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Post by Rune Lai on Mar 12, 2018 12:23:25 GMT -5
I got news this morning that the editor I sent a novella to has passed it up to acquisitions. This is a major publisher, and though it's a novella, not a novel, it still needs to go through the acquisition process, which is more involved than a short story where the editor is more or less free to buy on budget. That's because this particular publisher has a lot of clout and the potential to do a marketing run on their novellas (like mini-novel launches). It doesn't necessarily mean that they will, but they have the potential to do so. The thing with major New York publishing houses is that editor approval is not enough. Acquisitions is the group that decides whether or not the book is potentially profitable, because the editor might like it fine, but if the company can't sell it, then it doesn't matted how much the editor likes it. So if you have some spare luck to send, I'd appreciate it. I really hope this gets picked up. Also, if you happen to have read any fantasy westerns published in the last three years, I could use what are called "comps" (or comparison books). I actually haven't read any recent fantasy westerns so I'm drawing a blank, and the editor says that's okay, but I'd like to send her something if I can.
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Post by Ambrienne on Mar 12, 2018 12:40:57 GMT -5
Well... There's the Coil Hunter series (name of the first book) by Dean F Wilson. That's more along the lines of post technology western (like Wild Arms without the magic). Also, Brian Sanderson's Mistborn series (not the first few) has The Alloy of Law (I think that was longer than three years ago, but I believe that there was a sequel with the featured character). I've read a lot of books lately, but those are the only things that spring to mind just now. Of course, I have to admit that the very lack of much stuff in that type of sector makes it more appealing to me anyway.
...Well, now that I think of it, there is something else. Not quite the same, but perhaps similar enough to indicate that there is interest in this type of genre fusion. Beth Cato wrote a couple of books called The Clockwork Dagger and The Clockwork Crown (there are also a few companion novellas that I haven't read) where steam tech and magic is fused. She also wrote another series where the first book fuses Great Quake era San Fransico (alt history) with magic and Asian mysticism (not just Asian, but I remember the catfish quakes right off). I admit to stopping reading of the second series not because I didn't like the style of genre fusion but because the author was making the main character (female) a bit too... er... ready to jump the male lead? ::coughs::
Edit: There's also Jeannie Lin's Gunpowder Alchemy. I think there's more than one book in the series, but that's the first. It's not a Western, but it definitely brings the magic/guns type combo together.
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Post by Roas on Mar 12, 2018 16:57:36 GMT -5
Good luck
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Post by Rune Lai on Mar 12, 2018 18:32:53 GMT -5
Thanks, both! And Ambrienne, you are a godsend. Those are fantastic suggestions. I'm familiar with Beth Cato and Jeannie Lin's work (as in I know of them, but haven't read), but didn't think to compare them since they weren't actually westerns. Those are good suggestions though, since I don't want the story to be considered exclusively a western, especially since steampunk and western generally go hand in hand these days in sf (and I have no steampunk whatsoever). I also thought about The Alloy of Law, but it's out of the three year window. I remember checking it out after I finished an early draft of my story and I gave myself such a mental beatdown for not being as good as Brandon Sanderson. (Maybe with time.) I know there are sequels, but I'm not sure if they're similarly westerns. The covers don't look it.
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Post by Solana on Mar 12, 2018 18:57:11 GMT -5
All the good vibes and good luck!!!
If steampunk counts, the last book in the series 'The Finishing School' by Gail Carriger was published in November of 2015. Vampires and werewolves and a school that looks to be a regular finishing school but teaches girls to be spies. Very, very British. She also started a new series called 'The Custard Protocol'.
Oh, one just came out this January called 'Gunslinger Girl' by Lyndsay Ely. James Patterson had a hand in it. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to read it, but it sounds perfect for this.
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Post by Rune Lai on Mar 12, 2018 20:43:00 GMT -5
I think Gail Carriger's stuff is a little farther off from my work. It's not so much the steampunk part as her work seems to be about prim and proper girls being incredibly dangerous. I love her blog posts to death, but I think the markers of etiquette and high society are what sell her Finishing School and Soulless series. My characters are blue collar bounty hunters who take out unintelligent dragons with a shotgun for a living. >.> Their lives are a lot different from her protagonists'. While readers might be interested in both, I don't think someone would recommend my story to a Gail Carriger fan on the basis of similarity.
I have not heard of Gunslinger Girl though. (Figures the first hit on Google is an unrelated manga series. >.<) I'll take a look into that one!
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Post by Ambrienne on Mar 12, 2018 22:11:36 GMT -5
Hm... Now, I'm wondering how useful the Beth Cato series will be to you. The reviews have recommended it to fans of Gail Carriger. And there are notes of properness, etc., but it isn't all about that. I don't want to say too much in case Solana decides she wants to read that series for herself, because it really does have similarities.
Another possibility is Ben S Dobson's Magebreaker series, The Flaw in All Magic and The Emperor's Mask (I think there's a third book yet to come, but I'm still working through book 2). There's a magic/technology blend there where one can be used to power another (the world's first airship/blimp is involved) however the atmosphere is more fantasy than anything else. With a murder mystery thrown in. And the two title characters do not, themselves, have magic so there's a bit of an interesting perspective there. Still... I get the feeling it's not that similar even if it is a good read.
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Post by Zero on Mar 13, 2018 10:40:14 GMT -5
I will send all of the good vibes!
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Post by Rune Lai on Mar 13, 2018 15:30:19 GMT -5
I think on a spectrum Beth Cato is probably between me and Gail Carriger, which is okay. I haven't heard of the Magebreaker series, but I love the cover! I think that's a good one.
My story is basically about a couple of drake (dragon) hunters who get in way over their heads when they loot the drake's lair and find a missing key that a conspiracy has been searching for in order to ruin the tenuous peace between two different empires (one modeled on China and the other on Britain if they never lost the United States). It's supposed to be a fun adventure with shoot-outs, bandits, and a dash of romance, in a made-up world that looks kinda like the old West except that "China" started colonizing the west coast at about the same time as "Britain" so the two nations have a similar amount of power and influence.
The original concept was epic fantasy in a western setting, but then I scaled it down to focus mostly on these two characters. (Way back in the day, the initial concept had a posse of five or six characters so it looked more like an adventuring party.)
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Post by Ambrienne on Mar 13, 2018 19:12:02 GMT -5
It certainly sounds like an interesting concept to me. Maybe if it's successful enough, you could build on it with further novellas or a full fledged novel including/introducing the other members.
Oh, another one just occurred to me. Patricia C Wrede wrote a series that was kind of described as Little House on the Prairie with magic. I can't remember the name of it, but I'm pretty sure it's her most recent work (what years they were, I can't recall). Finding and identifying it shouldn't be too difficult.
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Post by Solana on Mar 13, 2018 21:21:01 GMT -5
I definitely want a copy when it's ready!! I'll keep wracking my brain for more suggestions. Ambrienne, the series you want is called 'Frontier Magic'. It looks like the last one was published in 2012. Ah, there was one on Good Reads called 'Silver on the Road' by Laura Gilman published in October 2015. The series is called 'The Devil's West'. They had a list of 'Western Fantasy' that this was on, but not all of them would qualify for topic or date. Still, it's a start. www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/western-fantasy
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Post by Rune Lai on Mar 14, 2018 11:35:36 GMT -5
I probably should have checked out Goodreads lol... I notice that list has Karen Memory. The editor suggested that as a comp, which is new enough that it's probably comparable and Elizabeth Bear is a good author, though I haven't read that particular book of hers.
Anyway, I sent the comp suggestions off to the editor so now we both have to sit tight and wait. She says it might be a couple weeks before a thumbs up/thumbs down from acquisitions, though of course she's hoping it'll be good news. I'll be a bundle of nerves in the meantime.
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Post by Anon Mous on Mar 17, 2018 17:07:05 GMT -5
Holy crap. I don't check the board for almost a week and this happens. I too, will be sending my good vibes your way. The fact that you made it that far impresses me. Now go forth, friend Rune, and show us all how it is done.
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Post by Rune Lai on May 19, 2019 21:37:46 GMT -5
I never posted what happened to the novella in this thread, mostly because the editor's boss ended up passing, so that was the depressing end to the story. But this weekend was the Nebula Conference, which is hosted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America organization. It's all shop talk between writers, agents, editors, publishers, and others involved in the industry, specifically for science fiction and fantasy, and the conference is capped off by an award ceremony (the Nebula Awards, which you might see on certain books in the bookstore). Anyway, it's been about a year since her boss passed on my novella, but I was at the Nebulas, and so was the acquiring editor. We managed to meet up and she was super apologetic about her boss rejecting the novella, which she totally didn't have to be, but she loved the story and was depressed that I still haven't found a publisher for it. (Novellas are a hard length to sell due to the lack of markets.) Also on her end, it was her first year working at the publisher and she wasn't sure what the best way to handle things was. In the months since she realized there were ways we might have been able to polish my story more for her boss that she just didn't know at the time. But she's in a good space now, management is happy with her (her first acquisition that went all the way through is now getting great reviews) and she knows how to prep things for her boss, so she wants to see another novella from me. Which I have! It needs revision still, but I promised I'd send it to her as soon as it's ready. I was totally not expecting her to remember me, so this was a pleasant surprise.
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Post by Zero on May 19, 2019 22:51:48 GMT -5
Awesome news!
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