We’re OPEN for *specific types* of submission…

Posted in News | June 10th, 2009

From our Submissions Guidlines page…

As of June 10th, we are currently ONLY looking at novels that fit comfortably into the fantasy genre. By this we mean traditional, high, heroic, dark, historical, or urban. Do some research if you don’t know what these subdivisions are.

Carefully note that we’re not looking for anything that attempts to redefine the genre or reinvent the wheel. Nor do we want derivative rehashes of your favourite Sword and Sorcery stories. Be aware that the tale of the great quest to recover the ancient, lost ring of hochty-mochty and thus bring harmony to the warring dwarf kingdoms is extremely unlikely to excite.

In short we want intelligent and commercial fantasy fiction. Need examples? Look at some of the recent market leaders, both in critical and commercial terms… THE FIRST LAW TRILOGY by Joe Abercrombie, Brent Week’s NIGHT ANGEL TRILOGY, Patrick Rothfuss’s THE NAME OF THE WIND, Brandon Sanderson’s MISTBORN sequence, Peter Brett’s THE PAINTED MAN, Steven Erikson’s THE MALAZAN BOOKS OF THE FALLEN  – all of these are excellent examples of what I want to see … and if you’ve not heard of any of these, don’t bother contacting us! Note no mention here of classics like Tolkien, Brooks, Donaldson or even GRRM. We are looking for submissions from folks familiar with the current, cutting edge of market. So, if yours is the next name on this stellar list of fantasy talent, drop us a line.

Tagged with: •

6 comments ~

  1. TB:

    I’m assuming this leaves out light or young adult fantasy?

    June 17th, 2009 at 5:18 am »
  2. John Berlyne:

    Not necessarily – providing that it achieves the required standard of excellence. “Light” fantasy is what, exactly? In any case, we’re closed again for now, so whatever it is will have to wait until we re-open.

    June 18th, 2009 at 1:33 pm »
  3. TB:

    By “light” fantasy I mean something that’s primarily for enjoyment, without a lot of angst and with humor as a major ingredient. The opposite end of “dark” fantasy, I guess. Sorry I missed the submission window–yet again! Next time for sure! Maybe they should change the name to the “Brigadoon Agency.”

    June 19th, 2009 at 4:42 am »
  4. Ryan Hobbs:

    I read in the RSS feed your comments on the last round submissions, and seeing as you have followed up on such a small percentage was wondering whether that meant you will be more likely to open submissions again in the near future as opposed to months from now?

    At the time my novel was not ready (i’m about 2/3 through the 1st edit and don’t want to send it out before a 3rd edit in any case) but i’m just keeping an eye on this space and thought it worth asking since you mentioned above that it would re-open eventually.

    Thanks for your time.

    July 4th, 2009 at 12:25 pm »
  5. John Berlyne:

    Hello Ryan –

    Thanks for your question – but I’m afraid it is almost impossible to adequately answer – I don’t have a clue! The short answer, if there is one, is that we’ll reopen when we reopen!

    The longer answer means examining what is, I guess, an issue for all small agencies. We, of course, *must* find new material to survive – that is our Raison d’être! On the other hand, we must finely balance our time in order to give our incumbent client list the time it deserves and to keep up our admin. That means doing all the things this job entails, from reading delivered manuscripts (two major clients have delivered their new novels within the last two days, and these must take priority), submitting material to publishers, following up those submissions, chasing money, seeing that money we receive is paid out to clients and accounted for (this means doing a fair amount of paperwork!), attending meetings, managing the web site, going to the post office, the bank, answering the phone … and the million, billion other things that must be done to manage a small business. There are only two of us to do all this stuff and this basically means that only the smallest part of our available time can be devoted to reading submissions.

    I appreciate that this is tough from the point of view of writers out there with material ready to go, but we really do want to be able to give that material the best consideration we’re able. In order to do that, we need to have enough time freed up to read through submissions properly, and that’s why we only ever open when John and I feel able to cope with the inevitable deluge. And it is a deluge, believe me! Right now we’re extremely busy and thus unable to do so – the best I can offer therefore is keep an eye on the rss feed.

    All best,

    JB

    July 7th, 2009 at 3:41 pm »
  6. Ryan Hobbs:

    John,

    Thanks for getting back to me, I appreciate it as I know you are busy.

    Naturally your priority will be your existing clients, that’s only right and fair. I will keep an eye on the site and just hope when the next submission period does roll around, the novel will be at a point where it’s ready to be submitted.

    Thanks again.

    Ryan.

    July 14th, 2009 at 8:42 am »

Join the conversation...