Slashdot Mirror
Finding a Tech-Friendly Novel Editor?
Brian J. asks: "I've recently completed a manuscript for a novel that depicts a heist involving elements of the Information Technology industry. Basically, a quartet of laid-off technology workers think they're going to get revenge against their former employer, but it doesn't work out that way. I was wondering if Slashdot knew of author's agents or editorial staff at publishers who have an affinity for technology, especially technology fiction, to whom I could send a query letter."
Put the whole thing online.
Ask people to read it, and provide them the ability to post comments, including alternative renderings, page by page! They have to follow the rule of positive criticism (They must provide an argument for why their alternative rendering is 'better').
Then you can have all the editors you want! You could have forty pages of editorial credits! That's pretty high tech, possibly unprecedented! Good reason for additional PR.
Bet you won't do it, because your too precious about making money!
Hey, how about you give this novel to the internet, see what the response is, get famous for authoring the first(?) non-hypertext opensource novel!
Once you are famous, then you can get rich, if you get a good agent!
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Think of the four or five books that are most like what you've written. Look up the authors' names in Who's Who or Contemporary Authors to find out the names of their agents. Research the agents to find out if they're likely to want to represent other stuff.
Send them no more than about 20 pages, a chapter or two, with an outline of the whole and a promise to send the whole if they request it, which will make it look far less intimidating on the slush pile. Choose what you send carefully: it should be the part of the book that would be most likely to entice a read to turn to the next chapter, but should be easy enough to understand and read on its own (it shouldn't be too hard to get into). Remember that the reader is likely to toss it down within the first few paragraphs if it's not interesting, and that the reader almost certainly will not be technically oriented.
It will be on the slush pile; unless you've published short stories or done tv scripts or something that has already brought you to the attention of an editor or agent, that's where it goes, waiting for an editorial assistant or agent's assistant to get to it when they have spare time (which is why sending a smaller package is so important - it will look like something that can be knocked off in a few minutes. That's also why it's so important for it to be immediately engaging: if it's not, the EA/agent's assistant [not sure what they call these in agent's offices] will just toss it aside to be returned).
Finally, have patience. You probably won't get it published, and if you do, it probably will take a long time to find a buyer. Very few books get snapped up by the first agent or publisher who reads it.