Noon and Midnight Lands

[asakiyume]

Poor Noon and Midnight Lands: I really doubt it’s going to find an agent. It’s been glanced at by a number of agents, and it’s not something any are wild about. Or perhaps it’s something they think isn’t right for the market, and if that’s the case, they may well be right. I had the good fortune to have an editor at a quite respectable publishing house look at it, and although she kindly said that she “read with interest, as it is imaginative and nicely written,” she went on to say, “Regretfully in the end I'm afraid my enthusiasms aren't strong enough to support a publishing offer.” So if any agent were to fall in love with it, perhaps they’d have an uphill battle persuading a publisher to take it.

I could change it to try to make it more palatable to the publishing world, but I don’t want to. If I’m going to spend time on a novel, I’d rather start a fresh one. And The Noon and Midnight Lands, just as it is, is the story I wanted to tell. Then too, even if I did revise it—made it start more expeditiously, removed the our-world main character so that it wasn’t a crossover fantasy, etc. etc.—it still might not appeal.

But meanwhile, in some ways, I feel really blessed in the success I’ve had with it. The people who have read it seem genuinely to have enjoyed it, which has delighted me no end. They have liked the world the way I liked the world—it seems like it’s been real for them, the way it’s real for me. Opening up new worlds for people—well, it’s wonderful.

Which is all by way of a preamble to say that I’ve set a deadline for how long I’m going to try hunting for an agent for this book. And if I don’t find an agent by that date, then I’m going to find a way of making the story available online—after first registering my copyright. I’ll probably do some combination of offering it free and charging for it, but I haven’t really thought that far ahead.

For me it’s not either-or with regard to non-traditional and traditional forms of publishing. I have no qualms about doing a little bit of everything.

And, too, consider this list of best-selling novels of 1910. How many works are familiar to you? How many authors’ names do you recognize? There are a few well-known works and well-known authors, but there are also lots that I bet I'm not alone in not knowing. This isn't to say they aren't good--they may be wonderful. They were certainly popular at the time. But now... forgotten.

Then there’s the artist and and poet William Blake. He eked out a living as an engraver, self-published his stuff, and we still remember him today.

…not that I’m ever going to be a William Blake. It’s just good to remember that there are all kinds of ways of doing things, and all kinds of measures of accomplishment.

Comments

[westerling.livejournal.com]

Yes, I love Greer Ilene Gilman as well, and they published the last book of John Crowley's Aegypt cycle as well. But they have also published some incredible new work by authors no one has heard of, and they've succeeded in making a name for themselves. For being a tiny press, they have a good reputation and they appear to be known to those of us that, *cough* know that sort of thing.

Kelly Link has just had her own YA collection of short stories published by...maybe Viking?

In my opinion, YA fantasy is where it's at these days. Hardly anything published for "grown-ups" and marketed in the SF section is something I'd choose to buy--it all looks so formulaic these days (with a few notable exceptions). The leeway in YA fantasy is much larger at the moment, with more interesting and imaginative plots than have been the norm of late in any part of the "genre". Where are all those books that pushed the boundaries of the genre, anyway? Perhaps in a few years, though, those kids who grew up on HP etc. will be the ones who push the adult SF/F market into new directions.

Or maybe I'm just making this up as I go along. One perspective, one corner of Western Mass...hard to say!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I believe YA fantasy is definitely active and good these days too--alas, this particular story of mine doesn't seem quite the ticket--but I will definitely look at Small Beer. Thanks :-)