Essays: Business

Much of the material I'm going to be posting here is available elsewhere on the web, but it doesn't hurt anyone to have it replicated as often and widely as possible. As I move along in my publishing career, I may someday reach a point where I feel like I can offer Sage Advice instead of basic information, but for now, basic information it is.

• Standard Manuscript Format
• Semi-Standard Electronic Format
• How to Submit a Short Story
• Glossary of Business Terms

There's a lot of information out there about how to try and get published, but once you slip past that barrier, then it all becomes very mysterious. What happens after the "yay, sale!" stage? Especially with novels? What follows, then, is a series of short essays on my own personal experience of the process, which I will continue to update from now until Doppelganger hits the shelves. (And probably a little bit after.)

My First Novel: an essay in parts
• The Wind-Up
• The Agent Waltz
• And Then There Was Haggling
• If at First You Do Succeed, Revise, Revise Again
• The Production Process
• One Year Later

I also recommend checking out the following websites for useful data, gossip, and assistance in the business.

• Science Fiction Writers of America -- Professional organization of science fiction and fantasy writers. Even if you don't yet meet the membership criteria, their website has a great many useful pages.
• Black Holes -- Dead useful. It's a response time tracker for markets, generally magazines, but also some anthologies and book publishers. Report your own data points, and help make it even more accurate!
• Ralan's Webstravaganza -- The best market listing I've found. Very up-to-date, well-organized, etc., etc.
• The Rumor Mill -- Chock-full of message topics on pretty much anything you can think of, the Rumor Mill is my site of choice for keeping up on market news (and there's a lot more there than just that).