How to sell a non-epic fantasy novel?

[RangerWickett]

I recently finished revising a novel I've been working on for a few years, and I think it's ready to go off to publishers. As this is my first serious attempt to publish a novel (surprisingly, the one I wrote in 9th grade didn't get accepted by anybody), I may intellectually understand the advice I've read on how to get a book published, but I know it will require a lot of trial and error.

Step one is tracking down agents. Thankfully the university where I work has tons of resources for writers, including Writer's Market, but I got some advice that it helps to find agents who have worked in material like the novel you've written. I've written a fantasy novel with a light-hearted style about characters who are more concerned about finding a job than saving the day, but it still has elements of adventure. I compare it more to stuff by Joss Whedon than by George R. R. Martin.

Thing is, I long ago got fed up with reading fantasy because I'd over-exposed myself to low-end, formulaic, shared-world stuff. In the past five years, about the only fantasy I've read has been decidedly non-'adventure.' About the closest I got to 'heroic' was Perdido Street Station, which is a great setting, but certainly not focused on any sort of question.

So I don't know what sorts of books I should look at when trying to track down an agent that would like my style. I'm looking for suggestions.

 

[Storm Raven]

I recently finished revising a novel I've been working on for a few years, and I think it's ready to go off to publishers. As this is my first serious attempt to publish a novel (surprisingly, the one I wrote in 9th grade didn't get accepted by anybody), I may intellectually understand the advice I've read on how to get a book published, but I know it will require a lot of trial and error.

Step one is tracking down agents. Thankfully the university where I work has tons of resources for writers, including Writer's Market, but I got some advice that it helps to find agents who have worked in material like the novel you've written. I've written a fantasy novel with a light-hearted style about characters who are more concerned about finding a job than saving the day, but it still has elements of adventure. I compare it more to stuff by Joss Whedon than by George R. R. Martin.

Thing is, I long ago got fed up with reading fantasy because I'd over-exposed myself to low-end, formulaic, shared-world stuff. In the past five years, about the only fantasy I've read has been decidedly non-'adventure.' About the closest I got to 'heroic' was Perdido Street Station, which is a great setting, but certainly not focused on any sort of question.

So I don't know what sorts of books I should look at when trying to track down an agent that would like my style. I'm looking for suggestions.

Have you tried looking at the resources here? http://www.sfwa.org/

 

[kinem]

How about Pratchett's Discworld books? I know they have more humor but I haven't found them to be farcial at all.

 

[Darth Shoju]

From what I understand, it can be hard to get an agent's attention without having a few decent publishing credits. I'm just breaking into writing myself (getting published for the first time this month), and I'm looking into these kind of things as well. There's a woman in my writing group who has had 6 novels published and I don't believe she has an agent. You've been published through ENWorld before, right? That may carry some weight.

I've found that Robert J Sawyer's website has pretty good advice for new writers (although I got burned by his advice on how to calculate word count. His method is a little antiquated, and ultimately it's best to just use the word processor's word count). You can find his advice on finding an agent here: http://www.sfwriter.com/agent.htm

Here's a quote from the page:

It's very hard to get a good literary agent to represent your first novel unless you have substantial short-fiction or other relevant credentials. And a bad agent can be worse than no agent at all. Most authors sell their first novel by submitting it to publishers (one at a time) themselves; once they've got an offer in hand, they call up an agent.

At any rate, good luck! From what I've learned, persistence is the key to getting published.

 

[Darth Shoju]

LOL I just realized that I totally missed the point of your thread. Sorry about that. I'm not sure if I really have much to offer, as I haven't read a lot of light-hearted fantasy, and the stuff that is close to that is by British authors (which I doubt would be terribly useful to you).

 

[Darth Shoju]

In the interest of posting something useful, how about these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil's_All_Fright_Diner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Suck
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Good-Fairies-York-Martin-Millar/dp/1857020766[/ame]

I think the last guy is Scottish, but what the heck. I'll post more if I think of any.

 

[Celtavian]

I recently finished revising a novel I've been working on for a few years, and I think it's ready to go off to publishers. As this is my first serious attempt to publish a novel (surprisingly, the one I wrote in 9th grade didn't get accepted by anybody), I may intellectually understand the advice I've read on how to get a book published, but I know it will require a lot of trial and error.

Step one is tracking down agents. Thankfully the university where I work has tons of resources for writers, including Writer's Market, but I got some advice that it helps to find agents who have worked in material like the novel you've written. I've written a fantasy novel with a light-hearted style about characters who are more concerned about finding a job than saving the day, but it still has elements of adventure. I compare it more to stuff by Joss Whedon than by George R. R. Martin.

Thing is, I long ago got fed up with reading fantasy because I'd over-exposed myself to low-end, formulaic, shared-world stuff. In the past five years, about the only fantasy I've read has been decidedly non-'adventure.' About the closest I got to 'heroic' was Perdido Street Station, which is a great setting, but certainly not focused on any sort of question.

So I don't know what sorts of books I should look at when trying to track down an agent that would like my style. I'm looking for suggestions.

You should look at the publishing companies that publish the books you consider similar or somewhat similar to what you have written and look to get your material to them.

You could also look to self-publish, but that would require a great deal of additional effort marketing and promoting your book including self-planned book tours and an understanding of where to market your material as well as alot of additional capital. You would also need to set up an online sales mechanism and track book sales yourself.

Christopher Paolini self-published Eragon and went on book tours before he obtained an agent and a big publishing deal. But he had the support of fairly affluent parents. I'm not sure what kind of financial resources you have.

I would definitely start networking and promoting your material. Maybe attend some book conventions or organized events that allow beginning writers to pitch to agents or representatives of publishing houses. Maybe you can even find a few referrals if you can get a published author to review your material.

Maybe drop by Jim Butcher's web page. As far as I can tell Jim Butcher was just some guy who wanted to become a writer and was persistent and focused enough to accomplish his goal. http://www.jim-butcher.com/ He may have some good advice on his page.

If you haven't read a Harry Dresden novel, they are a pretty fun read. Very light, fun, yet exciting and intense at the same time.

 

[Umbran]

I recently finished revising a novel I've been working on for a few years, and I think it's ready to go off to publishers. As this is my first serious attempt to publish a novel (surprisingly, the one I wrote in 9th grade didn't get accepted by anybody), I may intellectually understand the advice I've read on how to get a book published, but I know it will require a lot of trial and error.

Step one is tracking down agents.

For starting writers, as I understand it, that's not the first step. Agents are more for folks who are in a position to negotiate - for more money, variations on rights, and so on. Rare is the starting writer who has a piece so compelling that they can hope to get more than the most basic deal on their work.

As I understand it, starting writers send their works directly to publishers - and into the slush pile you go, and you hope for the best. Which is probably a good thing, in terms of cost. If you had an agent, and the book didn't sell, you'd still need to pay the agent for their time and effort, and then it'd come out of your pocket.

 

[Klaus]

Put out a short print run.

Get a kickass artist to do the cover.

Send out sample copies for review purposes.