for sending us your manuscript. The plot is unique, the characters are compelling and the writing is top notch. It’s one of the best books we’ve ever read.

Unfortunately, it’s not right for us.

            Best Regards,

            The Publisher

What the…?

As an author with long-term success in publishing non-fiction books, I can tell you that publishing is not an easy game. It takes talent, perseverance and luck. Even more so for fiction writing. And missives like the one above seem to defy logic and common sense.

Let’s first dispatch the most obvious reason why you can’t get your novel published. Your book stinks. It’s poorly written, the characters suck and the plot is ridiculous. Assuming that’s not the case, that your book is just as good as, or better than, anything else out there, here are the top five reasons why a publisher won’t touch your novel.

1 – “We don’t have room on our list.” Legacy publishers are limited in how many books they publish every year. With so many good authors around they’re often booked solid for this year and maybe the next year. Some of their list is taken up with their perennial money-makers (think the James Patterson writing machine) and editors at these large houses are allowed a few new authors each year that they’re permitted to bet on. There’s not much room for others.

2 – “It’s not our kind of book.” Authors hear this a lot. You might be thinking “but I thought you published mysteries; mine is a mystery.” Your book may be just outside their comfort zone for many different reasons  – like there is a kidnapping and the editor doesn’t care for snatch jobs. Romance publishers often are sticklers for their own particular ironclad rubrics that can seem to outsiders as frightfully picky.

3 – “We’re not accepting any new books.” This is related to reason #1 but applies mainly to small, independent publishers who may publish only a handful of books annually. I’ve been a business reporter for decades and I’m often amazed at how companies (not just publishers) are reluctant to grow revenue by producing and selling more products – often out of fear of making it big or sacrificing quality control. For some smaller indies, producing more books and thus more revenue, might upset their cozy way of doing business. Again, this always strikes me as small-minded. Many industries are hamstrung by not having enough raw materials. Not so with publishing, If you have good authors clamoring for you to publish them, why not hire part-time or gig editors and production people who are willing to go with the ebb and flow of things?

4 – “It’s not a book that we know how to sell.” Publishers often will be blunt in saying these exact words or they’ll couch it by saying something similar to #2. In other words, they’re saying that your book doesn’t fit nicely into a genre that they recognize. For example, your protagonist might be an intergalactic PI. The publisher may know how to sell alien novels or PI novels but put them together and, ummm, we’re flummoxed. I find this shortsighted, too, because bestsellers often break these rules and do well for the publisher that takes a chance. Best example: When John Grisham tried to sell his first legal thriller publishers shied away because it was a new genre and it didn’t fit in with what they knew. Count how many rejections he received and how many books he’s written that have been blockbusters.

5 – “Right place wrong time.” An author friend of mine sold a book to a publisher that hadn’t been active in his particular non-fiction genre. As luck would have it, they were interested in expanding into this genre and were looking for a book such as his. Lucky guy. But it works the other way, too. A publisher may have just decided that they’ve had enough of one genre and are getting out of it for any number of reasons.

All of this should not discourage you. In fact, it should bolster you because these turn-downs are not under your control. You’re probably doing all the right things.

Here’s a last thought: The publishing industry is becoming more and more like the movie industry. Moviemakers are relying on the blockbuster film to help them turn a profit. Instead of making money on smaller movies throughout the year, they focus on only a few films and market the hell out of them to protect their expensive investments in exorbitant actor fees and promotion. When they fail, and they do, backers can’t complain too much because, ‘hey, it has George Clooney in it.’ It’s classic CYA.

On the other hand, we’re seeing this model get bashed by cable and streaming video companies like Netflix, HBO, Amazon and others who are producing lower cost films and making money doing it.

In the same way, I believe that e-books will disrupt the current book publishing model by lowering some production costs and taking book roster  constraints off the table for solid, hardworking and talented authors.

After the dust settles it will be a better time for authors and publishers.

It’s only a matter of time.

Writing Old

Writer pal  Larry Kahaner who blogs at The Non-FictionNovelist, has mentioned while discussing writing techniques that Allen Appel and Dan Stashower are able to write “old.”  Thriller Guy will now turn the blog over to Appel for an explanation.

What Larry is talking about is the ability to write historical fiction where the characters sound, when there is dialogue, like they belong in whatever the historical period the novel is set in. All my time travel books are set in the past, (as opposed to the future): Time After Time is set in 1917, Twice Upon a Time 1876, Till the End of Time 1945, The Sea of Time 1913, and In Time of War 1865. My novel, Abraham Lincoln: Detective takes place in 1842. So how does one go about making his characters “sound” correct? (You can go here and buy any of these novels for Kindle and judge for yourself if I have succeeded.) 

First of all, it’s impossible to do so with absolute certainty because recording devices didn't exist until invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison. Even then after that date, I believe, recording devices were so unusual that most people spoke into them in self-conscious ways for many years. Look at an old newsreel with a politician standing on the courthouse steps being filmed, and you’ll usually see a man shouting at the camera in a stilted manner as if the medium itself was hard of hearing. Recordings of casual, relaxed, off-hand conversation just didn’t exist until more modern times. So what’s a writer to do?

Dan Stashower says, “You don’t want to sound like a Renaissance Fair.  ‘Prithee, wouldst thou direct me to the Porta Potty?’  I like to roll around in old newspapers and novels, to pick up the flavors and textures of the period.”

(Thriller Guy would like to bust in here for a moment to mention that Dan’s latest book. Hour of Peril is now out in paperback. It’s an excellent read about Lincoln and Pinkerton as they travel to Washington for Lincoln’s first inaugural. Buy a copy and do yourself a favor. Also, Dan’s series of mysteries starring Harry Houdini as the detective are back in print. You can see how he tackles the writing “old” problem in this series.) 

Allen here again… Whenever I start, or actually before I start a new book set in the past, I search out any letters I can find that are of the period either by famous people or better yet by “ordinary” folks. I understand that people do not necessarily speak like they write, but it gives me a working knowledge of the sorts of words that they used in dialogue. When I have Mark Twain as a character, as I did in Twice Upon a Time, and as I do in the novel I’m completing now, I go back to his collected letters to get a sense of the rhythm of the way he wrote, and, hopefully, spoke. I use, as Dan has suggested, old newspapers to pick up phrases and words that were current at the time. Period novels are less helpful to me in that I don’t trust that fictional characters are speaking the way people really spoke.

But it is wise not to become too caught up in these difficulties and concerns. If you do, you will spend all your time attempting to perfect your “old voice” rather than getting on with the actual novel. And besides, if no one knows what people in the past actually sounded like then readers won’t have any idea if you’ve got it right or not. The trick is to toss in a piece of dialogue that is a bit stilted every once in awhile, stilted in a way that suggests the period. You can’t do this too often or too overtly -- it can backfire and take the reader out of his suspension of disbelief -- but if you’re careful it can establish the reader in the period without being too obvious. Remember, as in most areas of writing and life, a little goes a long way.

So the next time you read a period novel, ask yourself if the author has succeeded in this tricky task. And if you’re a writer as well, pay attention to how the author pulled off this bit of slight of hand. And use it yourself.

Where, Oh Where Has Thriller Guy Been?

Some of you may have noticed that TG has been greatly remiss in putting up any new entries here for the last several weeks. That’s because Allen Appel was off at Art Camp (VCCA.com) working on his latest entry in the Pastmaster series of novels that can be found here and purchased by anyone who is a historical or time travel fan, or who is just tired of waiting for the next Game of Thrones novel to come out.

For our first digression of the day, TG would like to pass along that George Martin, of Game

of Thrones fame, is presently worth fifty million dollars. He earns 15 million a year from the books and the TV show. Now, some of you are going to say, “But TG, you always say there’s no money in writing, that we shouldn’t expect to make anything writing novels. But that’s money, that’s BIG money!” And that would be true, Little Ones, the difference being that George is immensely talented (and fat!) and you probably aren’t. Talented. But, as TG has pointed out many times, talent isn’t all that important in this business, so maybe you do have a chance. Always remember that TG has made some money in the business, and he has never considered himself all that talented when it came to writing. Also, George works real hard and has for years. I have a feeling he doesn’t waste much time reading this blog instead of writing.

So while Appel was at art camp, he worked very hard on his book, always keeping in mind TG’s excellent advice, Sit Down, Shut Up, Get to Work, and while he was there he cranked out 210 new First Draft Pages. The manuscript is now complete, coming in at 103,000 words, around 410 pages. Note that TG said First Draft Pages. Anyone who has read this blog over the years knows that these are not Finished Pages, or even Pretty Damn Good Pages. A first draft is not designed to be good, it’s designed to be done. TG supposes that there are writers out there who are able to turn out polished, finished, fiction first drafts, but he’s never really met any of them. Mostly he thinks writers who say that they routinely write great first drafts are full of shit and their books are dull, lifeless things. But don’t get TG started, he’s raved about this before.

So, while Appel was giving agonized birth to these aforementioned pages…

Appel: Whoa, whoa, whoa, TG, hold up a minute. “Agonized birth?”

TG: Yeah, it’s a metaphor. Or maybe a simile. TG can never remember the difference. Look, do you want to take over here, smartass?”

Appel: Maybe that’s a good idea. Ahem. (Sound of throat clearing.)

Appel here. We’ll just let TG go sulk for a while. While I was producing my first draft, I was forcefully reminded of one of the biggest problems that a fiction writer comes up against, especially when working in the novel form: doling out exposition.  Exposition is information which needs to be in the story to explain something in the story, but which isn’t necessarily part of the ongoing story. Writers go to incredible, often laughable, lengths to impart information that a character already knows, but the reader doesn’t. This can be done through interior monologue, flashbacks, flash-forwards, foreshadowing, dialogue and straight narration, among other techniques. I laughed the other day when I read someone define these exposition moments as the, “As you know, Bob,” paragraphs. Writers, particularly beginning writers, are terrified of these moments because they’ve had the rule, “Show, don’t tell,” drilled into their heads almost as much as they’ve been told to always “Write what you know.” These two pieces of advice have killed more novels and writers than cholera or women and children have ever done, to paraphrase a famous quote.

TG: Enough with the quotes. Can I have my blog back? I can explain this better than you’re doing.

Sure.

Thriller Guy here. Geez, that guy goes on and on, doesn’t he? Here's the deal, when you’re writing, and you’re suddenly stuck on how to put in some information that the reader needs, and you can’t come up with a clever method, just put in the goddamn information! You can fix it later. Or not. Readers will not give a crap about this as long as you keep it short. They’ll read it and move along if your story is compelling. If it’s not, you’ve got more problems than a clunky paragraph or two. So go ahead and put it in.

But never, ever, start out by saying, “As you know…”

Even if your character is named Bob

Write It Down

Thriller Guy works with writers at all levels, from beginners to professionals in their pursuit of a commercially viable novel. My, doesn’t TG sound officious? (TG just looked the word officious up and found that he has always used this word inappropriately. He always thought it meant something close to efficient, in an official, formal kind of way. Imagine his surprise when he found that it actually means “objectionably aggressive in offering one's unrequested and unwanted services, help, or advice; meddlesome.” My goodness, TG didn’t mean that. Anyway…

One of the first things TG does when taking on a new writer, is to send him or her a Field

Notes, 48-page blank notebook. This small notebook fits easily into a shirt, pants pocket or purse and is always available for writing down those stray or not so stray thoughts that float through our brains when we are involved in the creative process. TG has written elsewhere in this blog about the amazing business of getting answers to pesky plot problems, structural conundrums and character difficulties simply by asking your brain to solve these problems and then turning your attention to other matters, letting your unconscious do the work. (Or going to sleep, which is the best method.) It’s really astounding how many times your brain will come up with an answer on its own, so you sure as hell better be ready to record it when it comes floating up into conscious levels.

TG was having lunch with one of the writers he works with, a successful thriller novelist, who said that rather than writing these thoughts down he simply picks up his cell phone, presses a couple of buttons and says, “Note to self,” and dictates the idea where it will be recorded on the device. And TG is sure you other whippersnappers do the same thing with your high tech gadgetry, smugly assuming that we doddering oldsters with our archaic methods are only a few years and a few steps away from obsolesce, and, lets be honest, death, anyway, so you look on with mild amusement as we take out our little notebooks, lick the lead of our pencil stubs and creakily scribble down the fleeting dregs of the dustbins that are our minds. Admit it! You know it’s true!

Except that cutting edge brain science says that we’re right and you’re wrong. There are many advantages to hand writing things down rather than dictating them or even typing them into your computer. Writing turns the process into a “whole brain” activity, involving both the logical and creative parts of the brain. “It heightens recall, focuses attention, facilitates learning, helps prioritization, increases awareness and activates more of the physical part of the brain than any other method.” So take that, whippersnappers.

TG was struck by an interesting fact while doing research on Thomas Edison for Allen Appel’s novel-in-process, number six in the fabulous Pastmaster Series (available here for Kindle). After Edison’s death in 1931, 3,500 small notebooks were found in his home. He kept these “idea books” always with him and would often read through them looking for ideas to work on. A quick search on the Interweb shows that many famous men throughout history have kept these same sorts of small books and usefully employed them. A blog on the site, The Art of Manliness, (excellent site) lists twenty notebook writers, with pictures of the small books they always carried and how they used them. Among them are Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Frank Capra, Larry David and others. Sure, none of these fellows, except Larry David, could have used his cell phone or tablet computer instead, but the obvious point is that it worked for these guys, and if it worked for them, maybe you should give it a try.

As noted above, TG uses the Field Brand of notebooks. (TG is in no way connected to this brand, though if they would like to take him on as a spokesperson, this could be arranged to mutual benefit.) They’re a lot cheaper than those moleskin things, cooler and really portable. TG carries his in the back pocket of his jeans, and by the time the pages are filled it’s pretty beat up, but it never loses structural integrity.

TG thinks that after working by hand with one of these for awhile, your writing ideas will come to you in greater numbers and in particular with more focus. And besides, it looks a lot cooler to see someone writing something down in a little notebook than yammering into a cell phone like one of those idiots who walk around in the grocery store talking to their phone friends while they shop.

Here's an actual page shot from one of Allen Appel's notebooks.

 So here’s the deal. The first couple of readers to send TG their land addresses at Appelworks@gmail.com will receive one of these nifty Field Notes notebooks.