Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Nathan,

I am writing my current project with a 1st person POV from the standpoint of the protag. There is a lot going on with the antagonist, too. I'm thinking of writing those parts of the book in 3rd person. Do you see many successful projects where the writer mixes the POV?

Thanks,

RW

atpf14 wrote:I've just finished a YA novel that both my UCLA writing teacher and a free-lance editor with 20 years of children's publishing experience tell me is very good and ready to send out for queries.

The problem: I'm a female author with a male protagonist in my story. I was told recently that even though the male voice in the book sounds authentic, the mere fact that I'm a woman makes this book hard to sell.

I've dealt with it by: 1) positioning it as a girls' book, which it is, with a romantic, appealing male hero that girls will fall in love with, 2) renaming the book with an attention-getting title that says "girl book" all the way, and 3) using my initials, so as to leave at least some mystery about my gender.

Do you think I have a shot at it, or I am doomed from the start because I wrote a story about a boy?

Don't believe it will hurt your chances for a second. If it's good it's good. Jennifer Hubbard's THE SECRET YEAR features a male protagonist and it's sensational and Viking loves it. In some instances publishers will want an author to use a pen name or a different title, but that can be decided down the line once you've gotten way past the query stage. Agents certainly aren't going to bat an eye at female authors with male protagonists.

denverbennett wrote:Nathan,

I am writing my current project with a 1st person POV from the standpoint of the protag. There is a lot going on with the antagonist, too. I'm thinking of writing those parts of the book in 3rd person. Do you see many successful projects where the writer mixes the POV?

Thanks,

RW

I see this occasionally. In suspense novels especially. If you feel it's the best way to tell it, go for it.

I don't know why I keep trying to follow your blog, except it's the best one I've found. I call myself Eterna Hope, because that's what I seem to be------eternaly hopeful--------not sucessful..

My question is about Ebooks. You've written a lot abuut them, but I'm still confused abut the copywrite side of it. How are the number of copies controlled? Can they be copied to another reader? If they can't now, do you realy think someone isn't going to come out with a gadget that with break the encription. I know someone who claims he can copy anything. Is that a possible problem in the future?

Another thing. Since these boks won't be printed on presses, how will they be printed and are the old, established publishing companies going to invest in this new procedure? Which formal wil they use and wil they have to pay a royalty to the company that deveoped the system that's finally decided upon?

Gene

Nathan,

Thanks so much for adding the forums! (DG from your blog comments here) Anyway... With all the discussion on you blog last week about e-books and e-book publishing it got me thinking: Do you expect to see a rise in the number of authors who don't self publish in the usual way, POD or the 1,500 up-front purchase sell-from-your-car method, but instead offer their book for sale from their own website in pdf or other e-book format? In other words they invest little to no up-front cash, and potentially make significantly more than they would from a POD model. Do you see this as similar to an up and coming garage band, who records their music using the latest digital equipment, and then bypass the record companies by offering their music as a download from the band's website?

Eternal Hope wrote:I don't know why I keep trying to follow your blog, except it's the best one I've found. I call myself Eterna Hope, because that's what I seem to be------eternaly hopeful--------not sucessful..

My question is about Ebooks. You've written a lot abuut them, but I'm still confused abut the copywrite side of it. How are the number of copies controlled? Can they be copied to another reader? If they can't now, do you realy think someone isn't going to come out with a gadget that with break the encription. I know someone who claims he can copy anything. Is that a possible problem in the future?

Another thing. Since these boks won't be printed on presses, how will they be printed and are the old, established publishing companies going to invest in this new procedure? Which formal wil they use and wil they have to pay a royalty to the company that deveoped the system that's finally decided upon?

Gene

Lots of questions here. The most basic answer is that e-books are published and sold like print books - publishers keep track of how many are sold and pay the author a royalty accordingly. Of course, if copies are pirated no one sees any revenue. But publishers will make money the same way they always have - selling the books to bookstores/e-distributors who then send them to consumers.

That's the short version. In the meantime there's a lot still to be figured out about the new publishing landscape.

danielguiteras wrote:Nathan,

Thanks so much for adding the forums! (DG from your blog comments here) Anyway... With all the discussion on you blog last week about e-books and e-book publishing it got me thinking: Do you expect to see a rise in the number of authors who don't self publish in the usual way, POD or the 1,500 up-front purchase sell-from-your-car method, but instead offer their book for sale from their own website in pdf or other e-book format? In other words they invest little to no up-front cash, and potentially make significantly more than they would from a POD model. Do you see this as similar to an up and coming garage band, who records their music using the latest digital equipment, and then bypass the record companies by offering their music as a download from the band's website?

Definitely. I think you'll see lots more authors e-publish first and see what happens. It's going to be an interesting landscape. I think you'll see more hits coming out of the blue and also some new ways of filtering developing to help consumers separate the good from the bad.

Nathan,

Love the new site. I have an agent-related question. My book has an agent but he hasn't been able to sell it, several years have passed, and I am starting to query others. When do I mention to a prospective agent that this book has been repped in the past? Or do I? Does this hurt my book's chances?

Many thanks.

Crista
www.cristacrista.com

Dear Mr Bransford

I am busy with my last editing after my muses read through my novel , standing at just over 80 000 words, and I was planning to query you before the holidays. My question is if I should wait until the new year or would you prefer me to query now—with all the nano rush queries... And the holiday break...

Wanda du Plooy

HI Nathan

I read and agreed with your comments regarding Epublishing experience and whether to mention it or not. I do have one previous experience I wonder if I should mention in queries. Its an erotica short I submitted a couple of years ago. My first ever submission was accepted and included in a print anthology by a fairly well known romance and erotica author. Would mentioning this help or hinder me in my queries, or is it so insignificant that it doesn't matter?? The novel I am querying is a paranormal romance with a few graphic sex scenes, but it isn't erotica.

Hey Nathan! What do agents really think of submission services?

Nathan -

Thanks for all the tremendously useful information here. I've got a quick question regarding formatting.

In published novels I've sometimes seen normally spaced italics used to indicate a handwritten passage such as a letter, and indented single spaced block courier to indicate an email or blackberry message. I have enough of these occur in the manuscript that I think it might be helpful for them to be clearly identifiable (as opposed to having to preface them each time) but don't want to put a professional reader off.

What do you recommend in terms of formatting these as part of a manuscript?

Thanks much!

Andrew

(note: this is a resubmit from the FAQ page, which I posted on right before the redesign - sorry if you see it twice!)

crista wrote:Nathan,

Love the new site. I have an agent-related question. My book has an agent but he hasn't been able to sell it, several years have passed, and I am starting to query others. When do I mention to a prospective agent that this book has been repped in the past? Or do I? Does this hurt my book's chances?

Many thanks.

Crista
http://www.cristacrista.com

First, have you broken things off officially with your agent before querying? That's step 1.

That said, if the agent shopped the book extensively, bear in mind that most agents won't send a book around to publishers who have seen it before, even if it's been revised. So if lots of publishers have seen it a new agent wouldn't then be able to send it back around, and you may need to put it in the drawer.

In general though, whether you mention that you have had a previous agent is up to you. I would only mention it it was an amicable parting and you are able to say in the query that it was amicable.

Wandaduplooy wrote:Dear Mr Bransford

I am busy with my last editing after my muses read through my novel , standing at just over 80 000 words, and I was planning to query you before the holidays. My question is if I should wait until the new year or would you prefer me to query now—with all the nano rush queries... And the holiday break...

Wanda du Plooy

FAQs, folks, FAQS!

Chopsy wrote:HI Nathan

I read and agreed with your comments regarding Epublishing experience and whether to mention it or not. I do have one previous experience I wonder if I should mention in queries. Its an erotica short I submitted a couple of years ago. My first ever submission was accepted and included in a print anthology by a fairly well known romance and erotica author. Would mentioning this help or hinder me in my queries, or is it so insignificant that it doesn't matter?? The novel I am querying is a paranormal romance with a few graphic sex scenes, but it isn't erotica.

I think that's worth mentioning.