Plans for November (and Quick Lessons)

Now that my Halloween weekend reverie is over, it’s time to get back to work. The query letter for that publisher I mentioned earlier is at the top of the list, but I’m waffling a bit on what to send. Anything under 40k is unlikely to go to print, which means I’d either have to pad Wind Chill with a lot of short fiction or try to sell the Bestiary trilogy as a whole like I did with Surviving the Crash if I don’t want an ebook-only release (plus, the latter might be ineligible and/or considered a reprint because I posted some of it online). These issues also present a good time to bring up a couple points for my fellow writers out there who may be new to the business.

Firstly, publishers are almost always more receptive to new work than reprints. Some won’t republish anything at all. Those that do will usually only be willing to pay far, far less for it. This does in fact include anything online, even if it’s on your own personal site. So, keep that in mind before you put stories or chapters up on your sites, blogs, etc.

Second, while ebooks are great in a number of ways, the lack of a physical release can be a major pain in the butt from a promotional standpoint. Think about it. If you want to spread the word about your book, you have nothing to bring with you to a convention or your typical author event (signings, etc.) to sell to people. It can also make it tougher to get reviews as critics nearly always prioritize print copies over electronic, if they even accept the latter at all.

Now, back to my internal debate.