I hate to admit it, but graphic novels can be a problem.

The librarians of Marshall, Missouri, know the problem too well. “Does this community want our public library to continue to use tax dollars to purchase pornography?” Marshall resident Louise Mills asked the city council in October of 2006. She was referring to two award-winning graphic novels: Blankets, Craig Thompson’s tale of first love and sexual awakening, and Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Alison Bechdel’s memories of (among other things) her father’s homosexuality and her own. The library pulled the books from its shelves and didn’t return them until March of 2007. The controversy led the library’s board of directors to create a new set of standards for selecting books.

More scary was the Gordon Lee arrest. Lee’s a comics retailer in Rome, Georgia. For Halloween 2004, Lee didn’t give out candy; he gave out comic books. Unfortunately, he accidentally gave one boy a copy of Alternative Comics #2. The issue included a story featuring Pablo Picasso in the nude. Lee tried to apologize, but the cops charged him with distributing obscene material to a minor. The resulting controversy and trials slogged on until April 2008, when Judge Larry Salmon agreed to dismiss the case.

How can you avoid problems like these, especially if you’re not a deep-dyed expert in all things comics?

Librarians experienced in these things suggest treating graphic novels like any other books. “One of the biggest ways that librarians can reduce the problems is to have graphic novels in the appropriate areas, by age,” says Nick Smith of southern California’s Pasadena Public Library. Los Angeles County Librarian Margaret Donnellan Todd explains, “The graphic novels in the children's collection are evaluated for the collection using our criteria for our children's materials. Young adult graphic novels are catalogued and shelved in the sections identified as Teen or Young Teen. These books are evaluated to meet our criteria for those age groups. Adult graphic novels are catalogued in our adult collection and meet our collection criteria for the adult collection.”

“You don't have to have read every book that comes into your collection,” Nick Smith adds, “but you should have general guidelines on why you purchase things, and what sources you use to learn about them.” ForeWord reviews graphic novels, for instance, and so does Library Journal. Diamond Comics Distributors, which dominates the delivery of comics to shops, has a number of resources for librarians. Bill Schanes, Diamond’s vice president of purchasing, recommends the Bookshelf section of Diamond’s website. In particular, check out Bookshelf’s Graphic Novels for Your Library page.

Some of the best sources of information are your local comics retailers. A few, like Nancy McCann of southern California’s Comics Unlimited, have even been librarians themselves. You can find the nearest retailers by calling the Comic Shop Locator Service (CSLS) at 888-COMIC BOOK (888-266-4226), visiting the CSLS web page, or using the master list of comic book stores.
 
If you can’t find a local shop that suits you, worry not. The Comic Book Industry Alliance, a group of retailers and other comics professionals, has a number of members willing to advise librarians nearby or far away. Among them:

• Rick Lowell of Maine’s Casablanca Comics: comics@casablancacomics.com or 207-780-1676.
• Gail Burt of southern California’s Metropolis Comics: metrohero@gmail.com or 562-263-0277.
• Mick Galuski of Toy Soldier Games and Comics in Amesbury, Massachusetts: galuski@gmail.com or 978-388-2512.

In addition, says Gary Dills of Virginia’s Phoenix Comics, “We are currently working with our local librarians to build a resource for reviews and content warnings for teachers and librarians. This site will feature reviews by librarians, teachers, and consumers with ways that the material has been used in the classroom and how often they are checked out of the library.”

To play it as safe as possible, some librarians buy their graphic novels directly from the stores. Phil Boyle of Florida’s Coliseum of Comics retail chain says, “We offered libraries the option to return any book before they put it on the floor if they felt it was not something they were comfortable with. We had many take us up on the offer and we exchanged the books for items that were appropriate.”

So relax. You don’t have to face an angry city council meeting or wake up to find a warrant for your arrest.
 
And a good thing, too. In the words of Joan Kramer, coordinating field librarian for the Los Angeles Unified School District, “All I can tell you is, graphic novels are here to stay.”

Posted by: David Seidman

Ever been to Everyone Who’s Anyone? It’s a website that’s useful but very, let’s say, quirky. The gent who runs it is trying to get journalists and others to pay attention to his writing, which he calls “the greatest work of art of the 21st Century.” To those who choose not to read his work, he says, “You'd rather wallow in the ignorance and petty self-aggrandizement your owners keep you wallowing in for their own mean, miserable, money grubbing reasons.”

So he’s quirky, but his website lists thousands of journalists and others, complete with phone numbers, postal addresses, e-mail addresses, and so on. It needs updating, but it’s still one of the greatest sources of contact information that I’ve ever seen.

If you try to get press attention for events and organizations, you know that it can be an uphill climb. Sites like Everyone Who’s Anyone can help. Author John Kremer’s amazingly comprehensive Book Marketing is another gem, with one page listing hundreds of journalists who write about books and another that includes some editors of newspaper book sections.

Newspapers, though, are in decline. Websites that cover local events can help to spread the news about whatever you’ve got going. The top sites for announcing events include AOL’s CityGuide and two Yahoo! sites: Yahoo! Local and Yahoo! Upcoming.

To find popular blogs and other sites covering your area—well, you probably know this already, but dig through Technorati and Alexa. They’re not always easy to use, and the results aren’t perfect, but they can reveal sites that act as useful pipelines to people you want to reach.

If you’re planning an event dealing with my field—comic books and graphic novels—I’ve got two great places to contact. Publishers Weekly’s The Beat often recommends public appearances by comics creators all around the country, and the Comics Reporter has a pretty comprehensive events calendar.

One last thing. As a journalist by training, I know how crazed and disorganized my colleagues and I can get. When you send out a message to journalists, follow it up a few days later with something like this: “Last Wednesday, I sent you an e-mail about our upcoming event. Did you receive the e-mail—and if so, are you planning to cover the event?” To refresh the journalists’ memories, your follow-up should include a copy of the entire original message. And obviously, you should send out another reminder a day or two before the event.

There are a lot of other ways to pull the press your way – phoning TV stations, mingling at the local press club, and so on. Whether you go by those routes or ones that are, let’s say, quirkier, all I can say is: Good luck, go get ‘em, and remember your old friends (like me) when you become famous.

Posted by: David Seidman

“Graphic novel” is a weak name. For one thing, it sounds like smut. (“Man, that novel was so…so graphic!”) Besides, it implies that a book-length comic book must be fiction.

And that’s a rotten shame, because nonfiction graphic novels have a huge potential readership. The Zogby polling group just released a new survey on books and reading. It found that the most popular genres after general fiction are nonfiction: history, current events / politics / international affairs, biographies, and religion / philosophy. Library Journal’s 2008 book-buying survey says that the books with the highest circulation are in the medicine/health category. An Associated Press / Ipsos poll says that the most-read books in 2007 were the Bible and other religious works; history and biography were popular, too. Nonfiction sells.

So why does nonfiction account for only two percent of all graphic novels?

I took that figure from Amazon.com, which lists 74,021 graphic novels, of which only 1,573 are nonfiction. Quite a few of them aren’t graphic novels at all but prose nonfiction about comics like Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography and The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America.

Maybe there are so few nonfiction graphic novels because they don’t sell. Or maybe not.

Rank Amazon’s GNs by sales. You’ll find that the top one percent – in fact, the top one-third of one percent – includes plenty of nonfiction. There’s history and current events like The 9/11 Report and Larry Gonick’s Cartoon History series, and memoirs such as Fun Home, Persepolis, and Maus.

What’s more, Joe Sacco’s work of comics journalism Palestine seems to find new readers every time the Israeli-Palestinian conflict heats up. Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics is virtually required reading for anyone interested in comics. And Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor became an Oscar-nominated movie.

Publishers for kids know the strength of nonfiction GNs. Capstone Press’ Graphic Library series has dozens them, covering history, biography, and science (including – cough, cough – my own Samuel Morse and the Telegraph). Lerner Publications has its Graphic Universe line, Rosen Publishing has Graphic Nonfiction, the British publisher Osprey’s Graphic History imprint focuses on wars and battles, and Gossamer Books publishes nothing but nonfiction graphic novels.

But where are the graphic-novel equivalents or adaptations of the nonfiction that adults buy? It’s hard to find comics versions of spiritual and self-help books like The Purpose-Driven Life, The Secret, The Last Lecture, and A New Earth. There aren’t many political manifestoes like Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope and Ron Paul’s The Revolution. There’s a shortage of GNs full of advice along the lines of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, or Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. And where are the GN editions of food books like The South Beach Diet? As my retailer friends say, we’re leaving money on the table.

If publishers start generating graphic novels for grown-ups in a variety of nonfiction genres, will retailers and librarians stock them? Maybe not immediately, but I think it’ll happen. I can imagine publishers producing floods of squarebound comic books full of happy-talk spirituality, oversimplified investment counseling, rants about government, and hardnosed commands about how to eat, behave, feel, think, and live.

Say, publishers? Take your time, okay?

Posted by: David Seidman

Following the advice of bloggers and magazines is a sure recipe for entrepreneurial ruin. Does this mean don’t read the blogs or magazines? NO! It means, make the news, don’t follow it. Or—to paraphrase a successful ad campaign: “If you read it, it’s history, if you do it, it’s news.”

Reporting Versus Analyzing

ForeWord, true to its name, is almost certainly the best of the trade magazines—very ForeWord thinking (the theme of my blog today—and clearly the most useful source of information for any independent publisher, independent bookseller, or independent author or librarian. And no, I’m not suggesting you stop reading the trades. Rather, that as a publisher, agent, librarian, bookseller or author, you owe it to yourself to read all the trades—especially the innovative ones such as ForeWord—to give you the foundation from which to launch your new ideas.

But make no mistake—no entrepreneur survives on other people’s ideas. No author succeeds by cloning Harry Potter or The DaVinci Code—or Kunati Books. (Mind you I was tickled to find an indie publisher who "borrowed" our tag line: "Controversial. Bold. Provocative." ) No publisher can thrive for long with an unchanging list of ideas, concepts, marketing plans or authors.

So, read the trades, and the blogs (especially this one, and my publisher blog: http://www.kunati.com/our-publishers-blog/) but only as a base for new-thinking. What’s In and What’s Out is not a good foundation for publishing decisions.

What’s In; What’s Out?

This is the biggest issue I have with the larger magazines and newspapers and their predictions of What’s In and What’s Out in any area: books, fashion, food, wine, you name it. Some journalists and bloggers take on the role of creating fads and fashions, instead of reporting on them.

Independent “Fill-in-the-Blanks” Do It Best

Fortunately, readers don’t always follow these trends, and publishers who simply try to follow fads often find these titles heading straight to the remainder tables.

ForeWord-thinking indies often take the larger risks to introduce new talent, ideas and concepts. I recently read a blog that proclaimed, “Indie’s find the new authors, big publisher’s poach them.” Well, that may be an exaggeration, and clearly the authors have the right to profit from their new-found fame.

But it does highlight the role Indies have taken on; Indie publishers find the new talent and through innovation help them succeed, assisting debut authors to build their brands and careers. Indie booksellers do the same by hand-selling books. Independent magazines such as ForeWord, even more so. Read the story of ForeWord’s inspirational start-up in the 10th Anniversary issue of the magazine. Indies (in any field) are the unsung heroes, you could say.

An Inelegant Segue...
I’ll gratefully make a small plug here that only subtly ties in with my point in this blog: First happy 10th to ForeWord (much deserved!) And thank you ForeWord for recognizing the role of the Indie Publishers with your new Independent Publisher of the Year Award… I’m beyond delighted Kunati and our author’s were honored, and am so much hoping this inspires other indies to innovate, take chances and find new talent. Which is my crazy segue into …

Memoirs… In not Out!
Today I spent two hours chatting with a very talented memoirist with an important story to tell about abuse. Now, I was trying to explain, “post Frey, memoirs are out” but I found myself not believing it. And, in the end, I made an offer on this most wonderful book.

When I look at our book list, I see a dozen memoirs. So, clearly, we don’t believe they’re "out." They sell well. They are not famous people—just important stories from real people with genuine writing talent. Such as Mothering Mother: an important story of a daughter coping with her mother’s Alzheimer’s. And Paul Cook’s new memoir Cooked in LA: a stunning story of addiction to fame, alcohol and drugs. And most certainly Wendy Aron’s amazing Hide & Seek, both a memoir and a story of recovery from one of America’s most debilitating conditions: depression.

Clearly, we don’t believe memoirs are dead. Today, I saw Publisher’s Weekly described Memoirs as “Unstoppable” and cited bidding wars on memoirs. “Publishers continue to snap up memoirs, undermining the perception that the genre is embattled in this post-Frey, post-Seltzer era.” Indies, of course, knew this long ago. It's not news to us.

Novels, a Shrinking Affair?
Commonly accepted “publishing trends” indicates that novels are shrinking affair, certainly for the debut author. Now, here we may be somewhat different from the prototypical indie, and clearly different from the larger publishing houses. We love debut fiction and fiction in all categories. It’s one of the reasons why we’re in business. And we continue to show that debut fiction can be successful, even in a 1 million plus title universe, where self-published fiction will soon outnumber trade-published titles.

But What is the Secret?
Hard work? Innovation? Risk-taking? Creating new trends? All of the above. Our director Kam Wai Yu created the first book trailer back in the eighties. Movie trailers were his inspiration, but it hadn’t been done. Why, we asked? The synergies of two industries combined to create a new phenomenon. Now, we lead with book trailers. But, it’s hardly considered innovative now. Almost mainstream. Nice to set the new mainstream I suppose.

So, on to the next innovation. Blog tours. Okay, that’s mainstream now too. Ezines. Been there, done that. Social Marketing 2.0. Very yesterday. What’s next… well, I’ll share, but not today. (Hint: I share often at http://www.blogertize.com)

Does this Mean You Must Invent?
Of course not. It does mean you must be an enthusiastic early adopter. Make it your own.

By watching ForeWord and the blogs, you stay on top of the next great trend: interactive trailers, paperless galleys, paperless catalogs, live web, online PR... And then you add your own personality to what has proven successful. Blend your brand of enthusiasm with the hottest new trend. Ignore the big publisher trends. By the time you hear what’s hot, it’s yesterday. Live author chat? So old now. Virtual book plates. Done. Think beyond.

Make it your own. Work it (that’s the hard work part). Take risks, especially the ones that only cost time versus money. Invest the time (who needs TV time or sleep?—if I wanted TV time would I be writing this blog?) These are the tools of the indie. There’s no secret.

We Just Want it More
Why does this work for the indie? It’s simple, really. We want it more. We work harder because we want it more. There’s no stopping innovation--and innovation has always come from individual minds.

Individuality is definitely the territory of independent publishers, independent booksellers, and independent magazines such as ForeWord. We have to invent to succeed. We have to work to grow. And we do it with a big smile, because enthusiasm is a big part of the formula for success.

Posted by: Derek Armstrong

by Derek Armstrong, author of, let's see MADicine (one word), The Game (two), The Last Troubadour (three)…(and climbing?)

Novel titles are like clothes. They follow trends and fashions and they get longer and shorter, reveal more, then less. As a marketing professional who has "led" in new ideas in publishing and book marketing since 1988 (for various large publishing companies), I've always preached the almightiest of all marketing rules: Thou Shalt Have a GREAT Title. Without a great title, years of work can be wasted.

Short Thrilling Titles Gone?
For the last few years, the bestsellers lists have been dominated by thrilling, short titles that said little but seemed to promise crisp pace and excitement. Perhaps the over saturation of titles in a 1.2 million-titles-in-print, will change all that.

One word titles are so “out” now, perhaps because an online search nets too many identical hits, or perhaps because they are out of fashion. Stephen King brought it on with IT and Dreamcatcher and other thriller authors dove in with Rabid and Jaws and James Patterson’s snippy titles such as Sail and Jester. Of course there were the classics such as Lolita and Ulysses. (Now, you've got to give credit to a blogger who dares put Lolita and Ulysses in one sentence!)

Growth Hormones in Titles?
Lately, perhaps because of issues of similarity, the titles have grown back up to two and three word bites, with the bestseller lists dominated by plays such as: The Quickie and Simple Genius and of course all of Janet Evanovich’s eternally two word titles, such as Fearless Fourteen.

But The Classics Probably Had it Right!
Classically (and in fashion, classics always return, right?) we favored longer titles. Titles such as A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter seem to indicate the fashion trend is moving back to classic. After all, they're hugely memorable. Who can forget:

* Gone With the Wind
* Up the Down Staircase
* From Here to Eternity
* Splendor in the Grass
* For Whom the Bell Tolls
* The Lord of the Rings
* A Dance with Dragons
* War of the Worlds
* The Pillars of the Earth
* To Kill a Mockingbird

Even Longer? You Asked For It...
Many hot titles are much longer than four words or five, and have caused reader rants and complaints in some cases, but there is little doubt the trend is going long again. And who can argue with the success of A FareWell to Arms or The Sun Also Rises? Ernest Hemmingway was the king of four word titles, and with good reason. Did any other author command such recall from such poetically perfect titles?

Longer Titles Back in Fashion?
So, what’s with the new bevy of longer and longer titles. Do they work? I’d like to invite your comments on these new trends. Here are some popular titles that are inevitably pulling us towards longer and longer titles. In some ways, they sound hip, cool, even catchy. But can anyone remember them?

Quite a Mouthful
In Sloan Crosley’s cool “Quite a Mouthful” blog he cited: "Lucinda Rosenfeld's wonderful What She Saw in Roger Mancuso, Günter Hopstock, Jason Barry Gold, Spitty Clark, Jack Geezo, Humphrey Fung, Claude Duvet, Bruce Bledstone, Kevin McFeeley, Arnold Allen, Pablo Miles, Anonymous 1-4, Nobody 5-8, Neil Schmertz, and Bo Pierce. A title that can be absorbed for the bargain count of…36 words.  Is it any wonder that recent major fiction debuts have been called And Then We Came to the End and Special Topics in Calamity Physics?”

Other hot examples of long titles cited by Sloane:

* Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
* Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
* I Love You More Than You Know
* You Don't Love Me Yet
*I Love You, Beth Cooper.

My own titles go with the fashions. My earliest, The Game, was two short words, but nearly impossible to find against sports titles on Amazon. Then, MADicine, easier to find, but one word. The Last Quest and The Last Troubadour are three words each. Other Kunati Titles range from one word, such as Callous, to a lengthy Mothering Mother, A Daughter's Humorous and Heartbreaking Memoir. Putting aside nonfiction, and long subtitles, Kunati titles run the full spread, all very memorable, but trending longer:

• bang BANG
• Bathtub Admirals
• Belly of the Whale
• Courage in Patience
• A Decent Ransom
• Heart of Diamonds
• Hunting the King
• Janeology
• The Last Troubadour
• The Last Quest
• The Master Planets
• Miracle Myx
• Nuclear Winter Wonderland
• On Ice
• Recycling Jimmy
• The Secret Ever Keeps
• Shadow of Innocence
• Toonamint of Champions
• Truth or Bare
• Unholy Domain
• Whale Song
• Women of Magdalene

Our 2009 titles seem to be pushing into the five to seven word range.

What Do YOU Think?
I’d love to hear comments from readers, authors, agents, librarians and booksellers. What do you think of longer titles? What’s hip right now? What’s just right?


Posted by: Derek Armstrong

During my career as author, I've had four agents, two publishers and many, many "please sends." It was a long, long journey to success, and patience is really called for, but I'll share what I've learned as an author.

My master plan as author, back in 1993 was to pitch a NONFICTION project that no one could resist. Get published. Then use my credential to get an agent. Up until then, I had good success with "please sends" from agents but I'd get variations on "loved your book, but not for us." (Those were the polite ones).

Thank goodness I had a background in marketing, and my living was established, because as a writer (other than as an ad copywriter - my day job) I'd be starving. Plus, I parlayed my marketing expertise into my non-fiction project.

I learned five lessons from my fifteen year journey:

LESSON ONE: Unsolicited Proposals to publishers work! Yipee!

1. I received FIVE please sends from publishers, and a SIMON & SCHUSTER editor PHONED ME (I remember that day... I was in the Apple Store buying my first Mac laptop... a big, happy day all around). While I was fishing for my credit card, she phoned and made me a pre-emptive offer with a $65,000 advance.
2. Of course I didn't think about it. I probably should have, because I did get two other offers.
3. So, here's the lesson I learned: NO agents responded to my query, even months later. FIVE publishers gave please sends. Simon & Schuster bought by phone with a big advance.

So, to me, this meant: agents aren't necessary to get published, even with the big five. That lesson stuck with me. I think my advance was probably as high as any agent would have secured.

I did parlay my nonfiction project into many "please sends" for my fiction projects, which resulted in ten years of with agents who couldn't close my novels. I assumed I needed an agent because every book and expert gave variations on: "Fiction writers must have an agent or they will never be published."

So I locked myself up with agent after agent.

LESSON TWO:
Top agents can be closed by authors, but do you want to? They all gave variations on "love this book, this will sell."

But, as it turned out, (and I'm generalizing a bit) these top agents seemed only interested in the top five publishers. Now, once one of these agents pitches and loses to these top five, the next big agent has no chance. It's been pitched already. It's dead.

So, agent after agent I fired. I found new ones. Similar stories. Finally, all the top agents were gone. The big lesson... they don't pitch to the indy's and they only want the big deal.

SO. That suggests smaller agent right? NOT REALLY.

LESSON THREE:
Smaller agents have no great chance of getting you read than YOU DO. I've learned that, too. That's lesson three. Most indie publishers will read without agented sumissions.

Finally, I peeled off and represented myself. I started submitting to INDIES (like Kunati, but, of course, back then Kunati didn't exist... small publishers with vision, though. I had many please sends from indy's. So, who cares if it's not Simon & Schuster.

LESSON FOUR:
Publishers expect authors to market themselves, even the big publishers. Smaller publishers tend to partner with authors (with a better possible outcome, if the author is a hard-working promoter).

So, I came to believe, with near religious zeal, that Indy's are the way to go for DEBUT authors. The advances are small but you save a lot of time by submitting WITHOUT an agent, and if they sign you, you've built a direct pipeline to the publisher, editor-in-chief, marketing people... it's wonderful.

LESSON FIVE:
The only secret is to "take control of your own destiny." If you sign with an agent, make it short term and control the relationship. if you are debut, I'd suggest you try the indy's first -- and built your brand and author name. Larger publishers will remember your first book when considering your second. Learn the lessons on your debut novel with a publisher who will support, nurture and work with you and help you:
- do events
- speaking engagements (this is why I got the big advance above)
- blog
- arrange  signings
- radio publicity
- press releases.

You'll never be disspointed if you research, plan and take charge of your own careers. Agents can't do that. Neither can publishers. But, most of my author friends seem to believe agents and publishers make or break authors. It has never been so. You make or break your career.

Posted by: Derek Armstrong

What could be cooler than opening my overflowing mail box, answering a few authors, and sharing my responses with the world? Of course, names are not included, but I think these authors won’t mind sharing their important questions.

For the most part, I believe my answers reflect a typical indie publisher’s response—if they have time to respond at all. We do try to always respond quickly to inquiries and as fast as we can on queries. So, let’s have some fun:

Reader Question: “Which is more important, reader reviews and opinions or professional reviews?”

My Answer: “I’ll have to hedge my bets on this one. Trade reviews from ForeWord, Publishers Weekly and Booklist are vital in launching a title, but we find that ultimately reader buzz and online reader reviews carry the most weight in the shelf-life and ultimate sales of our titles. Even customers who buy in bricks and mortar stores will research online reader reviews at online stores. We find readers—based on informal anecdotal evidence—will happily read through 80 reader reviews before making a decision.

Author Query: “Dear Agent, I am seeking representation….”

Ummm… bite your tongue, Derek, bite your sarcastic tongue! I’m sure my replies were quite civil (I hope!) but this is really not the way to invite a “please send” when querying a publisher. We get this one a lot. Please take the time to research my name, or at least write “Dear Editor or Dear Publisher…”

Fan Query: “Why did you decide to publish The Last Troubadour novels as three books set one year apart in release dates? I'm telling everyone to read, but I’m a little annoyed that you’re making me wait a year. What happened to Ramon Troubadour?”

My Answer: “Annoying is my middle name. Sorry. As publisher, we felt a 1400 page book might be a little bit too heavy for the average weight-lifting reader. Never fear. Fall is not long off. Thank you for the compliment, but I’ll never tell, on pain of death, what happened to Ramon Troubadour….”

Author Question: "Is there something you’d like to see submitted that hasn’t yet dropped into your lap?"

"I have to tell you…I love your strategy and insight…What I’d really like to know…Is there anything in particular (subject-wise) that you haven’t yet found ? Is there something you’d like to see submitted that hasn’t yet dropped into your lap?...Here’s my problem—I’d like to know what genre is selling right now, and what isn’t. What type of fiction can actually cause a “buzz”? Or…is it only nonfiction that is on the publisher’s mind at this time?"

My Answer: “At Kunati, we haven't yet felt the urge to assign, since we're riding a tsunami of submissions as it is right now. I suppose if we did assignments, it would inevitably be in nonfiction, which is the area most publishers count on to "pay the bills." Fiction is more a passion and love, and the nonfiction helps pay for our addiction to good fiction.

“Because fiction is about passion and love, we really can't assign. It has to be driven by the author's passion, heart, interest or experience (a lot of publishers actually phone prospective authors to probe them on their life experiences—it's that important to credibility in a novel—and this is ALWAYS done in Hollywood for scriptwriters). I couldn't in conscience direct you to a genre or subject for fiction. You have to navigate your own passions.

“Buzz in fiction is always historical. Just when you think you know what's hot right now, suddenly everyone's buzzing something else. And since publishing is always months behind the market, due to editing and printing, trade reviews and distribution, you'll never be ahead of the buzz. By the time the "me toos" come out, as we saw with The Da Vinci Code, it's already too late. So I can only advise you to follow your passion, blend in a good dollop of life experience, and have fun with it. That will show, and it will, in the end, find a home.

Agent Question: “As an agent, I represent several top authors. Can I expect Kunati to review my manuscripts as a priority over unagented submissions? Do you accept simultaneous submissions?”

My Answer: “Not the answer you’ll want to hear, but we give no priority to agented submissions. We do respect the professionalism and selection process and rigor you deploy, and we expect quality. The review, once started, might be slightly faster simply because you probably researched carefully our preferences and the market comparables. But we do not read agented submissions ahead of unagented. They are read in the order they are received. Yes, we accept simultaneous provided you mention this in the cover.”

Author Question: "How long does it usually take to get a response?"

"I submitted two queries to you, the bold and provocative press, thinking you were looking for real controversial stuff. Haven't heard from you either on…How long does it usually take to get a response? Let me know, because I like your press a lot."

My Answer: “Since we don't require agents, we have to read thousands of submissions (literally), so lately it's been months rather than weeks. You can politely follow up a month or two after submission if you haven't heard, but be cautioned that you must provide the DATE (exact) of your original query PLUS your original email (if you use multiple emails, and you give us the wrong one, we will not find your submission on a search)…”

Posted by: Derek Armstrong

A guest blog by Kunati's editor in chief, James McKinnon

Playing the role of acquisitions editor in a small publishing house can be very rewarding. I get to read submissions from authors all around the world on every imaginable subject, fiction and non. For someone who loves to read, it's a dream job.

Well, perhaps I should clarify. Not all submissions are created equal. There are rather more submissions that end up rejected than accepted. Being rejected doesn't necessarily mean the submission isn't of high quality, of course. Years ago there was a television show called The Waltons. On it, John-boy Walton was an aspiring author. In one episode he received a rejection letter from a publisher and he was dejected. His wise old grandmother said wisely, when I go shopping for gingham, I don't buy lace, no matter how pretty it is. This has stayed with me ever since. Authors who are rejected by a particular publisher should keep it in mind. You might have been rejected because you submitted lace when what they wanted was gingham.

Which brings me to the topic at hand. Here, in no particular order, are a few ways you can improve your chances of getting your work published.

Be professional.
The more professional you look the more willing the editor will be to give you his much-sought-after time. In the case of my publishing house, Kunati, we accept submissions from unpublished, unrepresented authors and we accept them by email. This is almost unheard of in the industry. It gives writers unprecedented access to a publisher. But it does not give writers the right to toss off a poorly written, badly spelled, incomplete query that shows a total lack of respect for the person reading it. Me.

Instead, compose your query carefully with emphasis on the book, not on yourself. State simply and clearly what it is about, what it is called, how long it is, why you think it should be published and why you think it should be published by the particular publisher you have queried. On this latter point you need to have done a little research so that you do not send lace to a gingham buyer. As obvious as it may seem, be sure that you send your query about an illustrated book of garden flowers to a publisher who publishes that type of book. Failing to follow this simple rule will guarantee a rejection. And who needs rejection?

Be sure that your query and other materisls have been checked for spelling, grammar and punctuation. You are a writer. Demonstrate as much in everything you write. Do you think an editor will be impressed by a query full of errors? Or do you think the editor will say to himself, if I take on this "writer," I will be making more work for myself, correcting all his errors?

Follow submission guidelines
Every publisher and literary agency has its own guidelines. Read them before you send anything. Don't send a complete manuscript if the guidelines stipulate three chapters. Don't send hard copy if the publisher (Kunati) prefers electronic. If the submission guidelines request a synopsis, include one. And here's a little secret: nobody likes to read a synopsis. They are almost invariably boring and badly written, but they're necessary, sort of. Speaking entirely personally here, I hardly read them. I skim to look for main plot points, main characters, a sense of beginning, middle and end. And this is important: include the ending of your novel in the synopsis. Don't be coy and think that you're going to tease the editor into asking for your manuscript. Tell me how your story ends so I'll know that you know how to tell a story with a reasonable, logical conclusion. And keep it short. If you send me a ten-page synopsis I guarantee you will put me in a bad mood. Is this what you want from your potential best friend?

Be careful when you "follow up"
This point pertains particularly to my work at Kunati, but I'm sure there are equivalents in other author-editor relationships. Because we accept email submissions, we get a lot. Really. A lot. I keep them in folders with labels such as November Queries, Active Consideration, Non-Fiction and so on. If you have queried Kunati and wish to do a follow-up because you haven't heard from us in "six months," be sure to send your follow-up from the same address as your original query came from, and be sure to include the exact date of the original query. This is important because when an author emails me a follow-up, it makes me feel guilty. When I feel guilty, I must make the guilt go away by whatever means. So I will search for that original query until I find it, and then respond. If I cannot find the original query, I will feel even more guilty, thinking that I might have deleted it, or somehow lost it. At this point I will respond to the author doing the follow-up and apologize for not being able to find the original query. If the follow-up author then replies— "Oh, did I say March? I meant July. And by the way, I've got a different email address now. Could that have something to do with it?"--which emotion do you think will replace the aforementioned guilt?

Posted by: Derek Armstrong