Great Short Story Opportunity

Hey all, I've got a great opportunity for you here if you have a few short stories lying around. Matt Sinclair runs a small press called Elephants Bookshelf that is looking for short stories for their latest anthology. This is a helpful way to get some publishing credits under your belt for those query letters and let you work with an editor. I had two stories in their anthologies and there are a couple of big named authors there too. Take it away Matt:

First I want to thank Michelle for inviting me to write a post for her blog. In all honesty, it’s one of the few blogs I still check regularly, even as others fade in my thoughts. From her contests and interviews to general posts about things of interest to writers, her blog always has something I’m interested in reading.

That’s refreshing, as my interests have changed as I’ve become more involved in the publishing side of the industry and, unfortunately, found less time for my own fiction writing. Although sometimes my knees buckle at the curveballs that life throws my way, I’ve come to realize that change is good. It keeps my brain invigorated and my perspective open to new possibilities. And that keeps my mind creative, which helps my writing. I think it’s something more writers like us can – and should – do.

Since I’m not exactly a household name in too many households, let me share a tiny bit about me and Elephant’s Bookshelf Press, the publishing company I started more than four years ago. It may be hard to believe, but back in 2011 and 2012, the epublishing revolution was very much in its infancy. It was exciting to think about reaching a vast sea of readers and sharing the work of lots of writers they probably didn’t know. Our goals with EBP included helping talented authors gain some experience with the publishing process – and credits – while they continued to seek representation or developing and expanding their audience.

We started with an anthology, Spring Fevers (take a look as a sample of our work via Smashwords or Amazon), and that anthology led to the next, The Fall (Smashwords or Amazon). Soon, we were mapping out the “seasons series,” (which included a couple stories from Michelle) of anthologies with a variety of themes.

Ten books later, we’ve launched our latest request for submissions. This time, it’s a collection of Urban Fantasy stories. While I have long enjoyed urban fantasy as a reader, I’ve not written it too much. But again, that’s one of the joys of this brave new world of publishing: we don’t have to pigeon-hole our writing completely into one genre. Even if an author writes YA, there’s no reason she can’t experiment with horror or science fiction. Heck, although literary fiction is a very difficult genre to break into for unknown authors, there’s still a large readership for a well told story.

In our most recent anthology, Horrors: Real, Imagined, and Deadly (Smashwords or Amazon), one of the writers, who had submitted stories to us in the past that were not published, told me she’d never written in the horror genre before. Her story was delightfully chilling. Voila! Her first EBP story.

When is the last time you experimented? It’s possible you do it often. Perhaps your work typically includes a character unlike you’ve ever written before. Or maybe your settings or story structure vary from piece to piece. Great! Perhaps you experiment with length from piece to piece. I love both short stories and novels and work in both forms. I’m working on an urban fantasy piece right now that’s very different from stories I’ve written in the past. If you’re looking to experiment, we’d love to consider your story or stories for the Urban Fantasy anthology; the deadline to submit is July 11. Feel free to ask me any questions you have.

But whether you submit a story for EBP or not, I hope you continue to experiment with your writing. Even if you’re a devotee of a specific genre, it can only help liven up your writing!

Contest Goodreads Lists

More and more books are being published for entries that were once in one of my many contests. There's the adorable MG from last year's Sun vs Snow, Karma Khullar's Mustache. I just heard of a two book deal for an entry from last summer's Query Kombat. That one isn't even announced yet. It's getting hard to keep track. Isn't that wonderful!

So I made a handy-dandy list! If you were in Query Kombat, New Agent, Sun versus Snow, Nightmare on Query Street or Picture Book Party and now have a publishing deal for that book, please add your book to the Goodreads' list!

From Contest to Contract

You didn't have to get your agent from the contest. Maybe your agent came afterward from a query. But once a part of the family, always a part of the family! You also don't need to have been picked by me. If any of the other hosts picked your entry--this is for you also.

Please spread the word to your friends. I'm sure you have better memories than I do. I don't want to miss anyone!

And honor our former contestants by picking up copies of their books!

Bonus for the mentors and judges:

The mentors and judges work so hard to help out with the contests. They deserve a list too! If you were a judge or mentor for any of my contests, please add your books to this list. And you know what I'm asking next--help out the writers who give back by buying their books!

Writers Who Help Writers 

So don't be shy, add your books to our lists if you qualify! And join the contest fun so you might be the next person on the list!

UPDATE: I guess authors can't add their own books to lists anymore. Nudge me on twitter and I'll add your books. 

Subrights Explained by Jess Dallow

I think a lot of behind the scenes stuff in publishing is only half known and seldom thought about. I asked Jess Dallow of New Leaf to give us an overview of subrights and how they work. Thanks, Jess! Jess will answer questions in the comments if anyone wants to know more. 

When I first got into publishing, I'll admit that so much of it was a mystery. Of course I knew that I loved reading people's work, that I wanted to work with writers and help them create the best possible piece of writing they could, but I never knew the intricacies that went into the job, the behind the scenes stuff that is mentioned, yet not really talked about. When I was hired at New Leaf Literary & Media after a three month internship, it was in the subrights department. Over the past year and a half I've learned so many interesting things and gained knowledge on the subject that I wanted to share!

There are many forms of subrights (short for subsidiary rights) out there. Audio, first and second serial rights, merchandising, film and television, and what I specialize in at New Leaf: foreign. 

The way foreign rights work is whenever we, as an agency, keep translation rights on a book, we send out an email to our agents overseas and our scouts (people who work in finding material for publishers abroad) filled with all the relevant information about the title, in the hopes that they will want to acquire it in their respective territories. There are, of course, certain kinds of books that don't work in other territories (anything too Americanized, things that have a huge historical element, etc.), but we work hard to gain interest, regardless. 

Garnering interest and pitching our books is also why we attend international book fairs. This year I did Bologna Book Fair, BEA, and will be heading to Frankfurt in October for another fair! It's days upon days of meetings, but it's incredible to meet with publishers and discuss our books in person. There's more passion when pitching it in person, and when publishers can see how excited we are about a title, it can help us sell them a book they might not have previously thought to be interested in. Plus, it's always so interesting to hear about other markets, what works in specific places and what doesn't, and more importantly, why. 

The other important subright that New Leaf deals with primarily is film and TV. While I no longer work with that department, the correlation between film and foreign is important. Once movie rights are sold, and announced, that tends to make books sell, too, and a successful book can potentially make an incredibly successful film. Other territories love knowing there's a film coming because they then know there's a good chance it'll do well for them and it makes it easier for them to buy it. 

While having these rights are incredible, there are times when we don't always get translation rights. Sometimes the publisher gets world (all territories) rights; sometimes they get World English (UK, ANZ, Canada). This is all negotiated when making the original book deal with a publisher. So when New Leaf doesn’t control certain rights, the publisher will make the deals and send the details to us to review, just because we work with the writer and having those open lines of communication is great. 

It's been such a wonderful experience and I'm still learning new things daily! 

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Before moving back to her home state of New York, Jess Dallow spent eight years working at a talent agency in Hollywood. Deciding books and cold New York winters were more her speed, she became an intern at New Leaf before being hired as a subrights assistant. In her spare time, Jess can be found at either Sprinkles or Chipotle, stuffing her face with cupcakes or guacamole (thankfully, not together).