A Newbie Writer's Questions

I recently received an email from a newbie writer and took a moment to answer her questions. Her questions and my answers are below.

Thank you for your email. I did my best to (briefly) answer your questions, but these are huge questions and I have only so much time. I think you are quite new to this, and need to do a lot of research. I hope these answers will be a starting point for you.

My answers are in bold.

1. How do I know when and if my book is good enough to send to a publishing company?

You never know, but unbiased people from writing groups can help let you know, or online writers’ groups. Family and friends don’t work so well. Put some of your work out there for people to read and get some feedback.

2. How do I go about finding an agent when I am ready?

You query agents who represent your kind of book. Learn about query letters and practice writing one. It’s so hard to get an agent. Meeting them at a convention like World Fantasy is good.

3. How do I find out when and where writing conventions are being held?

Go online, google writing conferences or writing conventions.

4. How do you find out if a publishing company is right for me and my books? (yes I have a series on my hands).

Find a company that publishes books similar to your own. You never know if the people at the company will be right for you unless you meet them and learn all about them.

5. How risky is it to create your own realms and worlds? (this is a second book issue, I have completely created a realm of my own, from the realm itself to people, inhabitants, layouts and landscaping).

Risky? Do you write fantasy? I write fantasy and creating my own worlds is the best thing about writing. Fantasy is a little harder to sell than some other genres.

6. What are the pro's and con's of righting a novel vs. a novella.( I do not consider my books to Novellas but some pub. co. require so many words to be considered a novel; like 100,000 words or more.)

There’s almost no paying market for novellas. Young Adult novels can be around 60-75 thousand words though. Write short stories or novels.

7. Exactly what is considered a "word", the rule of thumb I learned in school was at least three letters with the exception of and, the & but.

Use the word counting function in your word processing program. This is an accurate count, so just use it.

8. There are some who do not like the names of my characters, should I change them? I will admit, some I am not even fond of, but the names came to me attached to that character.

Change them!


9. How do I know how to tell the difference between good advice about ideas vs. how that person would write it. I mean they did not write it, I did. Naturally there are going to be differences in writing styles.

Consider the source. Everyone likes different flavors. Some people hate chocolate, so if you wrote chocolate, they’re going to hate it no matter what.

10. Should I credit everyone who has helped out with small parts, such as reading a paragraph or just those who contribute to the whole project.

I did my best to thank a lot of people in my first two novels. You don’t have to thank everyone though. It’s your call. You can always thank people on your blog.

Best of luck with your writing!


Paul Genesse, Author and Editor

Author of The Dragon Hunters
Book Two of the Iron Dragon Series
(Five Star Books, May 2009)

Website: http://www.paulgenesse.com/
Blog: http://paulgenesse.blogspot.com/

Join me on Facebook, www.facebook.com
Editor of the Writer's Symposium Ezine
www.paulgenesse.com/writerssymposiumezine



From: sbuzz94@hotmail.com
To: pgenesse@msn.com
Subject: RE: Hello Amber
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:15:10 -0500

Thank you for the fast response time, i really did not expect to hear from you so quickly. so to answer your questions;
1. over 18 but not 50, no i am not trying to be sarcastic but this question threw me. In truth in my 30's
2. aprox. 60,000 words, but I am not sure if word 2007 counts and, the, but as words or not.
3. I was on the sfwa website and some how ended up on your site, i did read your article on how to get published while i was there

From: pgenesse@msn.com
To: sbuzz94@hotmail.com
Subject: Hello Amber
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:27:28 -0600

Hello Amber,

Thank you for your email and your questions. I'll do my best to answer them, but I'd like to know a little more about you before I do. 1. How old are you? 2. How long is your book? 3. How did you hear of me?

As soon as I hear back from you I'll get started on answering your questions.


Paul Genesse, Author and Editor

Author of The Dragon Hunters
Book Two of the Iron Dragon Series
(Five Star Books, May 2009)

Website: http://www.paulgenesse.com/
Blog: http://paulgenesse.blogspot.com/

Join me on Facebook, www.facebook.com
Editor of the Writer's Symposium Ezine
www.paulgenesse.com/writerssymposiumezine


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