What do editors look for? Sharazade

1) Do your research. Only submit a query or a manuscript to an appropriate publisher. That means you familiarize yourself with their current published works—reading some, if at all possible—and make sure you know what sorts of things they publish. If they only publish ebooks, don’t insist on a paperback. If they publish mainly erotic romance, they’re probably not going to take your edgy tale of non-consent. If you’re not sure, of course you can ask—but your questions will come off a lot better if you clearly know who they are. A publisher can tell when you’ve just gotten a list off the Internet somewhere and cut and pasted the same submission letter to each one. And that’s not really more efficient for you, because it’s going to lead to more confusion and rejections.

2) Submit what they ask you to submit. If they want a query letter first, send a query letter first. If they want two sample chapters, send two sample chapters—not one, not the whole book. You are not a special snowflake. Follow the directions.

3) Submit how they ask you to submit. Some publishers don’t want attachments. Some only want attachments. If they want Times New Roman, 12 point, then use that. If they want it hand-written with pictures of clowns on odd-numbered pages, then do that if you want to be published by them. If you don’t find yourself willing (or able) to comply with their query or submission process, you’re not going to want them to handle your book. (If they don’t say at all, then you can’t go wrong with Times New Roman, 12 point, ragged margins, double-spaced, in a Word .doc or a .pdf. Don’t do the clowns thing unless asked.)

4) Please, oh please, check your cover letter for typos, and also tone. It’s nice to sound human, but not so casual you seem inattentive.  Be positive and confident, but arrogance rarely goes over well. Don’t apologize. If you don’t have a degree in writing or you’ve never published before or you secretly worry that the manuscript everyone in your critique group loves is actually crap, keep all that to yourself. Explain the qualifications and publication history you do have, if any; but don’t point out any lacks if you don’t. Ultimately, it’s your book that’s going to be judged—not what sort of life you led in order to write it. Remember too that publishers are more interested in authors who have more than one book in them. They’re easier to promote, and all their books sell better. If you have more than one finished manuscript, or you have published in other places, or at least have ideas for future books, mention that.

5) Don’t submit a rough draft. Yes, you’ll get edited—although increasingly I see fiction editors giving a manuscript a copy edit, and not a content edit. Even if you’re lucky enough to be assigned the sort of editor who will work intensively with you, you should always submit your best effort. Someone should have read it in addition to you (and not someone romantically involved with you) and provided feedback, which you should have at least considered, if not taken on board. It goes without saying that you used a spellcheck, and also read it carefully for typos and errors with homonyms. This is your tryout. A publisher wants to see your very best writing.

6) (I was going to cheat and add this to one of the other five, but that would only be confusing.) Allow at least two months to hear back. If you don’t hear back after four months, it is perfectly fine to send a polite follow-up query.

*** 

I’ve worked as an editor for about ten years, three years in-house with a New York publisher, and the rest freelance. I’ve worked with three of the “Big Six Five” and numerous smaller presses. I’ve worked as a content editor, development editor, production editor, copy editor, and proofreader. I’m also a published author, with about 40 books (non-fiction) to my passport name, and to my pen name (erotica) one single-author anthology, a few single short stories, and short stories in anthologies with Cleis Press, Sizzler, and the Erotic Literary Salon. In 2010 I launched 1001 Nights Press, a small erotica publisher that I’d describe as “cautiously open” to new writers (cautious because of time commitments, not because you aren’t a fantastic writer). http://1001nightspress.com

Five Tips from Nikki Magennis

 from Nikki Magennis

1) Write poetry. Poetry can help a writer focus on rhythm, sound and pacing and encourage you to be rigorous about your word choices at a sentence level. These skills will spill over into your other writing, too. 

2) Record conversations. Real life dialogue is a fascinating, messy beast. I love writing and reading transcriptions, and it'll help your dialogue to look closely at how people really speak.


3) Edit. I'm tempted to write this for the last three points, but that would be cheap, so I won't. But let me say as strongly as I possibly can that every piece of good work has to be edited over and over again, preferably with a bit of time lapsed between drafts so you can come to it with fresh eyes.


4) Find at least one good beta reader. Critting other people's work as well as sharing yours with peers is scary, dangerous and invaluable.


5) Never stop questioning everything, particularly your own work. I've been writing professionally for years and I still feel like a shitty beginner. This is good. I hope I always feel like a shitty beginner - 'may my heart always be open to little birds', to put it more poetically. You should be constantly challenging yourself on all fronts - whether on subject matter, style, structure, form, purpose. Everything.

More of Nikki's work can be found here: www.nikkimagennis.com

What do editors look for? Saachi Green

 Sacchi Green is an award-winning writer and editor of erotica and other stimulating genres. Her stories have appeared in scores of publications, including Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica, Best Lesbian Romance, Best Transgender Erotica, Best Fantasy Erotica, and Penthouse. In recent years she’s taken to wielding the editorial whip, editing nine lesbian erotica anthologies, most recently for Cleis Press.

A collection of her own work, A Ride to Remember, is out from Lethe Press. Five of her books were Lambda Literary Award finalists, and Lesbian Cowboys, co-edited with Rakelle Valencia, won the Lambda for lesbian erotica in 2010. Two books, Lesbian Lust and A Ride to Remember, were winners of GCLS awards.

Below are Sacchi Green's tips for writers, and a couple of her pet peeves:

1) Tell a story as only you can tell it. Be familiar with other writing in your genre, but don’t imitate anyone else. As an editor I look for an original approach and a distinctive voice; something to set a story apart from all the thousands I’ve seen before. Surprise me!

2) Make your characters so real that the reader can tell them apart just by the way they act and speak, even when you don’t specify who’s speaking.

3) Pay attention to the rhythm of your prose. Vary the length and structure of your sentences (unless, of course, you use short, choppy sentences or long, rambling ones to make a certain point or define a character.)

4) Don’t assume that grammatical constructions you see over and over must be correct, or should be used over and over. There’s no need for sentence after sentence, or even paragraph after paragraph, to begin with a participial phrase such as “Opening the door, she crossed the room.” Think about that. Is the room so small one could cross it while still in the process of opening the door? Even when there’s no such grammatical problem, overuse of “ing” looks amateurish (and is, obviously, one of my pet peeves.) There are other more varied ways of avoiding too many sentences that start with “she” or the character’s name.

5) And speaking of pet peeves, particularly when dealing with erotica, PLEASE be sure you know whether your character’s movements and actions are physically possible. I’m not talking about superhuman endurance, or strength; I’m just considering logistics. Remember whose various parts are where, and don’t tie the reader’s (and editor’s) mind in knots trying to figure out how what was up is suddenly down, and why what faced one direction (and was, in fact, tied that way) is suddenly available for full frontal play. This sort of thing can apply to any scenes of concentrated action, erotic or otherwise, but interrupting the flow of a sex scene is especially, well, frustrating.

Find Sacchi online at http://sacchi-green.blogsot.com, FaceBook. Live Journal (http://sacchig.livejournal.com/ ), and the Lesbian Fiction Forum (http://www.lesbianfiction.org/viewforum.php?f=53)

Five Tips from Tenille Brown

 Five tips on how to write erotica from Tenille Brown.

1) Read and familiarize yourself with the erotica genre as to avoid redundancy and so you know what type of writing/stories are most popular and most desired.

2) Put your best foot forward - Submit properly formatted work to editors that adhere to their guidelines and fits their specific call.

3) Research your market - That way you don't end up sending anal erotica to an editor looking for bondage stories.

4) Create believable characters and settings - Remember, it's still a story, not just some pages with some sex.

5) Make the erotic portions believable - Avoid too much gymnastics-like sex. Also, sometimes a little goes a long way. Subtle can be sexy, too.

Tenile Brown is the author of many pieces of fiction including 'Cling' in Rachel Kramer Bussel's anthology, Sex and Candy. Tenile's blog can be found at http://therealtenille.com and her twitter handle is @TheRealTenille.

Five Tips from Lisabet Sarai

 Five tips on how to write erotica from Lisabet Sarai,

1. Set goals for yourself but be willing to be swayed by inspiration
Writing is a balancing act between reasoned, disciplined work and the crazy
dictates of emotion and imagination. I have a writing plan, for at least six
months into the future, and I have a plan for my time whenever I sit down to
write (e.g. how many words I expect to produce or where I expect to end up in
terms of the plot). However, things don't always go according to my plans,
usually because I'll have some other idea that twists the story in a new
direction, or maybe an entirely new story pops into my mind. I've learned not to
be too rigid. Sometimes the wild notions that throw me off the rails are in fact
just what I need.

2. Don't compare yourself to any other author
It's easy to get discouraged about your own writing career when you look at
other authors who seem to be more prolific, more popular, more savvy about
marketing, more eloquent, more original, or whatever. When those comparisons
start to haunt you, do your best to ignore them. Remind yourself that each of us
has her own voice, her own method, her own path to success. Negative emotions
like envy, guilt or a feeling of inadequacy will not motivate you to produce
quality fiction. Negativity tends to smother inspiration.

3. Learn and focus on your personal areas of weaknessListen to your editors, your beta readers and your critique partners. They will
help you to see general areas where you can improve your craft. We all have
them! Once you've identified these areas, pay attention to them when you're at
work writing (or in the editing process, if your methods involve a rough first
draft with lots of later polishing). Never stop focusing on quality and
self-improvement.

4. Don't dismiss grammar and spelling as superficial nicetiesSome authors appear to believe that if a story is sufficiently original and
involving, then using proper grammar and correct spelling are unimportant
frills. I strongly disagree. Grammar, like vocabulary, dialogue, and
description, is a tool for conveying nuances of meaning. An ability to quote or
explain formal grammar rules is not necessary, but an accomplished author knows
how to use the structure of sentences to express her thoughts with greater
precision. Meanwhile, in today's digital world, there is no excuse for
submitting a manuscript full of spelling errors.

Submitting clean manuscripts will endear you to your editors. Furthermore, in
this fast-paced era of e-publishing, many publishers seem to be devoting less
time and effort to editing. Don't expect your publisher to fix your mistakes. If
you're content with a slapdash manuscript full of grammar and spelling gaffes,
you really have no right to call yourself a professional author.

5. Find a writing method that works for you personally
There are as many approaches to writing as there are authors. Some authors do
meticulous outlines and character profiles. Some simply sit down and write
whatever comes to mind. Some do three, four or more drafts, making major
revisions with each iteration. Others edit as they write, so that their first or
second draft is ready to submit for publication. Some authors can split their
time among multiple books or stories simultaneously. Others need to focus on
one WIP at a time.

You'll get advice everywhere about how you "should" write - in how-to books, on
blogs, in critique groups. Be willing to consider the proposed techniques, but
recognize that there is no one correct way to write. You need to experiment
until you find the approaches that are most satisfying and productive for you
personally. You may discover that these change over time, too, or that the best
techniques depend on what you are writing.

Lisabet Sarai is the author of countless pieces of quality erotic fiction. More of Lisabet's work can be found at: http://www.lisabetsarai.com and http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com.

Five tips from Catherine Lundoff

 Five tips (in no particular order) on how to revise from Catherine Lundoff:

1) Almost everything wrong with an early draft can be fixed with thorough revisions.

2) Revising means learning to look at your work from a critical and detached perspective. It takes practice and timing – revising a brand new story right after you finish it isn’t as effective as letting it sit for a period of time while you work on other things. Then you can go back to it with a fresher eye to find the problem areas. 

3) Learn to love revising.

4) Some things to do when revising:      · Check for spelling and grammar errors.     · Ask yourself questions about your plot and your characters’ motivation. Look for logical flaws.     · Read your work aloud to see how it sounds.     · Do you have any words or phrases you like to use? Check to see how many times you used them in your story and start rewriting those sections.

5) Quit while you’re ahead. Don’t get caught up in an endless rewriting loop. When you feel that your story is the best that it can be, submit it. Then go write something else.

Catherine Lundoff is the author of many pieces of fiction including the short story 'Twilight' in Best Fantastic Erotica. More of Catherine's work can be found by visiting: http://catherinelundoff.com/.

What do Editors Want? Pepper Mason

 Pepper Mason is an up-and-coming artist, author, and editor of high quality erotic short stories. She began writing as a hobby in 2003, but began self-publishing as an independent author earlier this year in hopes of one day cultivating the hobby into a full-time career. She has edited several works of friends and colleagues off the books, and all of her personal work, services and contact information can be found at peppermasonbooks.weebly.com.

1) I cannot stress this enough. Independent authors should never publish a book without letting at least one (preferably more than one) other person proof read it. No matter how many times you read your own work, there are bound to be errors that you’ll miss. Even if you can’t afford editing services, have a friend or colleague read over your manuscript for you. (Other independent authors on a budget may be willing to trade proof reads. Just ask!)

2) Microsoft Word's spelling and grammar check will never be able to replace human comprehension. It can’t tell you when something is written awkwardly, and it doesn’t cover the entire gamut of punctuation misuse. It will also oftentimes miss words that are misspelled, when those words end up being spelled correctly but with a different meaning. Never assume you’ve corrected all of your errors with a simple run of this or any spell/grammar checking program.

3) Be careful with continuity. If your character is slowly pushing up the silky green fabric of her lover’s shirt to expose his washboard abs, please make sure he wasn’t shirtless in the prior scene. Things like this are easy to miss when you’re plowing through plot like a person possessed.

4) Repetition. I have found this to be a common plague amongst the writing community, even within the work of professionally edited and published authors. Be careful not to use the same phrases and words over and over again. You have a thesaurus at hand any time you’re connected to the internet; you can find another word for ‘walked’. Try ‘moved’, ‘trudged’, ‘cantered’, ‘stalked’, ‘slouched’, ‘stomped’, or  ‘marched’ instead. It sets the tone for how the character is moving, instead of simply informing the reader that he is, in fact, moving. Also be careful with the infamous “He did this, he did that” repetition. Characters can be addressed in a number of ways, and not always at the beginning of a sentence. You can replace ‘he’ with things such as the character’s name, ‘the blonde boy’, ‘the young man’ etc, etc.

5) Plot. Even if you’re writing a four-thousand word short erotica, plot is important. It holds the entire story together. I always recommend creating a detailed outline of your plot before beginning to write. Even a loose plan can help you organize your plot, and keep your story from dragging on or becoming nonsensical. Make sure your plot makes sense and flows smoothly before you put a single word in that .doc file. It will save you a lot of time and frustration in the long run.

More of Pepper Mason's work can be found at peppermasonbooks.weebly.com.