A Special Report

All we hear nowadays is that publishers won’t look at unagented material anymore; the legendary slush pile is dead.

But it’s not true! Even if you don’t have an agent (and these days it’s harder than ever to get one), if your novel is completed you can start submitting right now. A number of publishers are not only willing to consider material submitted directly by authors; they’re actively looking and find many or all of the books they publish in this way. Why do some publishers perpetuate the myth that a novelist must submit through an agent? Perhaps because they know that if word gets out, they’ll be flooded. Perhaps that’s why their submission guidelines are often so well hidden on their Web sites.

Martha Jewett (my coauthor on The Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software) and I have prepared a Special Report that lists these publishers, the categories in which they’re currently acquiring full-length fiction, and links to their author guidelines. We are constantly updating this list, so you may want to download it periodically to get the latest information. Just return to this blog and click on the link above.

Sure, publishing is feeling the crunch along with every other industry. But that doesn’t mean you should tell yourself there’s no point in working on your novel and put it aside until things get better.

In fact, there’s never been a better time than now to get that manuscript out of the bottom drawer and get back to work in earnest. Here’s why.

Writing is free entertainment. Movies cost you money. Netflix costs you money. Eating out costs you money. Books cost you money. But writing books? That’s free entertainment! And anything we can get for free these days is worth a lot.

You can escape the stresses of the real world into a world of your own making. Have you got headaches at work? Is your job secure? Do you have a job? Is your household feeling the pinch? What better way to escape all of these stressors than into a world of your own making? In your novel, the world is as you create it.

Talented newcomers have never been more appealing to publishers. In this economy, many authors’ book sales are poor. Publishers must entice booksellers with new authors who come without baggage— i.e., a bad sales track records. There’s nothing more appealing than a fresh talent with limitless possibilities.

It is often in a new author’s best interest to accept a lower advance to get that foot in the door. And low advances are another plus for struggling, risk-averse publishers.

So what are you waiting for? Get to work on that novel before too many other writers see this blog post!

1. Agents and editors must be able to categorize your novel, so make sure you know what genre it fits into: romance, literary, mainstream, horror . . . ?
2. Today’s novels are more like movies than ever: your story must have a compelling “high-concept” hook. Work hard to make sure your story idea is dramatic and original.
3. Your story’s lead must be a sympathetic character. To achieve this end, build in four key characteristics: courage, virtue, likability, competence.
4. Your lead’s opposition must be as convinced of the rightness of his goal as your lead is of his. Moreover, your opposition needn’t necessarily be a bad or evil person.
5. Agents and editors may reject your novel simply because it’s the wrong length for its genre. Target the right word length for your manuscript.
6. To round out your lead and give your story complexity, give your lead a subplot—a smaller goal to pursue as she pursues the main story goal.
7. Readers love surprises. Build in three crucial ones at the correct points in your story: at the one-quarter mark, in the middle, and at the three-quarter mark.
8. When plotting the end of your story, resolve your least important story lines first, then your lead’s story line, and last of all the romantic story line if you have one.
9. Every section of your novel must have a designated section character from whose viewpoint that section is written. Use viewpoint writing for all of your novel’s sections.
10. Virtually all of your novel should be written in action mode, in which you show events just as they occur. Use summary mode only to: connect sections, report mundane events, telescope time in which no important story action occurs, focus on emotion rather than action.