Basically because no one that you showed the manuscript thinks he can make money with it.
Manuscripts often get rejected by a bunch of publishers till one wants to publish it. On the other hand few publisher have an idea that they want to publish a RationalFic.
A publisher may reject a manuscript based on some ideological or cultural qualm, but at the end of the day, the publisher’s main question is going to be “Can I sell this?” If you want to get a manuscript published, you have to do two (overly simplified things): make it worth publishing and find someone whose market would be interested in the ideas expressed there in. IlyaShpitser’s suggestion of looking into scifi/fantasy is a good one.
Also a quick couple of notes. First off, I don’t know if this is true of every publisher, but you probably would do better if you knocked off that “-and-counting” portion of the length. Believe me, publishers receives gobs of letters about manuscripts that are unfinished “but will be masterpieces.” Have a product. Show them the product. You need to have leverage with a publisher and being able to slam a finished story down and say, “This is what I have for you. This is good. This is what you need. You can buy it now or I will look elsewhere.” That is powerful. Though I would not suggest actual engaging in the hyperbole I just used. That was example only. The point is, have a product, not an idea.
Second, I would not try to sell it as a RationalFic. Sell it as a story. Again, you can also sell it as scifi/fantasy, but mainly do so within those communities/publishing houses that cater to that. Coming to a non-genre publisher and saying, “I have a rational fiction story about the singularity” will not set off their “50,000 advance copies” antennae. Instead, give them a summary of the story. I don’t necessarily mean a dry summary. Just some idea of what you have, why it would be interesting to readers, and, subtly, how it would make the publisher cash.
Remember, publishing is not an art form or an intellectual process. It’s not academia. It’s a business. In publishing, you don’t talk about artistic merits or themes or prescient issues unless that’s what the publisher wants to hear. Talk about business, talk about what interests the publisher, talk about how you (and you alone) meet those interests. It may feel like you are cheapening the intended impact of your work, but getting published is modern day patronage. You have to approach it as business.
Good luck! Keep at it. Remember: Stephen King got so many rejection letters that they eventually weighed down the nail he stuck them on and tore it from the wall. So don’t let one rejection get you down.
if you knocked off that “-and-counting” portion of the length.
No worries; I’m not expecting I’ll have the opportunity to even try to submit it to an editor before I finish.
I would not try to sell it as a RationalFic. Sell it as a story.
Again, no worries; I only mentioned it being a RatFic to tailor my post to the audience of this particular community, and would similarly tailor it as, say, “SF” or “hard SF” to people who are more familiar with those terms.
a summary of the story.
Initial thought on a generic pitch: “Present-day guy wakes up in the future, gets turned into a talking rabbit, and tries to figure out what the bleep happened to the world while he was out.”
Good luck!
Thank you kindly. :)
Keep at it.
No worries on that score—I’m already writing a novel even when I have no measurable hope of getting it on paper, and my related skills are only going to improve from here. (At least until /I/ get hit by a truck and cryo-preserved, but that’s another matter… ;) )
a summary of the story.
Initial thought on a generic pitch: “Present-day guy wakes up in the future, gets turned into a talking rabbit, and tries to figure out what the bleep happened to the world while he was out.”
You might already know this, but just to be sure: that there is a synopsis, not a summary.
Basically because no one that you showed the manuscript thinks he can make money with it.
Manuscripts often get rejected by a bunch of publishers till one wants to publish it. On the other hand few publisher have an idea that they want to publish a RationalFic.
^^^ There is your answer.
A publisher may reject a manuscript based on some ideological or cultural qualm, but at the end of the day, the publisher’s main question is going to be “Can I sell this?” If you want to get a manuscript published, you have to do two (overly simplified things): make it worth publishing and find someone whose market would be interested in the ideas expressed there in. IlyaShpitser’s suggestion of looking into scifi/fantasy is a good one.
Also a quick couple of notes. First off, I don’t know if this is true of every publisher, but you probably would do better if you knocked off that “-and-counting” portion of the length. Believe me, publishers receives gobs of letters about manuscripts that are unfinished “but will be masterpieces.” Have a product. Show them the product. You need to have leverage with a publisher and being able to slam a finished story down and say, “This is what I have for you. This is good. This is what you need. You can buy it now or I will look elsewhere.” That is powerful. Though I would not suggest actual engaging in the hyperbole I just used. That was example only. The point is, have a product, not an idea.
Second, I would not try to sell it as a RationalFic. Sell it as a story. Again, you can also sell it as scifi/fantasy, but mainly do so within those communities/publishing houses that cater to that. Coming to a non-genre publisher and saying, “I have a rational fiction story about the singularity” will not set off their “50,000 advance copies” antennae. Instead, give them a summary of the story. I don’t necessarily mean a dry summary. Just some idea of what you have, why it would be interesting to readers, and, subtly, how it would make the publisher cash.
Remember, publishing is not an art form or an intellectual process. It’s not academia. It’s a business. In publishing, you don’t talk about artistic merits or themes or prescient issues unless that’s what the publisher wants to hear. Talk about business, talk about what interests the publisher, talk about how you (and you alone) meet those interests. It may feel like you are cheapening the intended impact of your work, but getting published is modern day patronage. You have to approach it as business.
Good luck! Keep at it. Remember: Stephen King got so many rejection letters that they eventually weighed down the nail he stuck them on and tore it from the wall. So don’t let one rejection get you down.
No worries; I’m not expecting I’ll have the opportunity to even try to submit it to an editor before I finish.
Again, no worries; I only mentioned it being a RatFic to tailor my post to the audience of this particular community, and would similarly tailor it as, say, “SF” or “hard SF” to people who are more familiar with those terms.
Initial thought on a generic pitch: “Present-day guy wakes up in the future, gets turned into a talking rabbit, and tries to figure out what the bleep happened to the world while he was out.”
Thank you kindly. :)
No worries on that score—I’m already writing a novel even when I have no measurable hope of getting it on paper, and my related skills are only going to improve from here. (At least until /I/ get hit by a truck and cryo-preserved, but that’s another matter… ;) )
You might already know this, but just to be sure: that there is a synopsis, not a summary.