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    Going Pro
    Going Pro
    Going Pro
    Ebook171 pages2 hours

    Going Pro

    By J.M. Snyder

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    About this ebook

    Going Pro: One Author’s Advice on Getting Published with Small and Electronic Presses is a concise guide that offers advice on all aspects of writing for publication. From finding the time to write to finding beta readers, from navigating all the elements of a successful submissions packet to understanding a publishing contract to marketing your newly published book -- here I offer the best advice I can on getting your first story from a file on your computer to an e-book released by a small or electronic press.

    Topics covered include: polishing your manuscript, finding the right publisher, working with an editor, writing blurbs, and promoting your book. I give detailed explanations of submission guidelines, contracts, rights and copyrights, cover art, and marketing plans. I also offer advice on what to do when things don’t go quite as you plan, whether it’s a bad review or a pirate site, or your publisher folds.

    It can be intimidating when you’re just starting out and trying to get published. I know, I’ve been there, too. So if you’re interested in getting your stories published with a small press or e-book publisher, let me help you through the process!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJMS Books LLC
    Release dateMar 30, 2014
    ISBN9781611525663
    Going Pro
    Author

    J.M. Snyder

    An author of gay erotic romance, J.M. Snyder began self-publishing gay erotic fiction in 2002. Since then, Snyder has worked with several e-publishers, most notably Amber Allure Press and eXcessica Publishing.Snyder’s short fiction has appeared online at Ruthie’s Club, Tit-Elation, Eros Monthly, and Amazon Shorts, as well as in anthologies released by Alyson Books, Cleis Press, and others.For more book excerpts, free fiction, and purchasing information, please visit http://jmsnyder.net.

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      Book preview

      Going Pro - J.M. Snyder

      Afterword

      Preface

      Since I started publishing, I’ve received frequent e-mails from writers looking to break into writing. Many of the things that come second nature to me now took years to learn, through trial and error, and sometimes I assume other writers already know the ins and outs of publishing. But an e-mail inquiry asking for advice usually doesn’t pose any specific questions, and it’s hard to know how much advice to give. I often think, I should write a book advising would-be authors how to navigate the publishing process, from manuscript through to finished product.

      This is that book!

      Let me say upfront that I am not traditionally published. My experience has been in self-publishing and in working with small electronic presses, as I will explain. So if you’re looking for advice on how to hire an agent, navigate slush piles, or pitch your book to an editor at one of the Big Six publishers, this isn’t the book for you.

      But if you’re interested in learning how to perfect your manuscript prior to submission, find the right market for your writing, negotiate contracts with small and electronic presses, and begin promoting your e-book release, then keep reading!

      Note: The websites referenced in this book can be easily found by searching the names on Google. I didn’t include URLs because they may change over time.

      J.M. Snyder

      February 14, 2014

      Introduction

      I like to tell people I started writing when I was eight years old, and then I add, "But not what I write now, of course." What I write now is gay erotic romance, and it all started when I was struggling with the fantasy stories I wanted to write and stumbled upon homoerotic (or slash) fan fiction, instead. Once I started posting my slash stories online, people started visiting my site more frequently than they ever did to read my other stuff. Apparently I have a knack for writing gay erotic romance—who knew?

      A little back story, because I’m sure you’re wondering how I made such a drastic leap from one genre to the other (though when I started writing erotica, my sister conceded it was a form of fantasy, after all). I grew up knowing only about the traditional route to publishing—querying agents, submitting stories to small print publications, trying to get my foot in the door so my manuscript would make it out of the slush pile and onto an editor’s desk at one of the big names in New York…everything Writer’s Digest suggested, I did. But it wasn’t getting me anywhere, and fantasy is probably the most inundated genre out there. Everyone writes it, and this was before J.K. Rowling ramped up the odds.

      So one day I lamented in my online journal (this was way before we called them blogs) about how the high school girls sitting at home writing ‘N Sync slash wrote more than I did. Then I stopped to think about that. Was there ‘N Sync slash? I knew about Star Wars and The A-Team and I’d even found a few femslash Xena stories online, but did anyone actually write about celebrities? Real people, not someone else’s characters?

      Turns out, they did.

      Long story short, I ended up spending two years writing ‘N Sync slash fan fiction which I posted online, learning the gay erotic romance or M/M genre and slowly moving back towards writing similar stories with original characters instead of celebrities. Some writers start in fan fiction and migrate to professional writing. I struggled to write professionally, turned to fan fiction to jump start my muse, then came back full circle when I realized I should publish my stories for all readers to enjoy, not just those in a particular fandom.

      * * * *

      The problem was, I didn’t really have any experience publishing other than posting free stuff online. My complete portfolio included a handful of poems and a short story picked up by a small press zine, and enough rejection letters from other magazines to wallpaper my small apartment. I knew I wanted to continue writing gay erotic romance but didn’t know any traditional publishers who took on that sort of stuff. I turned to what I was used to, Writer’s Digest, but couldn’t find any mention of LGBT presses. I didn’t know about electronic publishers because I didn’t read e-books, so I was clueless as to how I could possibly start profiting from my newfound writing.

      Then it hit me. Self-publishing.

      Print-on-demand (POD) publishing was still fairly new in 2001 when I began looking into it. The majority of ads in the back of Writer’s Digest were for printers who provided short runs of paperback books at fairly cheap prices. But when you’re barely making ends meet as it is, even a thousand dollars for two hundred copies of your first novel sounds astronomical.

      I did a bit of research online and stumbled upon iUniverse, which at the time offered publishing packages to authors for as low as two hundred bucks. Now that I could do.

      * * * *

      My first three books were published with iUniverse in paperback. I learned through trial and error how to approach bookstores about carrying copies and why many of them don’t bother with POD books. I spent as much (or more) time, energy, and money on promotion as I did on writing and publishing. My sales were meager, and I knew from a realistic standpoint that I couldn’t continue to utilize iUniverse if I couldn’t even break even on my sales.

      By this time, Lulu had come on the scene. It offered the same service iUniverse did, but because all the formatting and cover art was done by the author (not the company), their service was free. All I had to pay for were copies of the books and any distribution packages I wanted to buy. I released three more paperbacks through Lulu, then decided to compile a bunch of short stories I’d written for an online erotica website into a paperback collection, entitled Shorts.

      Because I thought Shorts would appeal to a wider audience, I began looking for additional ways to promote it online. I found e-book review sites and realized that e-books were a growing market. But the few I posted on Lulu didn’t reach readers. It wasn’t until I was approached by an electronic publisher (the now-defunct Aspen Mountain Press) that I decided to take the plunge and work with someone else to get my books out there.

      It worked. In the three months my first book was available through Aspen Mountain, my sales skyrocketed. Of course, when you start out earning $500 a year, any surge seems profitable, but by the end of 2006, I had made $6,000. I was floored. I instantly set about learning more about electronic publishing, finding new publishers to work with, and writing more stories to submit.

      I worked with multiple publishers, including Alyson Books, Amber Allure, Cleis Press, eXcessica, and Torquere. I learned what I liked—and what I didn’t. My books continued to please readers, and for the first time since I sat down to write, I could envision making a living doing what I loved most.

      * * * *

      Times change, people grow. I found myself yearning for more freedom in publishing decisions—when my books would be released, what the covers would look like, where they would be available, both in print and in e-book formats. As some of my older stories came out of contract, my current publishers weren’t interested in picking them up. So I turned to self-publishing again, and I kept more of my earnings without a middleman involved. Better still, I had a readership and fan base now who would pick up my stories regardless of who published them, meaning that my self-published books sold just as well or better than those published through other presses.

      In 2010, I began the move to taking back all my stories to publish myself. Halfway through the year, with the encouragement of a friend of mine who was interested in publishing his former Nifty stories, I started my own small press, JMS Books LLC. Using what I’d learned along my journey—from self-published and back again—I created a press that enveloped all the aspects of what I myself would like to work with as an author. The success has been surprising, to say the least. In 2011, I quit my day job to work full-time as a publisher and author. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

      Part 1: Your Manuscript

      When you’ve decided to make the move from writer (someone who writes for fun, or for personal reasons, who won’t share what’s written beyond friends and family) to author (someone who writes for profit, who publishes in the hopes of reaching readers worldwide), stop looking at your writing as a hobby and instead consider it a business. It’s very easy to hide behind the relative anonymity of the internet and not take anything you do or say online seriously. But once you start trying to publish online, you want to be treated as a professional.

      The chapters in this section will deal with writing in general—finding time to do it, finding readers to help you hone your craft, and preparing your manuscript for submission in the hopes of getting published. If you treat your writing as a business, then publishers will treat you with professional courtesy and respect, and you can make the move from writing only for yourself to going pro.

      Chapter 1: Finding Time to Write

      Whenever I mention I’m a writer, the most frequent response I get is something along the lines of, I always wanted to write but… What follows is usually an excuse. I’m too busy, or I have a full-time job, or some other reason why you can’t find the time to write.

      I understand you’re busy. We all are. But you can’t be a writer if you never write. And the only way to find time to write is to make time.

      Many of my friends who write say they wish they could take time off from their day jobs and just sit down and write. Funny thing, though—that never happens. You get a week off from work and you think great, now I’ll finally get a chance to work on my story. Only you never actually get anything written. When you sit down in front of the computer, the blank screen is intimidating, so you decide to surf the web instead. You’d rather watch TV or play video games instead of writing. Something always comes up. By the end of the week, you have nothing to show for your effort, and when you go back to the day job, you think, If only I had more time.

      The sad fact of the matter is that you’ll never have more time. We all get twenty-four hours a day, and in those hours we eat, sleep, and work. We spend time with our loved ones, our family and friends. We go to the movies, go out to dinner, go to the gym. We make time for everything we want to do, everything we feel we have to do, and somehow writing never really seems to rank very high on those lists.

      But if you want to be a writer, the only way to do it is

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