It's a surprisingly common window that publishers will give for a draft! Generally debut novelists do have more time because there's typically 2 years between the sale of their book and it coming out, so there's more time, but after that, if you're on a book a year schedule, the windows are short. Mine was shorter than most debuts because I was crashed :)
TPs want their author-employees to produce at a full-time pace, but they're not willing to cough up full-time pay, in large part because they're so bad at selecting and marketing books that very few books make any money.
Great video! Not dream crushing at all 😂. Honestly, your honest information about your traditional publishing experience is incredibly valuable. Love your personality, and I look forward to each new vid you post. :D
Thank you! It's the Too Faced Sweet Peach palette plus the Urban Decay Kristen Leanne palette. I've been trying to figure out how to use the purple/pinks in the latter and make them work :D
As a control freak, there is no way I could possibly go through that process. Basically, you are turning over your text and saying 'get back to me in a couple years'. I guess I just get so invested in my creative projects that I could not imagine simply turning them over to someone else to make all the decisions.
Great video! I loved your honesty so much, your make-up is really good, I love it how it shines your eyeshadow. You should make a video about how you developed your patience and other strengths that are necessary to have in traditional publishing. Have a blessed day!
VERY MUCH informative! Thanks Alexa! Although you did scared me a little; I feel like some things could still be negotiated, depending on your agent or publishing house (things like maybe having a say on your cover or title, things like that)
Deadlines is the main thing I would struggle to let go of. If I feel trapped by a deadline, I will probably stress out/anxiety if I feel I'm running out of time.
Slightly unrelated question, but the internet has proven unhelpful; perhaps you know. If a book you signed your agent with does not sell to publishers, can you, as the author, self-publish that book? And if so, does the agent still get 15% of sales for that?
You would definitely be able to self-pub it, if you want, and in most cases your agent should NOT be entitled to 15%. It's key to check your contract (and not sign any agency contract that entitles them to ANYTHING you write while with them) and have a conversation with your agent. Most agents would never demand a cut, but they will usually offer to help with subrights for your self-published work!
Your makeup is GORGEOUS this video! Thank you so much for taking the time to post all this info. While none was surprising, it was a shock to hear it all listed like that! I would love to hear some tips on brokering a successful relationship with agents, publishers, marketing teams etc. Initial contact tips, dos and don'ts, etiquette type things, if ever you consider doing a video like that I'd be so grateful.
Do authors have control over the final titles of their books? I think I vaguely remember hearing someone say that they don't, but that seems a bit odd. Is it a case-by-case basis that depends on the popularity of the given author, similar to what you mentioned about cover input?
The author typically has to submit the titles to the publisher, but then you have no control over a) which title they like and b) what they do to it. I submitted something slightly different from Brightly Burning, and they picked the ultimate title. It's not as bad with titles though--plenty of authors get to use the title they want, and it's not the end of the world if it does have to change (and you always have input in the change).
Thank you for making these videos, it is incredibly helpful! Related to this topic, I wondering if, as an author, you have any control over the environmental impact of your published book? Can you choose, to any extent, the materials (i.e., no hardcover release, post-consumer paper) that go into the publishing?
And people wonder why traditional publishing's product has been so uninspiring for the past 40 years.... It's not just that one "can't control" whether they actually do their jobs and promote the book; it's the fact that 90+ percent of the time, they don't. It's amazing that people put up with incompetence, stupidity, and outright malice. If someone promised me a lead title deal (i.e., the only level of deal under which TP remotely makes sense) and changed their mind, I'd sue them for breach of contract. Nine months to write a sequel is ridiculous. If these assholes want their author-employees (I mean, with right-of-first-refusal type terms and books never going out-of-print, they've essentially turned authors into gig-economy employees) to produce at a full-time pace, they ought to pony up actual full-time pay. Outlier megadeals aside, anyone who quits his job for a "career" (haha) in TP is insane, and no one can work a corporate job and produce quality at that pace- since literary fiction tends to have a revision intensity of 5-10 (i.e., the first draft is only 10-20 percent of the total work)
Man japan is even worse with their. Shonen jump manga. Not only do they have to create a story, they have to illustrate everything by themself or if they are popular, get someone else to illustrate. They have to put out 1 chapter a week. Most of the time they get little sleep or leisure time and get little pay until they become a big manga creator. There's also the monthly Jump which is that but now they get a full month which is better.
Can you talk about working full time and being published? Like if the publisher wants you to travel for a tour, but you work full time what happens? Love your video as always :) -Mel
Question: If you are writing, lets say... a trilogy, how does that work when the first book is being published, or if you just started sending out the first book and waiting for a respons? I mean, is it normal to work on the next book while waiting for the first one to get accepted or rejected? And if you actually get a book deal with that book you set out to be the first one in a series, will the publishing company also be publishing the rest of the series, or do you get a deal for just that book? :-) (Also, great video!)
If you're writing certain things in certain ways, especially if you're not writing explicit genre fiction, publishers will often push you into changing your book into something that just doesn't work one hundred percent. And that lacking one percent can be enough to kill a publication's sales entirely. I know a great many books that WOULD HAVE been great if they weren't forced to be YA, to include the ever-present and ever-stupid love triangle, to tone down something in its entirety, etc, in order to attain or maintain their publishing deals. (There's a reason the biggest running joke with fans of non-YA and non-romance fiction is to just bluntly say "love triangle!" without much other context behind it! We're sick of them!) I'm not trying to claim any single one of these is "the" issue, not even love triangles, but not every change your editor wants you to make will actually improve your book regardless of "market research" or whatever... and that's something I wish more traditional authors were aware of. And while I hold no malice toward any publishers, and consider them an unparalleled good and a very helpful resource (especially if you write either YA or romance, where the mythical love triangle actually works in most cases)... at the same time I do despise how rigid and shallow they can be with their opinions on what "objectively" works in fiction. Spoilers... Nothing "objectively" works in fiction. Not now not ever. This exact mentality is why once people graduate from YA age, they'll usually give up on literature entirely for basically any other form of entertainment - because literature has gotten stale and unoriginal, as a whole. Even many lit fans agree. Any truly inspired idea will defy all market trends, including long-dead trends. And if an idea defies market trends you'll be told it won't sell, and yet that's not necessarily a truthful statement. Every breakout hit was a breakout BECAUSE it defied market trends, not in spite of it, for example Star Wars was like nothing else at the time when it first aired in cinema. Now you can be a hit by following trends, but never a surprise breakout, and only with extreme effort and a careful eye. I would actually recommend authors who have a little bit of good will with their publishers try something unconventional every now and then, it won't always work but trust me when I say it does more often than you may expect it to. We lit fans (who like genres other than YA and romance) live and breathe for that stuff. All it takes is us knowing it's even there, which sadly has a lot to do with your publisher but even so. So while you "CAN" control the writing. And while certain genres let you get away with more than others, namely sci-fi. It's always only to a certain point, especially if you want to write something either particularly dark or totally unique. You have to "give away" a small but undeniably tangible part of your control over your writing to get published in the first place. Becoming a writer who can just write weird, fun stuff because they want to is something a great many people in traditional publishing have told me is very hard. It's possible but not easy. Again. Not that I despise publishers, I think of them as an overall force of good. But the mistakes they do make damage the integrity of the medium as a whole, and are the core reason lit is so unpopular with today's culture.
i have a question regarding control when it comes to editing. I know editors can make changes to smaller things, like grammar and description and small character related things and overall sentence structure. But are they capable of forcing you to make large plot changes? Like "This romance that is a crucial part of the plot isnt good. get rid of it" or "I dont like this character as a male. make him female." Is that something they can make you do? And if you dont, is there a risk to your contract? that is the only thing I'm really concerned about when it comes to traditional publishing. Thank you! Love your videos!
It's a very rare and super extreme case where an editor would ask for a major change, and usually when you get an offer you can have a call w/ the editor to discuss editorial vision so you know upfront about any major changes. I can only think of 1-2 editors in the business that I've heard ask for larger changes, and it's very case-by-case. It usually won't be anything like "make this female character male" but more like "this plot conceit isn't landing, figure out an alternative" and a writer has to rework an aspect of their plot by eliminating that trope/conceit. My editor doesn't even make drastic changes to my line level prose or characters--it's always totally in my hands to take or leave notes. I've not been asked to make major editorial changes, either. Most editors are collaborative and make suggestions, rather than demands.
I love this video. Have a quick question: How much collaboration do you receive with your editor (dev/line)? It is, "Here are the revision suggestions. E-mail me when you get done." Or is there more interaction than that?
It varies by editor! And I just got a new one, so I'm not sure of the process with her yet, but with my last editor, she provided me with an edit letter, which includes questions she had/things she wanted me to work on, and then it was up to me how to implement her feedback. We had a phone call to go over specific notes and I both ran my ideas by her, and asked about things I wasn't comfortable changing. She was really easy to work with, and ultimately the decisions were mine to make!
Each season (publishing divides their book releases into seasons, usually by quarter), a publisher will have a few titles that are "lead," which means they will focus the majority of their energy/time/money on promoting those titles. Being a lead isn't a guarantee of success, but it often does correlate with stronger sales because the publisher is investing a lot into you. It's really hard/rare to be a lead title, especially at large publishers!
Six months?! D-: Does that not lessen the quality of the writing??? I've seen it happen to a few published authors in the past... I don't want that to happen to me! Lord have mercy!! Lol!! How do authors of complex high fantasy novels manage something like that?
The tight timelines of "a book a year" can definitely impact the quality of the books, unfortunately. If an author got a lot of money for their book deal, they may be writing full time, and in that case, writing a complete manuscript in six months is still a challenge but more doable. In other cases, if an author is famous enough and has enough clout, they can push back on the the timelines and get more time to write. It varies. But if you're a baby debut writer with no clout, you just have to find a way to make it work. (or be late with your book and make your publisher super super annoyed with you)
*They don't care, because it's not about the art of literature for them. The traditional publishing industry is just like the traditional music industry: they don't care what trash they put out into the world, as long as it sells.*
@@AlexaDonne *It's wild to me that you encourage writers to join an industry that directly puts the quality of their work in jeopardy. What is so great about traditional publishing that you need them so bad?*
Six months? I'm lucky if I get around to doing laundry in six months, geez.
Seriously, _six months_ ??
It's a surprisingly common window that publishers will give for a draft! Generally debut novelists do have more time because there's typically 2 years between the sale of their book and it coming out, so there's more time, but after that, if you're on a book a year schedule, the windows are short. Mine was shorter than most debuts because I was crashed :)
TPs want their author-employees to produce at a full-time pace, but they're not willing to cough up full-time pay, in large part because they're so bad at selecting and marketing books that very few books make any money.
@@AlexaDonne What if I tell the publisher that my book is a standalone (and it works as such), and then I just write the sequel without deadlines?
Michael Church juju
Great video! Not dream crushing at all 😂. Honestly, your honest information about your traditional publishing experience is incredibly valuable. Love your personality, and I look forward to each new vid you post. :D
I'd like a video elaborating on how you changed your writing process to get your second novel finished (i.e. how you wrote faster when you had to).
That's a great idea! I will add that to the list, for sure.
"you cannot control how readers respond to your work", and a few other comments... are things you should tell independent publishers too.
Your eyeshadow looks so good in this video! Also great video as always. :)
Thank you! It's the Too Faced Sweet Peach palette plus the Urban Decay Kristen Leanne palette. I've been trying to figure out how to use the purple/pinks in the latter and make them work :D
Alexa Donne I think it looks great too! It's like you your whole look comes from a limited edition Brightly Burning palette. :D
I really like your videos, you cover the spectrum of the writing life including more of the business side which intimidates so many, myself included.
Gatinha Bella if you think about it this stuff applies to everything. Music, acting, game developing. Everything has its ups and downs.
Really loved this video! Your personality was absolutely shining XD Thanks, as usual, for all of your wonderful information!
As a control freak, there is no way I could possibly go through that process. Basically, you are turning over your text and saying 'get back to me in a couple years'. I guess I just get so invested in my creative projects that I could not imagine simply turning them over to someone else to make all the decisions.
More like: Alexa donne, time saver.
Awesome, eye-opening videos!
"You can't control if you're on the NY bestseller list" someone remind Lani Sarem of this.
Honestly? This has me way less stressed because I work full time and can't imagine having to control all those aspects of a deal!
Great video! I loved your honesty so much, your make-up is really good, I love it how it shines your eyeshadow. You should make a video about how you developed your patience and other strengths that are necessary to have in traditional publishing. Have a blessed day!
VERY MUCH informative! Thanks Alexa! Although you did scared me a little; I feel like some things could still be negotiated, depending on your agent or publishing house (things like maybe having a say on your cover or title, things like that)
so many things on this list!! love your eyeshadow, by the way :)
12:22 Notice the cat jumping on the book and the cut where the book position changes? I don't know why I'm pointing that out.
Deadlines is the main thing I would struggle to let go of. If I feel trapped by a deadline, I will probably stress out/anxiety if I feel I'm running out of time.
All very informative. Thanks, I'm off to invest in more wine ;)
Love your energy level in this video!
12:20 incoming cat missile xD
Alexa Donne ruining my hopes and dreams is my favorite type of youtube video
I’m binging your videos lately!
The part about blurbs irked me because what if they don't make it gripping enough like i did.
Slightly unrelated question, but the internet has proven unhelpful; perhaps you know. If a book you signed your agent with does not sell to publishers, can you, as the author, self-publish that book? And if so, does the agent still get 15% of sales for that?
www.augustmclaughlin.com/self-publishing-with-an-agent-a-viable-option/
You would definitely be able to self-pub it, if you want, and in most cases your agent should NOT be entitled to 15%. It's key to check your contract (and not sign any agency contract that entitles them to ANYTHING you write while with them) and have a conversation with your agent. Most agents would never demand a cut, but they will usually offer to help with subrights for your self-published work!
Creative control is one of the things I've been told that we as the writer does not control.
Your makeup is GORGEOUS this video! Thank you so much for taking the time to post all this info. While none was surprising, it was a shock to hear it all listed like that! I would love to hear some tips on brokering a successful relationship with agents, publishers, marketing teams etc. Initial contact tips, dos and don'ts, etiquette type things, if ever you consider doing a video like that I'd be so grateful.
Ooh love that video topic! I will add it to the list!
Alexa Donne yay! Thank you!! So excited for it now! :) x
Really helpful video. Thanks.
Do authors have control over the final titles of their books? I think I vaguely remember hearing someone say that they don't, but that seems a bit odd. Is it a case-by-case basis that depends on the popularity of the given author, similar to what you mentioned about cover input?
The author typically has to submit the titles to the publisher, but then you have no control over a) which title they like and b) what they do to it. I submitted something slightly different from Brightly Burning, and they picked the ultimate title. It's not as bad with titles though--plenty of authors get to use the title they want, and it's not the end of the world if it does have to change (and you always have input in the change).
That makes a lot of sense. Thank you!
So helpful! Thank you!
Question: will a publisher ever ask you to make changes to or overhaul the story?
Arent most of these also true for the self publishing also? Like book sales, awards and such?
All the "cannots" is obvious except me not having any control on the cover. I cant even suggest something???
Thank you for making these videos, it is incredibly helpful! Related to this topic, I wondering if, as an author, you have any control over the environmental impact of your published book? Can you choose, to any extent, the materials (i.e., no hardcover release, post-consumer paper) that go into the publishing?
And people wonder why traditional publishing's product has been so uninspiring for the past 40 years.... It's not just that one "can't control" whether they actually do their jobs and promote the book; it's the fact that 90+ percent of the time, they don't.
It's amazing that people put up with incompetence, stupidity, and outright malice. If someone promised me a lead title deal (i.e., the only level of deal under which TP remotely makes sense) and changed their mind, I'd sue them for breach of contract.
Nine months to write a sequel is ridiculous. If these assholes want their author-employees (I mean, with right-of-first-refusal type terms and books never going out-of-print, they've essentially turned authors into gig-economy employees) to produce at a full-time pace, they ought to pony up actual full-time pay. Outlier megadeals aside, anyone who quits his job for a "career" (haha) in TP is insane, and no one can work a corporate job and produce quality at that pace- since literary fiction tends to have a revision intensity of 5-10 (i.e., the first draft is only 10-20 percent of the total work)
Man japan is even worse with their. Shonen jump manga. Not only do they have to create a story, they have to illustrate everything by themself or if they are popular, get someone else to illustrate. They have to put out 1 chapter a week. Most of the time they get little sleep or leisure time and get little pay until they become a big manga creator. There's also the monthly Jump which is that but now they get a full month which is better.
Can you talk about working full time and being published? Like if the publisher wants you to travel for a tour, but you work full time what happens? Love your video as always :) -Mel
That's a great topic idea, and something I can tackle soon! It's been really interesting juggling everything so far.
Question: If you are writing, lets say... a trilogy, how does that work when the first book is being published, or if you just started sending out the first book and waiting for a respons? I mean, is it normal to work on the next book while waiting for the first one to get accepted or rejected? And if you actually get a book deal with that book you set out to be the first one in a series, will the publishing company also be publishing the rest of the series, or do you get a deal for just that book? :-) (Also, great video!)
If you're writing certain things in certain ways, especially if you're not writing explicit genre fiction, publishers will often push you into changing your book into something that just doesn't work one hundred percent. And that lacking one percent can be enough to kill a publication's sales entirely. I know a great many books that WOULD HAVE been great if they weren't forced to be YA, to include the ever-present and ever-stupid love triangle, to tone down something in its entirety, etc, in order to attain or maintain their publishing deals. (There's a reason the biggest running joke with fans of non-YA and non-romance fiction is to just bluntly say "love triangle!" without much other context behind it! We're sick of them!) I'm not trying to claim any single one of these is "the" issue, not even love triangles, but not every change your editor wants you to make will actually improve your book regardless of "market research" or whatever... and that's something I wish more traditional authors were aware of.
And while I hold no malice toward any publishers, and consider them an unparalleled good and a very helpful resource (especially if you write either YA or romance, where the mythical love triangle actually works in most cases)... at the same time I do despise how rigid and shallow they can be with their opinions on what "objectively" works in fiction. Spoilers... Nothing "objectively" works in fiction. Not now not ever. This exact mentality is why once people graduate from YA age, they'll usually give up on literature entirely for basically any other form of entertainment - because literature has gotten stale and unoriginal, as a whole. Even many lit fans agree. Any truly inspired idea will defy all market trends, including long-dead trends. And if an idea defies market trends you'll be told it won't sell, and yet that's not necessarily a truthful statement. Every breakout hit was a breakout BECAUSE it defied market trends, not in spite of it, for example Star Wars was like nothing else at the time when it first aired in cinema. Now you can be a hit by following trends, but never a surprise breakout, and only with extreme effort and a careful eye. I would actually recommend authors who have a little bit of good will with their publishers try something unconventional every now and then, it won't always work but trust me when I say it does more often than you may expect it to. We lit fans (who like genres other than YA and romance) live and breathe for that stuff. All it takes is us knowing it's even there, which sadly has a lot to do with your publisher but even so.
So while you "CAN" control the writing. And while certain genres let you get away with more than others, namely sci-fi. It's always only to a certain point, especially if you want to write something either particularly dark or totally unique. You have to "give away" a small but undeniably tangible part of your control over your writing to get published in the first place. Becoming a writer who can just write weird, fun stuff because they want to is something a great many people in traditional publishing have told me is very hard. It's possible but not easy.
Again. Not that I despise publishers, I think of them as an overall force of good. But the mistakes they do make damage the integrity of the medium as a whole, and are the core reason lit is so unpopular with today's culture.
i have a question regarding control when it comes to editing. I know editors can make changes to smaller things, like grammar and description and small character related things and overall sentence structure. But are they capable of forcing you to make large plot changes? Like "This romance that is a crucial part of the plot isnt good. get rid of it" or "I dont like this character as a male. make him female." Is that something they can make you do? And if you dont, is there a risk to your contract? that is the only thing I'm really concerned about when it comes to traditional publishing. Thank you! Love your videos!
It's a very rare and super extreme case where an editor would ask for a major change, and usually when you get an offer you can have a call w/ the editor to discuss editorial vision so you know upfront about any major changes. I can only think of 1-2 editors in the business that I've heard ask for larger changes, and it's very case-by-case. It usually won't be anything like "make this female character male" but more like "this plot conceit isn't landing, figure out an alternative" and a writer has to rework an aspect of their plot by eliminating that trope/conceit. My editor doesn't even make drastic changes to my line level prose or characters--it's always totally in my hands to take or leave notes. I've not been asked to make major editorial changes, either. Most editors are collaborative and make suggestions, rather than demands.
@@AlexaDonne thank you! I really appreciate the answer! This has really eased my worry about this topic
I love this video. Have a quick question: How much collaboration do you receive with your editor (dev/line)? It is, "Here are the revision suggestions. E-mail me when you get done." Or is there more interaction than that?
It varies by editor! And I just got a new one, so I'm not sure of the process with her yet, but with my last editor, she provided me with an edit letter, which includes questions she had/things she wanted me to work on, and then it was up to me how to implement her feedback. We had a phone call to go over specific notes and I both ran my ideas by her, and asked about things I wasn't comfortable changing. She was really easy to work with, and ultimately the decisions were mine to make!
That sounds great! I hope I get an editor like her when I reach the publication stage.
what is a lead title?
Each season (publishing divides their book releases into seasons, usually by quarter), a publisher will have a few titles that are "lead," which means they will focus the majority of their energy/time/money on promoting those titles. Being a lead isn't a guarantee of success, but it often does correlate with stronger sales because the publisher is investing a lot into you. It's really hard/rare to be a lead title, especially at large publishers!
I’m listening to this and there further I get, the more I have to wonder.... Alexa are you ok
SOOOOOOOOO Many Negatives! Who in the hell would go through this torment???? Thank God I'm not. SELF PUBLISHING.........!
I mean, when it's what you want, the pros outweigh the cons. It's not for everyone but I am incredibly happy. YMMV!
Sem 😂
Six months?! D-: Does that not lessen the quality of the writing??? I've seen it happen to a few published authors in the past... I don't want that to happen to me! Lord have mercy!! Lol!!
How do authors of complex high fantasy novels manage something like that?
The tight timelines of "a book a year" can definitely impact the quality of the books, unfortunately. If an author got a lot of money for their book deal, they may be writing full time, and in that case, writing a complete manuscript in six months is still a challenge but more doable. In other cases, if an author is famous enough and has enough clout, they can push back on the the timelines and get more time to write. It varies. But if you're a baby debut writer with no clout, you just have to find a way to make it work. (or be late with your book and make your publisher super super annoyed with you)
*They don't care, because it's not about the art of literature for them. The traditional publishing industry is just like the traditional music industry: they don't care what trash they put out into the world, as long as it sells.*
@@AlexaDonne *It's wild to me that you encourage writers to join an industry that directly puts the quality of their work in jeopardy. What is so great about traditional publishing that you need them so bad?*
This video is amazing.
Nebulous is your favorite word :)
I feel like I was getting told off 😂
Most of these were expected, but you can't control your cover? That really pisses me off lol