Expert: Cathy Clamp - 9/29/2008

Question
QUESTION: ok I am 21 years old I've written several books that are completed manuscripts. I've also written close to 50 short stories. My problem is i don't know how to go about publishing them. i would really like to try. Even if i get rejected it would at least be a step in the right direction.  if you have any suggestions I'm willing to try them out
Thanks Sam

ANSWER: Hi, Sam!

A woman after my own heart... :)

What sort of paranormal books are they? Are they paranormal fact (so non-fiction) or novels? There are publishers for both, and if fiction, there are multiple shelves where they could sit, from horror to mystery, thriller or romance. What do you think you have and we'll go from there.

Cathy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: sorry, they are fictional novels, 3 romance 4 horror. the short stories are all horror. Thanks again Sam

Answer
Hi, again, Samantha!

Well, you'll probably want to work on different pen names for the horror and romance novels---at least until you get enough of a following that readers are willing to "cross shelves" to find your other books.

Next, you'll need to remove the term "fictional novel" from your vocabulary. Everybody does it at first, but a novel, by definition, is fiction. Use them together and you'll have some people in the industry rolling their eyes and discounting your queries as entry level and not worth reading. It's silly, but there you go...

You'll want to start working on your query letters. There are plenty of publishers who accept queries directly from authors in both romance and horror. My best advice is to work from the top down. Don't buy into the theory of "any publisher will get my foot in the door." Not true. In fact, it can be a detriment to your career (and you've got enough books written to MAKE a career, so start thinking in that direction.) Read everything you can about the query process. It's a left-brain/right-brain sort of thing. Most authors really suck at queries at first, because they're primarily business letters, not narrative writing like books. Everybody has to learn the ropes, so try a few of these places:

http://www.agentquery.com  

AgentQuery has a GREAT page about writing queries, and includes samples of good letters so you can see the difference.

http://www.writersmarket.com

This is a subscription website, but you can get the same information from the Writer's Digest books "Writers Novel Market." Again, lots of good samples.  Once you have the letter written, then you'll need to have other authors tear it apart for you. Don't be afraid of the process. It can sometimes sting to have someone beat up something you worked hard on, but some really good queries have come out of the critique method. A couple good places to go that I like are writers websites.  The two I really like are:

AbsoluteWrite (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums)

If you go to the "Share your Work" section, you'll find a "Query Letters and Synopsis" section where you can post them. They have some AWESOME critiquers there. If you're feeling shy, just put "Be gentle" in your subject line and people will be. You can also put "Be vicious" and they will be, as well.

WritersNet (http://www.writers.net/forum)

The place to post queries is in the "Literary Agents" section. It doesn't make much sense, but it's where people have elected to put them. [shrug] They WON'T be gentle, but they're good. Make sure you have every i dotted and every t crossed, that your punctuation and spelling are as perfect as you can make them. That way, you'll get comments about the contents, rather than the construction.

Hope that helps a little and feel free to drop by either the Romance or Horror subforms at AbsoluteWrite. I'm the Moderator in the romance room, and we love newcomers. :)

Cathy