Once you've finished your manuscript (and hopefully at least one round of editing!), you may decide it's time to begin the submission process. This can be a daunting, scary time for some authors - even the 'big' ones. Your work is your baby and it can be hard to send it out there, into the cruel world, to face possible rejections. At European Geeks, we believe in supporting authors - ours or otherwise - and to help ease the pain of the submission process, we've compiled a list of tips for those who are about to brave the submission world.
Regardless of how ground breaking your novel may be - there is more to what a publisher considers than just your manuscript. You may be the next J.K. Rowling, but if you're missing one of these items on the checklist, it's likely that you won't get picked up for traditional publishing. While writing is an art, publishing is a business and has to be treated as such. Entering into a contract with an author is no different than signing a deal with a fortune 500 company - it has to be profitable or everyone involved loses.
So what exactly is this checklist that publishers consider before signing a contract with an author?
Publishing is a business, just like any other, and for that business to be successful, it depends on the validity of the partner. Publishers want to find authors who are great business people. Your work is your product, so learn to push, sell, and promote it and yourself. These are the first steps you can take in securing your first publishing contract. Whether you've written your first book or you're an established author, you're probably trying to decide what to do with that spectacular, unpublished novel. With so many choices in the literary market these days, who do you go with? There's so many indie publishers, small presses, traditional publishing houses - not to mention, there's always the self-publishing route.
While self-publishing may work for some, it doesn't always work for everyone... and the same can be said for the small press and/or traditional route. With traditional publishers, the author tends to lose most creative controls, but they do usually receive an advance, albeit lower royalties. A small or indie press generally gives out lower to no advances, but a slightly higher royalty rate than a traditional. Creative control with a small or indie press can vary by company, but generally the author still loses a large portion of control regarding what happens to his or her manuscript. Self-publishing is the best way for authors to retain full creative control, however, it requires you to be responsible for all cover designs, formatting, copyright filing, etc. And all marketing falls on the author. So what makes European Geeks Publishing different? European Geeks was born from the realization that authors haven't been getting the best treatment from their companies. We aim to publish a much smaller catalog than most companies each year, allowing us to spend ample time with each author and body of work - making sure it is handled accordingly. As a small press, we do not offer advances. We do, however, offer highly competitive royalty rates at 50% for print and 55% for eBooks. While we handle editing, cover art, and layouts in-house, everything is cleared and approved by the author before publication. Marketing will be a joint effort between author and publisher at EG - with both parties being equal partners in the marketing campaign and promotions. European Geeks strives to be author-friendly. We have an open door policy for all authors - ours and others - at European Geeks Publishing. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions! info@europeangeeks.com. Have you ever picked up a book and it just felt cheap?
Or how about when you start reading and the words run together in places or disappear into the binding? No matter how great your writing is, a cheap feel or terrible layout can be the death of a good book. This is why it is very important to have an understanding of book formatting, even if you are not doing it yourself. There are bounds of tutorials across the net that will help you garner a working understanding of this process, as well as explaining paper types and guidelines in explicit detail. Formatting is like your business card. Regardless of who does your formatting - a publisher, a freelance book designer, or you - the only thing a reader associates your book with is YOU, the author. Your book's formatting and feel will determine how a reader sees your work - whether as legitimate or as one of those amateur self-published books that have earned such a nasty reputation over the years. Remember, while you may not consider yourself in the same league as Stephen King, JK Rowling, and James Patterson - the reader lumps you all together. If they have to bend the spine backwards to read words that trail off into the bindings... well, it's likely that they won't read much further and will return to one of the larger known authors with professional formatting. What a lot of authors don't realize is that they need to spend as much effort on the formatting as they do on the writing for the book to have any shot at being a success. If you're doing it yourself - invest the time and money into a layout software like Adobe InDesign. This professional style software will allow you to tweak settings that are unavailable to you in a word processor. If you're not computer savvy, it is best to hire a professional. There are plenty of experienced book designers available all across the internet. You're bound to be able to find someone to fit your budget. If you're being published by a legitimate publishing house - chances are they have professionals using software such as InDesign and will handle it for you - but make sure that you get final approval and peruse your sample copy with a fine toothed comb to ensure no detail is missed. Your book depends on it. While we are all told "Not to judge a book by its cover" while growing up - as an author, you need to face facts. We all do it. We're all guilty of it. And your book will not be treated any differently. You've seen how people select books while browsing bookshops - they pick them up, turn them from front to back, inspecting the covers before flipping through a handful of pages. If your book does not meet or exceed the industry standards - it will go right back onto the shelf. And your royalties go with it. Make sure your book doesn't meet the same fate... Focus on your formatting. With our steadily approaching release date for The Multiverse of Max Tovey by Alastair Swinnerton, we decided to take some time out to pay homage to a Sci-Fi/Fantasy legacy... Time Travel.
If you have read anything in the Sci-Fi genre or watched anything close on TV, you've come across the concept of Time Travel. Travelling through time seems to be on the human mind more often than not, with TV shows like Leap Year, Doctor Who, and Primeval dominating the spectre. JK Rowling touched on the subject during one her Harry Potter books, and even Stephen King, the Master of Horror, has jumped on the bandwagon with his release entitled 11/22/63. So, let's take a moment and look at the many forms that Time Travel has taken over the years since its appearance in literature. MechanicalSome versions of Time Travel have appeared as Mechanical. This can be in a space ship with time travel compatibility or a time machine - one that can only travel in time, not in location. This can vary - for example, in Doctor Who, they have the TARDIS. While this may give the appearance of a time machine (as it resembles a Victorian police box) it is actually a space ship with time travel compatibility. It can move in location, as well as in time. In Hot Tub Time Machine, for example - they only travel in time, making this a time machine. (I know, they are TV or Movie references, but are the easiest and most currently recognizable.) When it comes to literature - books featuring Mechanical Time Travel include The Time Machine by HG Wells and How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe by Charles Yu. PortalPortal based Time Travel is similar to, say, the Crack in the Wall in Doctor Who. A portal is generally a hole in the space-time continuum. Most likely you'll see this a rift or hole that glows and generally floats in the sky. Stephen King's 11/22/63 is an example of portal based Time Travel, as the character travels through a rift hidden in a storeroom. FantasticalThink Charles Dickens... Fantastical Time Travel is orchstrated by a ghost or other such phenomena. The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future from A Christmas Carol are the perfect example. They guide the character through different points in time. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger is another great example of Fantastical Time Travel. Magical/Item BasedMagical or Item Based is when an object holds the power of time travel. A character cannot travel in time without this specific item. The mystical stones in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander shows magical/Item Based Time Travel well, as does JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. UnexplainedBecause, well... why not? It's most likely in the future, right? If you find yourself wondering exactly how they managed to travel, consider it unexplained. Sometimes a light explanation (ie: They're The One) still makes it fall into this category. The Multiverse of Max Tovey combines two of these unique travelling methods, making for an interesting explanation of Time Travelling. The Multiverse meshes historical elements, science-fiction (ie: Time Travelling), and mythic folk lore for a whirlwind ride through vital historical points in Britan's history. If interested in reviewing The Multiverse of Max Tovey, ARC copies are now available. Please email a link to your blog and/or social media accounts (YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, etc) to info@europeangeeks.com to request a copy. Please indicate that you are interested in reviewing TMOMT. Most authors dream of making a living on their work - releasing book after book, spending their time in between furiously writing the next book. So, as an author who intends to make a decent profit on their work, it probably seems counterproductive to give the book away for free.
But in order to drive sales, this is a requirement. Authors, book reviewers are your friend. While promoting your book in author platforms and chatrooms can drive some additional traffic to your social media sites - other authors are not your readers. Now, don't get me wrong - the author community is a small family... and becoming a part of these web-based communities can help you in many ways... other authors are exceptionally helpful and supportive. But, you need to keep in mind - it is a dog eat dog world out there and another author will be so busy promoting their own work, that yours will fall between the cracks in their blog and/or social media posts. This is where I stress the importance of book reviewers. The community you really want to be in is the book blogging world. These people have full-time jobs, families, and hobbies, yet still take the time to read an influx of books and blog about them. A book blogger who loves your work will share it, post buy links, strike up discussions, recommend it to friends and followers, and will more than likely allow you to use their platform for guest posts, excerpts... The works. These reviews pop up when people google literature keywords, or even your book title. These reviews appear on sites like Amazon and Goodreads. And these reviews can be the life or death of your book. Authors, reviewers are your friends. They are your lifeblood, your sales force. Think of them as freelance, door-to-door salesmen (or women) with the ability to reach an infinite number of homes with a single mouse click. You want these people to go to bat for you! With that being said, you want to reach out... you want to follow all of these book blogs. Comment, share, let the community know your name. And when your book is within a month of release, start reaching out and get those free ecopies in the hands of these book promotion soldiers. Give out as many as you can - get those reviews hitting the net as fast and furiously as you're able and see the traffic it generates for you, your social media, and your book sales. As an author myself, I know how terrifying the query process can be. I suppose in some ways, it's the same as awaiting college acceptance letters or eagerly expecting a phone call after a job interview. It's nerve-racking, exciting, and terrifying all at the same time. Now that I am lucky enough to have expanded my reach into the publishing industry, I spend a lot of time perusing manuscripts. I personally hand-select each manuscript that is accepted by European Geeks - so let me just assure you that I spend a large amount of time reviewing queries and manuscripts.
Because I was an author first, I opened EG with the intent of being author friendly. I want to pull back the velvet curtain and expose the wizard - to shine some light on the darker corners of the publishing process, so that my fellow authors understand the industry better - perhaps giving them a heads up on what we publishers look for. If I can help just a handful of authors with the opening of European Geeks, I'll be happy, regardless of whether they are EG authors or not. I have and will continue to maintain an open door policy at EG - whether I'm answering questions for my own authors or others. With that said, here are some tips to help you stand out when submitting to smaller publishers. Take Time With Your Query Letter Do not rush through your query letter!!! I cannot stress this enough. It does not have to be exceptionally personalized... you don't need to creep around on my blog or Twitter account to create a query. If you happen to follow and feel there is something worth mentioning, that's fine... but there is no need to go crazy with the personal research. What is most important is that your query letter contain all of the important information - your name, background & basic resume, synopsis, and genre information for your book. Pay close attention to the publisher's requirements. If they ask for X amount of chapters to be pasted into the body of the email, include EXACTLY that amount: no more, no less - and make sure not to include it as an attachment, unless requested. Most publishers won't open an unrequested attachment which ends your query before they've even read your submission. The most important thing to remember is spelling, grammar, and tone. If your letter is misspelled or poorly written, you can bet I won't be reading your included work. Send Your Best Work While this may sound like a no-brainer, you would be surprised at how much this piece of advice is ignored. While writing the last page of your manuscript is a momentous experience - in no way does that mean it is time to hit the send button! Small and Indie publishers usually operate with a smaller staff, which is why their royalty rates are the most competitive. However, this generally means that they won't take on a piece that will need heavy editing or story development. Once you have finished writing, put it away for a week to a month. Give your brain a break from it. Then pull it back out and go through your first round of edits. Then, give it to someone you trust - whether it is a friend or family member who is critical and excels in English or a freelance editor or fellow author - to do another round. Of course, one more round yourself will help catch any major errors that were missed in the first two rounds. Because EG is run on such a small staff (allowing us to offer 50% royalties on print and 55% on ebooks) we won't take on a project that chock full of errors. We do understand that there will be some mistakes - but if I have to spend too much time with a red pen, chances are I won't be taking on your piece. Set up a Professional Author Website with Accommodating Social Media Accounts Once I have read your letter, I will check out any links you include in your query. If you don't include anything, my next step is most likely to Google you. It is important to show an online presence in today's literary world, as this is where most of your readers are. With websites such as Wix or Square Space out there now, there is no excuse when it comes to an author website. You can build a professional, eye-catching site in a matter of minutes. If your site is poorly designed, written, or maintained... well, you know the drill. Keep an eye out for more tips from the founder of European Geeks Publishing, Elisha Neubauer. You can reach Elisha through email, at info@europeangeeks.com, on any of our social media accounts, or by leaving a comment below. Happy writing! Allie is faced with her worst nightmare as she boards a space ship that will transport her and her children from their home forever. The human population has dwindled to around 15,000 as the Earth’s become hostile. If they stay they will die. The alien race who’s come to their rescue seem to have no concept of selfishness, but Allie has her doubts. She’s separated from her husband and left to fend for her family on her own. It’s up to her to make sure that they survive the trip across the stars. Book Bloggers- if you're interested in reviewing By the Stars, contact info@europeangeeks.com to get your copy. |