I work for a publisher. Ask me anything.

[isthatapugunicorn]

I’m a senior sales bod at a global publisher... involved in everything from proposal thru to promo.

[isthatapugunicorn]

Hellomatey001 - yes mention it, I would. Definitely to the agent. I would also look at some BAME authors and Google their agents, those are the people you want to start with. In the olden days mentioning it would have maybe lost you the deal but now You're the hot new thing, lucky you! I'm LGBTQ by the way, so similar boat, once considered too 'marginal' to be of interest to a wide audience and now the opposite.You should give a bit of bio about yourself anyway... good luck.

[isthatapugunicorn]

PAckingSoap - I would advise picking a genre and starting there quite frankly, or have a look at the Fantasy section in the nearest big Waterstones and seeing if there are similar books. The 5 genre- everyone-will-read-it approach doesn't work until you're famous and people buy the book for your name. Fantasy covers a multitude and doesn't always need the fairies etc. Your friend needs to be able to describe their book in a few sentences and make someone think : that sounds interesting' - give it a go. It can help to think of the taglines for movies... they also have to convey a lot succinctly. What would the book blurb say? What would the railway poster ad for the book say??

[PackingSoapAndWater]

Oooh, thank you, isthatapugunicorn.

I'll tell her that.

[Hellomatey001]

Thank you isthatapugunicorn!

[CakeRage]

I love this thread and have been shamelessly lurking on it the whole time

I also have a question along the minority lines. Technically I suppose I am from an underrepresented background, and my culture massively influences the stories I write, but my family are essentially white European, so when people talk about boosting representation I never really feel like they’re talking about me.

It’s not normally an issue either way because I always talk about my background in pitches as it informs the angle of my stories, it’s just that I’ve come across a couple of competitions and agencies who only want to hear from underrepresented voices and I don’t know whether it’s appropriate for me to submit to them?

My other question is what defines uplit? Is it a genre in its own right or just a buzzword for uplifting stories in any genre? Sorry if that’s a stupid question, but I have no idea!

[RosaWaiting]

My experience is that agents want to exploit BAME and expect some kind of “linked” story

I’m just an English woman, what I write has naff all to do with anyone’s colour. Would your publishing company consider that?

Also do publishers agree for anyone to be writing under a pen name these days?

[ChangedNameForToday]

Thanks for answering my Qs isthatapugunicorn

[isthatapugunicorn]

CakeRage - it will depend on the competition, WC writers are under represented too regardless of colour or sexuality so read what they’re looking for and see if you feel you represent that. There are certain competitions or opens calls for writers from a region for example. If a comp is run by NewWriting North asking for writer from the northeast and you’re from Surrey and live in Surrey then there would be no point in entering.

[isthatapugunicorn]

RosaWaiting - I almost didn’t answer your question. My huge global publisher probably publishes less than 50 non-white, non-LGBT people. We do slightly better on WC but not by much. When you have a business run my MC, white people who use their connections and experiences to run that business you get an absolute dearth of diversity.
You have 10 times more chance of being published as I do - even if you can’t enter the odd open call. Publishing is asking for diverse writers because they essentially do not trust their own people to find them otherwise.
You can write under at name you choose if you’re book is good enough.

[isthatapugunicorn]

Uplit - I guess time will tell but at the moment i’d Say it’s a trend, an anecdote to all those end of the world stories...
Uplit, well it’s sort of books that lift your spirits, have love and kindness at the core, are about human connection without being romance or idealised. The opposite of all the thrillers that start with some poor abused dead girl as an opener...

[RosaWaiting]

Sorry op I probably wasn’t clear enough

Are publishers looking for BAME writers to write any story? Because my experience and the experience of published author friends has been that publishers want “diversity” to extend to the topic.

[Opossooom]

I’m literally making notes, and forming my characters as we speak. And this threat has invaluable information for when the time comes. I mean your job sounds amazing! Thank you OP!

[CakeRage]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, OP. Much appreciated.

Unfortunately I think I fall into the grey areas on both. Foreign enough to be different but still pretty much English and definitely white. And not WC enough for gritty real-life stories but still definitely WC enough to have no money or connections!

I’ll just have to make my writing extra exciting because my persona isn’t doing me any favours by itself

[CaptainBrickbeard]

Love this thread! I’m writing my first novel now and I went to a really interesting course run by a literary agent that helped me to think realistically about actually getting it out there (once it’s finished!) My question is about trends in publishing - I love reading fiction based on Ancient Greek mythology and there are some big selling novels out there at the moment in that genre, such as Circe by Madeleine Miller, The Silence of the Girls, The Furies - a lot seem to be coming out. I found it really inspiring and thought finally, there is a market for what I’ve always wanted to write! But how quickly does that market become saturated? By the time I’ve noticed a trend, will publishers still be looking for it or will it be considered burnt out??

[isthatapugunicorn]

CakeRage, Captain Brickbeard
Write - and write - and write. Tell the best story you can, make it original and engaging, tell it well, write the way YOU speak so it is your story, write the story you want to read. The rest, well that’s up to your agent and/or publisher, to sell it, market it, publicise it. Don’t over think it.

[isthatapugunicorn]

If you write a great story then the ‘trend’ is irrelevant and the genre never saturated. Really, there are no ‘original’ stories, they’ve all been told. The only ‘original’ thing about any book or story or narrative is you, the author.

[RosaWaiting]

"The only ‘original’ thing about any book or story or narrative is you, the author."

this is one of the reasons I stopped writing (relatively recently). I wanted to write under a pen name and I never wanted to be the product myself.

[isthatapugunicorn]

Rosa - we’re at cross purposes I think. YOU as the writer make something original because of the way you write, whether that is under your name or another is irrelevant. Your life, experience, skill, style are all shaping the story you tell.
Sometimes that’s obvious, sometimes not. Keep writing.

[CaptainBrickbeard]

Thank you, OP, that crystallises it in my head - something honestly just went ‘click’! This thread has been so helpful and inspiring!

[Helmetbymidnight]

Thanks op, its been a really illuminating thread. And fab that you're still so invested in getting good writing and great stories out there.

(Rosa, I write under a pen-name and am in no way a product or expected to be.)

[Zilla1]

isthatapuguniocorn

As well as writing fiction, I'm interested in your views about the wider industry.

In the chain of author - agent - publisher - bookshops/Amazon, the big publishers seem to make the healthiest profits at the moment, smaller independent publishers less so.

Most bricks and mortar bookshops appear to struggle. UK supermarkets seem to sell at low price though I'm not sure whether these low prices still make a significant profit for them (pile them high, sell them cheap and still make a profit) or if popular books are somewhat of a loss leader like milk.

Amazon seem to be making long-term investments presumably to make larger profits when their competition has eroded. Amazon have built up a big footprint in hard format books, as well as ebooks and audio books. There were ebooks and audio before but Amazon's investment in the Kindle and Audible platforms seem to have really grown this market.

I've not seen any information about the profitability of agents. Agents don't seem to have much direct costs beyond their time and the agent industry seems to be a spectrum from large corporates/partnerships across different creative industries to small one person offices.

UK author average earnings appear around £10,000 I think according to the SoA, with a highly uneven distribution between best selling authors and the rest. There is a lot of competition amongst authors with many wanting to join and complaining when they can't get agents and publishers interested in their novels so the relatively low average earnings for an activity with lots of competition, no costs of entry except time and for something that can be done part time while still earning doing other employment perhaps isn't a surprise.

Does that seem an accurate analysis to you or where do you think it's wrong, please?

As a senior bod in a large publisher, why do you think the large publishers have currently managed to maintain their profitability when, in theory, the barriers to entry for new imprints appear so low - new authors appear willing to submit to any publisher and agent willing to look at their books; the printing and distribution parts of the industry don't appear controlled by the main publishers; and bookshops and Amazon appear open to new publishers with books that appear good enough to sell?

Looking forward, what will the main publishers be able to do to avoid Amazon damaging their business in the longer term given Amazon appear willing to invest to build a powerful position at a loss or for low profits in hard, ebook and audio book sales, enable direct publishing and willing to sign some new authors up exclusively to their own imprint somewhat bypassing publishers?

Thank you.

[Sooverthemill]

isthatapugunicorn (what does WC stand for? Driving me crazy)

I have a voracious appetite for reading novels. I read most stuff and tend to go heavy on 'literary' fiction. I used to write some short stories,. I kind of feel I have a novel in me but who doesn't? I'd like to take the plunge and often look at course to help me start but I'm nervous. If I can't be as good as, say, Joyce Carol Oates is there any point? There are so many truly brilliant authors out there, why would anyone read me?

[Helmetbymidnight]

Working class.

Soover, I'm sure OP will have a good answer, but my answer would be: why not you?
And don't forget Joyce Carol Oates and all the big names were unpublished, rejected (presumably!) disillusioned wannabe writers once, with big dreams. No different to where you are now...

[IrmaFayLear]

I think what "minority" fiction needs is great writers who writes great stories that are not issue based, eg detective novels set in a Muslim (or whatever) community (not London). Just straight good stories. Focusing on "struggles" becomes very wearing and doesn't hook people in to a series.

[Sooverthemill]

helmetbymidnight (thank you! Ooh I'm WC so I have an angle too). I would encourage anyone who wants to write to just get on and do it but gosh I have a very high standard for myself and think I wouldn't be good enough. I will ponder more.