members who are editors

[oldlustyman]

Are there any members who are also agents or editors? Would appreciate any professional advices on what publishers look for in writing manuscripts.

[lucy]

I'm not an editor, at least not for English. But I do some work for a publisher of BDSM books, so feel free to send me a PM.

[IAN 2411]

You are also a fine author lucy, and I think the whole site might be interested in your findings. I too have often wondered what makes things tick.

Be well IAN 2411

[lucy]

Thanks, Ian. I didn't plan to tell the poster about my findings, if he sent me that PM. I'd have referred him to a publisher instead, because I don't have much of a clue what makes readers tick and what makes a story/book interesting. Apparently, mine are not what the general public is looking for, judging by the sales. But then again, I might be with the wrong publishing company for the kind of books I'm writing.

It's easy to tell what publishers are NOT looking for: Anything underage (even in a flashback), scat, bestiality and snuff. Not because that doesn't find any readers, but because credit card companies are heavily cracking down on anything with such content. And credit card companies are key players when it comes to online trading.

Anyway, looking at the reader's count on the stories here on the library I'd say the way to go if you want high sales with BDSM-books is non-conseny. Sex sells, and hard, rough sex sells even better.
Apart from that it should read easily, the story should flow smoothly and the editing should be good enough so that readers don't get annoyed by errors (but that is of course the editor's job, not necessarily the writer's. Although some publishers don't do anything in that regard, afaik.)

A book should also have a decent length. Anything below 30'000 or even 40'000 words will most likely not get published. Apart from that, I really don't know. I write about what I like. That seems to interest a few people, but not that many.
Might be better if I wrote for the readers and not mostly for myself, but since I don't have to live from selling my smut I just can't be bothered. I'm writing for the fun of it and period.
Anyway, I think it's still a good idea to keep your readers in mind when writing.

And finally, read those who sell lots of books and do the same. If you can, of course :)

[Venom]

Might be better if I wrote for the readers and not mostly for myself, but since I don't have to live from selling my smut I just can't be bothered. I'm writing for the fun of it and period.


I was told that there are only these two kinds of authors: those who write for themselves, and those who write for their readers. Whatever kind you belong to, don't try to switch.

[Garmonbozia]

A book should also have a decent length. Anything below 30'000 or even 40'000 words will most likely not get published. Apart from that, I really don't know.

I really don't know of course, but I feel like there is a 0 missing from those figures. Even 100,000 words doesn't really amount to all that much story, a short story maybe. Then again I guess everyone isn't out to write epics.

From personal opinion I would say that from a publisher's point of view the story has to be substantial enough that someone purchasing feels as if they got their money's worth. Even if the story is great, if it is over before you know it, well you kind of feel cheated.

And that's just one of the 257 considerations that a publisher must evaluate before deciding it's worth their while even contacting you.

I would be really interested in hearing anyone with experience though, I think it's a fascinating topic even if you aren't interested in pursuing that yourself.

[lucy]

I really don't know of course, but I feel like there is a 0 missing from those figures. Even 100,000 words doesn't really amount to all that much story, a short story maybe. Then again I guess everyone isn't out to write epics.
Nope, there is no 0 missing. As long as we're talking about online publishing that's about it. It's completely different when we're talking about paper editions, but since Amazon has sold more electronic books last year than actually printed ones and since it takes A LOT more to get printed I think it's OK to stick to online publishing.


From personal opinion I would say that from a publisher's point of view the story has to be substantial enough that someone purchasing feels as if they got their money's worth. Even if the story is great, if it is over before you know it, well you kind of feel cheated.
That is of course entirely true. The difficult part is how to get there, though.


And that's just one of the 257 considerations that a publisher must evaluate before deciding it's worth their while even contacting you.
I'm not sure whether that's true. True, there's a gazillion people out there who think they can write, but not that many who actually that good at it.

Add to that the fact that we're talking about a niche section of the online book market (I'm assuming that we do, since this is the BDSMlibrary) and there left just a handful or two of really good authors, and a bit more who write fairly well. So, if you're one of those who write fairly well or even really good then you shouldn't have too many problems finding a publisher.
As a matter of fact, you could probably choose the publisher you want to go with.

[Garmonbozia]

Well that's really interesting to know lucy. I just consider a story of 40,000 words really short. It's over before you can really get into it. Though I guess that's another skill entirely, writing really short stories that fit what people are looking for.

I can't imagine what it would be like to work for an online publisher, just how difficult it would be to find that diamond needle in the haystack of submissions. I would love to hear anything from anyone who has actually had something published, the process itself I find really fascinating. I work for a publisher myself, though what we produce is so far from fiction, and especially erotic fiction, that I may as well be a steelworker. The whole online part of the industry is a bit of a mystery.