hey all,
If anyone could link me some resources for writing query letters (to agents and to publishers) for a short story collection, it'd be much appreciated.
What agent is this? I was always under the impression that agents prefered full length novels?
Agents probably also prefer Harry Potter to most anything else, but that's not what they're always gonna find.
You query them the same way, although obviously you can't describe every story.
I've been told short story collections only sell if you are already famous or if pretty much all of your stories in the collection have been published in top-quality magazines (The New Yorker, Ploughshares, etc.).
A lot of publishers seemed to see collections more as promotional materials and stop gaps than actual draws themselves. But there are publishers, particularly small presses, that seem to love a well-written collection as much as anything.
They may not make money hand-over-fist, but they are still viable, and depending on the genre they can be more popular than others. We still see a lot of them in horror. Peter Straub has one coming out next month. Stephen King seems to do one collection for every two or three novels, and writers like Laird Barron have built solid careers out of short work.
If all else fails, and you can't find a publisher that you trust, you can make the investment yourself and self-publish. You just want to make sure that you are getting something out of their share of the royalties. Preferably something more than just a cover and an editor.
I don't know which writers on litreactor have recently published collections. I'd be surprised if they didn't fall into one of these categories: 1) famous writer; 2) several of the stories were published in top magazines; 3) they had a relationship with the editor (either past or from visits to a MFA progrram); 4) they are celebrities; 5) self-published or vanity published.
I've been to enough writers' conferences where agents have said things like, "this is probably the last debut collection I'll ever sell."
If I wanted to publish a collection, I wouldn't feel good about getting it published by a big publisher unless at least half of the stories were already published in top magazines (New Yorker, Ploughshares, Tin House, etc.)
Pollock's Palahniuk blurb gave his career a nudge in the right direction, too.
How well do you think you need to know someone to ask for a blurb? I never meet Palahniuk, so I'm not talking about him, just something I wonder about.
If you can reach them, many well-established writers are very generous.
The trick is getting their contact information and getting them to remember you when you contact them.
Pollack doesn't apply. 2008 is an eon ago in the publishing business, and he probably met agents and publishers while he was in the writing program at Ohio State.
Pollock's stories appeared in Berkely Fiction Review, Boulevard, Sou'wester, Third Coast, the Journal, Chiron Review. These don't have the name power of the Paris Review or New Yorker, but they are some top-tier markets and very difficult to get into.
I'd say Pollock doesn't really apply because he is a transcendent talent, and no agent, publisher, or even average reader is going to read his work and not realize something special is happening. I don't doubt a Chuck blurb gained him a good slice of market, but his work's been reviewed in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Elle, and the USA Today as well--he was kicking the fucking door in no matter what.
'Pollock made it so I can too' might be an accurate sentiment, but you'd better be fucking great.
All of the discouraging advice above is true, but it definitely shouldn't discourage you. Every single writer has a different path, and there are plenty of debut collection writers, and collection only writers. Kick down the fucking door.
Advice I recieved last year from an established agent: Collections stand a far better chance with a follow up novel in the works, and if you are planning a novel next, you'd be better off waiting until you had enough to pitch.