Pitching - just what are you?
Those of you who have #pitched your work to publishers either in the 5 minute face to face dash, or through a query letter, will know that somewhere in the process there will come the dreaded question: Whose work is yours like? Of course for fantasy writers, the temptation is to say, 'Oh, it's just like the Twilight series--only better.' or 'It's just like Game of Thrones, in a fresh original sort of way.' Of course, it is a sensible and commercially-driven question; publishing is a business and a difficult one at that.
In buying your product, that is, the precious child you have created out of nothing, the publisher wants to know whether an audience already exists for it and how your work can be marketed. I've tried to fudge this question in the past but the last few times I've pitched I've had to say that my work isn't like anyone's else's that I'm aware of. I can still see one editor's face fall at this piece of commercially unattractive news.
Given that fantasy has tropes that make it fantasy, and that there are supposedly only two story types in the world: the quest and the competition, I'm not claiming originality, but I am aware of not fitting neatly into a pre-existing space and that this is a problem. Of course fashions come and go and I recall #KeriArthur telling me once that she was writing her particular brand of fantasy for nearly 10 years before it took off, and I've heard #RichardHarland say something similar about #SteamPunk at a conference.
I did consider trying to bring my work into alignment with existing (successful) fantasy sub genres but decided against it. You have to love what you write and write what you love. Instead I've spent time thinking about what i actually do write and recently coined the term #deepfantasy. I'll speak about #deepfantasy in more detail in another blog.
In buying your product, that is, the precious child you have created out of nothing, the publisher wants to know whether an audience already exists for it and how your work can be marketed. I've tried to fudge this question in the past but the last few times I've pitched I've had to say that my work isn't like anyone's else's that I'm aware of. I can still see one editor's face fall at this piece of commercially unattractive news.
Given that fantasy has tropes that make it fantasy, and that there are supposedly only two story types in the world: the quest and the competition, I'm not claiming originality, but I am aware of not fitting neatly into a pre-existing space and that this is a problem. Of course fashions come and go and I recall #KeriArthur telling me once that she was writing her particular brand of fantasy for nearly 10 years before it took off, and I've heard #RichardHarland say something similar about #SteamPunk at a conference.
I did consider trying to bring my work into alignment with existing (successful) fantasy sub genres but decided against it. You have to love what you write and write what you love. Instead I've spent time thinking about what i actually do write and recently coined the term #deepfantasy. I'll speak about #deepfantasy in more detail in another blog.
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