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I've tried publishing a novel in India (English) and it is much more painful than the 80k limit. A top editor told me, more like lamented, that they focus on h

I've tried publishing a novel in India (English) and it is much more painful than the 80k limit. A top editor told me, more like lamented, that they focus on historical fiction or romance because "that's what sells" I wrote a decent thriller which my friends read in one day because they loved it. Granted, they are my friends so they could by lying, but the publishers just read the synopsis and saw that it isn't historical or romance and ignored. That's what Indian publishers do, they ignore! And there was this one agent who asked me money so he could "represent me". He then wanted me to sign a contract, which meant that if I didn't publish book to publisher he would get then I'd have to pay him 10k or something. And his mother has a publishing house. I read online that he gets books published from his mom's house. Which agent asks for money?! I have 4 unpublished novels, one is about a guy who wakes up at a bus stop with 0 memories and tries to figure out his past, one long fiction about science fiction that spans 1000s of years and one is a satire on the new form of Authoritarian regimes. This satire is a 2 book series.

viraptor 7y ago
Have you considered self-publishing? If the books are complete and would be wasted otherwise... may be worth a try.
- thewhitetulip 7y ago
  I have. But I'm still researching how to market the books. I have 0 experience of marketing of a book
pja 7y ago
First rule of publishing: money flows towards the author, not the other way round. (Not necessarily very much money mind, but it’s the direction that’s the important bit!) No reputable agent charges authors directly for their services - their income comes out of a cut of the money paid by publishers to authors. If you have a stack of books that your friends actually like & can’t get published, do you have anything to lose publishing them yourself on Amazon’s Kindle platform?
- thewhitetulip 7y ago
  First rule, that's what I thought and I declined his offer. You won't believe his arrogance. He replies "This wasn't an offer" I was planning to publish on Kindle but I'm not sure how to market the book. Do you know perchance how to market Kindle books? I read that 99% authors don't market their books. I want to be among the 1%!
  - pja 7y ago
    Definitely not my area of expertise! But go read the blogs of people that have been successful at it - plenty of tips there.
    - thewhitetulip 7y ago
      Thank you!
galaxyLogic 7y ago
You could write a book which is about 4 fictional books that never got published :-)
- thewhitetulip 7y ago
  Not sure who would buy such a book
  - galaxyLogic 7y ago
    It might be interesting. And maybe a common theme would emerge why those four fictional books got never published. It might be a bit like "Cloud Atlas" where the different stories are connected in a way that becomes apparent only in the end. Consider that none of the sub-stories of Cloud Atlas were good enough on their own to be published (and turned into a movie).

viraptor 7y ago

Have you considered self-publishing? If the books are complete and would be wasted otherwise... may be worth a try.

thewhitetulip 7y ago
I have. But I'm still researching how to market the books. I have 0 experience of marketing of a book

pja 7y ago

First rule of publishing: money flows towards the author, not the other way round. (Not necessarily very much money mind, but it’s the direction that’s the important bit!) No reputable agent charges authors directly for their services - their income comes out of a cut of the money paid by publishers to authors. If you have a stack of books that your friends actually like & can’t get published, do you have anything to lose publishing them yourself on Amazon’s Kindle platform?

thewhitetulip 7y ago
First rule, that's what I thought and I declined his offer. You won't believe his arrogance. He replies "This wasn't an offer" I was planning to publish on Kindle but I'm not sure how to market the book. Do you know perchance how to market Kindle books? I read that 99% authors don't market their books. I want to be among the 1%!
- pja 7y ago
  Definitely not my area of expertise! But go read the blogs of people that have been successful at it - plenty of tips there.
  - thewhitetulip 7y ago
    Thank you!

galaxyLogic 7y ago

You could write a book which is about 4 fictional books that never got published :-)

thewhitetulip 7y ago
Not sure who would buy such a book
- galaxyLogic 7y ago
  It might be interesting. And maybe a common theme would emerge why those four fictional books got never published. It might be a bit like "Cloud Atlas" where the different stories are connected in a way that becomes apparent only in the end. Consider that none of the sub-stories of Cloud Atlas were good enough on their own to be published (and turned into a movie).