KR
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Knowing that you’ve done both traditional publishing and quasi-self-publishing, what has your experience of (and motivation for) each of those been like? As I work on my first novel, I sometimes worry about giving up a given setting as a playground if I go trad pub; I don’t want to lose the ability to freely write and share other things in that setting or premise. Is that a valid concern?
Lois McMaster Bujold
Well, you're getting a bit cart-before-horse, here; first, finish your novel. Plenty of time during revision-fretting to worry about marketing. (Or, better, to start your next work. Because if you submit to a trad publisher you are going to have a lot of time waiting, months to years, unless turn-around times have improved since last I heard.)
Traditional publishing contracts will vary from publisher to publisher and writer to writer, not to mention agent to agent if you secure one.
Your concern about being free to write other/related things will depend on your contract. It is usual for the publisher who has licensed your work to have an option for a first look at whatever you write next, with some set time for acceptance/refusal, sometimes with some specificity -- "next novel-length work", "next [name genre] novel, "next [work in this series]", if it is one. This can also vary by "next completed work", "next partial", "next proposal" with the sunk time-cost risk for the writer going down in steps. Some publishers will secure their interest by offering a multi-book contract. Whether one finds this a delight or a daunting will depend on one's own writerly psyche. And also how far along you are in that next thingie.
Keep in mind, if they look at and want your next thing, related or not, you are free to say "no thank you", though unless things have gone badly you won't want to. Or them to offer, for that matter. Also, book publishers are normally only interested in books; shorter work is commonly considered the writer's own to do whatever with. If you have a novel under contract, and put a related short work out in some other venue, most publishers would regard it as free advertising.
Licensing a next related novel to some other publisher, when Publisher #1 has put time and money into the first, would be a no-no, unless/until the option work has been submitted and rejected. Then it's free to market again, or whatever. But that's what the option clauses cover.
When money changes hands you have stepped out of fanfic world into profic business world, with all the business etiquette that this entails.
Something Not To Do is sell your actual copyright, or license for "term of copyright" which comes to the same thing. There are rare occasions where the latter may be justified, but for most novels, not.
A lot more writing and sound business advice may be found on Patricia C. Wrede's blog "Wrede on Writing"; check the tag at the bottom "the biz".
https://pcwrede.com/blog/
When I started in the 80s, what is now called traditional publishing was the only publishing there was, no modifiers. So a description of that would cover the bulk of my writing career, which I've discussed at length elsewhere. When indie epub became an option, I got into it gradually with e-reprints of older out-of-print works. The first Penric original indie novella was an experiment, jumping off from what I'd learned from the reprints. But certainly part of my motivation, as I hit retirement age, was to pare back on the stresses of publicity and promotion on the writer of traditional publishing. I suspect retirement is not a present concern of yours, so I don't know as my experiences there are apropos.
Ta, L.
Well, you're getting a bit cart-before-horse, here; first, finish your novel. Plenty of time during revision-fretting to worry about marketing. (Or, better, to start your next work. Because if you submit to a trad publisher you are going to have a lot of time waiting, months to years, unless turn-around times have improved since last I heard.)
Traditional publishing contracts will vary from publisher to publisher and writer to writer, not to mention agent to agent if you secure one.
Your concern about being free to write other/related things will depend on your contract. It is usual for the publisher who has licensed your work to have an option for a first look at whatever you write next, with some set time for acceptance/refusal, sometimes with some specificity -- "next novel-length work", "next [name genre] novel, "next [work in this series]", if it is one. This can also vary by "next completed work", "next partial", "next proposal" with the sunk time-cost risk for the writer going down in steps. Some publishers will secure their interest by offering a multi-book contract. Whether one finds this a delight or a daunting will depend on one's own writerly psyche. And also how far along you are in that next thingie.
Keep in mind, if they look at and want your next thing, related or not, you are free to say "no thank you", though unless things have gone badly you won't want to. Or them to offer, for that matter. Also, book publishers are normally only interested in books; shorter work is commonly considered the writer's own to do whatever with. If you have a novel under contract, and put a related short work out in some other venue, most publishers would regard it as free advertising.
Licensing a next related novel to some other publisher, when Publisher #1 has put time and money into the first, would be a no-no, unless/until the option work has been submitted and rejected. Then it's free to market again, or whatever. But that's what the option clauses cover.
When money changes hands you have stepped out of fanfic world into profic business world, with all the business etiquette that this entails.
Something Not To Do is sell your actual copyright, or license for "term of copyright" which comes to the same thing. There are rare occasions where the latter may be justified, but for most novels, not.
A lot more writing and sound business advice may be found on Patricia C. Wrede's blog "Wrede on Writing"; check the tag at the bottom "the biz".
https://pcwrede.com/blog/
When I started in the 80s, what is now called traditional publishing was the only publishing there was, no modifiers. So a description of that would cover the bulk of my writing career, which I've discussed at length elsewhere. When indie epub became an option, I got into it gradually with e-reprints of older out-of-print works. The first Penric original indie novella was an experiment, jumping off from what I'd learned from the reprints. But certainly part of my motivation, as I hit retirement age, was to pare back on the stresses of publicity and promotion on the writer of traditional publishing. I suspect retirement is not a present concern of yours, so I don't know as my experiences there are apropos.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Catherine Nemeth
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
RE gene cleaning as the best birthday gift. There are steps between removing deleterious genes, choosing the best genes in the sperm sample, looking for rare existing variations (better than 20/20 vision, lactic acid breakdown), and going full haute boutique genome. Given their history with the Cetagandans and their militaristic inclination, would the Barrayarans be tempted into their own eugenic project?
Catherine Nemeth
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Wot5G deals with the difference between a Great Soul and what is deemed a Great Person (power, wealth, military victories, etc.) Sometimes a god does favor a soldier. How do the other gods feel about & react to a god’s favorite going around harvesting before their time the souls they are trying to cultivate? Do they understand wars as other than an odd increase in souls? Can the gods even communicate with each other?
Kate Davenport
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Just gobbled up the Physicians of Vilnoc. Thank you. But I wondered, when divesting himself of chaos, couldn't Penric rot a condemned building from the top down or kill and rot a tree? (a wistful thought for me since I have several volunteer maples I will need to hire an arborist to remove) It would seem less efficient, but also less fraught.
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