[ SECRET POST #2971 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2971 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 086 secrets from Secret Submission Post #425.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

10. http://i.imgur.com/O3ttLQF.jpg

[ginainthekingsroad]

GODDAMNIT, WHEN YOU'RE PLAYING SCRABBLE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO HAVE 7 TILES, NOT 8.

THIS

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, good, I'm not the only one!

[(Anonymous)]

+2

[(Anonymous)]

Sounds like someone's _______ that somebody else got an extra tile!

[(Anonymous)]

Play by the rules or gtfo.

[(Anonymous)]

they do it by sitting their ass down and writing until it's done, then going back to look for the fucked up parts. then you find someone who's both kind enough and mean enough to look for the other fucked up parts that you can't see yourself. and then, you strap your ass in, get persistent, and shop that fucker around until someone bites.

beyond that, there are no rules.

write.

if writing is what you want to do, you'll get there. but you have to be persistent. and unlike fanfic, it's only you and the words until it's time to get mean. that's the hardest part.

[ketita]

My issue is more the 'getting published' rather than writing. I have no idea how I would go about that part, finding an agent and all.

[(Anonymous)]

Hit up the library and see if they've got a recent copy of writer's market (published annually), there's usually a list of current agents. probably in the reference section.

filter out agents that push the genres you work in, google how to query them. There's a number of really good resources out there. shit like this - http://www.agentquery.com/format_tips.aspx

professionalism, correct targeting, general persistence.

[ketita]

huh, wow, thanks anon!
I will save this information for when I'm in the States, which is where I assume it would be most useful for me.
:))

[sarillia]

I've read so much advice and I'm so impatient to start that process, but I have a lot of work to do before anything is ready to be seen by an agent. I wish I had avoided thinking about it before it was time instead of indulging in daydreaming about what's hopefully up ahead.

[(Anonymous)]

i had some friends in the past that published and i'm still working to get there myself. some of the best lessons were to temper expectations and work on patience and discipline. never get too wrapped up on what could be. enjoy what you're creating first.

ultimate fantasy: filling a hall at san diego comic con, making Rowling cash munny, selling movie rights, banging the guy that places my emotionally damaged lead character.

more realistic daydream: "maybe by my third book, I'll rate a blurb by Stephen King on the cover!"

[ketita]

That's probably the best advice, tbh. I haven't really been thinking about it seriously until now (and haven't been setting myself any kind of deadlines) because I didn't think I had much of a chance getting published in English anyway so it seemed pointless. But recently it looks like that could be an option for me, so maybe I should buckle down.

But yeah, daydreaming doesn't get manuscripts written! >_

[lb_lee]

I might be sorta able to help, maybe, if you're interested in publishing in English? Is this comics or prose stuff? (I seem to recall you do both?) Because there are online magazines that aren't limited to country, and I might know of one that might be up your alley. The pay's not great, but...

Of course, blind leading the blind, since I've only been self-published, but I do at least know a LITTLE about getting started and finding places to submit to. And I don't know about you, but for me, the first step is often kinda the most boondoggling. "WHERE DO I STAAAART" and all.

--Rogan

[(Anonymous)]

Leave the 'getting published' stuff for when you actually have polished work that's ready to publish. Frankly, as quickly as the publishing landscape is changing, and as quickly as trends come and go, if you try writing for the market from scratch now you'll always be behind the curve.

Write something. Edit and polish the crap out of it until you know it's as good as it's going to get. Then look at agents and publishers.

And while you're doing that, start writing something new.

Too many people get bogged down in "where do I publish this thing I haven't even written yet" or "under what genre will I try marketing this half-finished draft" when those are the things that come after you actually have a finished product with which to do those things.

[(Anonymous)]

It might also be worth saying that it might take 8, 9, or 10 years to actually find the publisher who'll bite. And during that time, you need to be networking and self-promoting your fucking ass off.

That's the thing that stops people. It's not the writing; it's not the editing. It's the amount of time it can take to land a deal, and a lot of the times, landing a deal is more about striking at just the right moment and knowing just the right people than about having a decent body of work.

[(Anonymous)]

Yep, this. It really does take ten years to become an overnight sensation. Brandon Sanderson was writing his 13th doorstop fantasy when his 6th was picked up. And the only way to make it is Write, Submit, Write, Submit, Write, Submit.

I have been doing this networking thing for years--and by "networking" I mean "making actual friends with people without regard to what they can do for me." And it all came together in one lovely package not too long ago, and I was offered a book contract last week for my one and only novel.

But I didn't write that novel and sit on it. I wrote that novel, and before and after I wrote a boatload of shorts. I am still writing shorts; I'm working on my 52nd short as we speak. I use the Submission Grinder to find markets, I have a spreadsheet, and the second it comes back it goes out again.

The only way to make it in this business is psychotic persistence and rhino skin.

[(Anonymous)]

I can't make claims of knowing anything about the publishing business, but I agree. I've known a few aspiring writers who basically gave up after one rejection letter from one publisher. I think they were dazzled by stories of authors who got really, really insanely lucky and "got discovered" or hit the jackpot unusually quickly without a lot of effort, or else they failed to notice that some authors got their start doing stuff like writing short stories for obscure magazines or freelancing for websites or taking commissions rather than writing what they really wanted to write or otherwise getting a foot in the door by doing unglamorous work.

[lb_lee]

They are them, and you are you. Playing comparing games usually just ends in paralysis and feeling like it's not even worth trying. (For me, anyway.)

As for how? There really are a million ways how, far as I can tell. And just about all of them take a really fucking long time.

--Rogan

[(Anonymous)]

Ask twenty different writers how they "made it," and you will get twenty different answers.

But it basically boils down to "work your ass off."

[lb_lee]

And flailing. There tends to be lots of flailing, of some kind or other.

--Rogan

Transcript

[(Anonymous)]

Image: “JEALOUSY” spelled out in Scrabble tiles\

Text: Every time I see a fanfic author go on to publish their original fiction I have missed feelings. I’m glad they succeeded but I feel even more inadequate as a human being and a writer. I have to stop myself from interrogating them on how they did it because I’m afraid I’ll sound bitter and desperate.

[comma_chameleon]

As someone who just got their first short story accepted for publishing:

Lots and lots and lots and lots of editing. And lots and lots and lots of 'thanks but no thanks' rejection letters.

Short of being in the right place at the perfect time (a la JK Rowling), getting published in any genre is honestly just continually writing and most likely continually getting rejected until you have something polished enough.

[purpleseas]

A lot of fanfic authors publish with specialty presses that are more receptive to their subject matter/genre/what have you than the mainstream conglomerates, or we self-publish, which isn't what it used to be. Getting your work out there doesn't have to be this huge, intimidating, impossible dream kind of scenario anymore. If traditional publishing is the only thing that feels legitimate to you, that's one thing, but it's not the only way to do things anymore. The average tradpub paper royalty rate is 6%, so it doesn't make much financial sense for most authors, either. I swear I have to look up that figure every time this topic comes up because my brain refuses to accept it. Publishers do this, that and the other for you, I know, but you can get all those services on your own for peanuts. I keep trying to think of what other job you could have where your employer keeps 94% of what you make. It's ludicrous, sorry.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm a fan artist who got hired by the people I was a fan of and now I make official art for it.
i do feel sorta bad sometimes, like i'm not the best fan artist, there were a lot more capable than me more talented. but i got in and they didn't.

in my opinion OP, its a couple things. first luck. it's annoying but its a random universe, sometimes the right thing just happens at the right time, its not your fault or their merit, they just plain got lucky.

second, persistence, i tried for years and years to get an art job and nothing happened, i just didn't give up and kept going, creating and sharing my work.

last, just make the best stuff you can, never stop trying, and keep putting it out there. always challenge yourself and try to grow.

not exactly applicable to fanfic but its sorta what worked for me.