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Writing is a magical act, but getting a book published can be very hard work.
Even if one's got a killer manuscript, it's often difficult to get a large publisher interested. Look at Pete Carroll for instance. Liber Null went through five small-press editions prior to Weiser's picking it up, and they took two years to get around to releasing it. Both Liber Kaos and Psybermagick came out in small press editions before larger publishers picked them up.
If you've ever wondered just why there are so many wiccan/new age books around compared to yer hard-core occulty stuff, it's because the wiccan/new age stuff sells - and that's what counts in mainstream publishing these days, for the most part. The big publishers these days tend to make marketing decisions about what sort of books they want to produce, and then go and look for an author who might be suitable to fulfill the brief - or rather, they'll approach an agent who's got a number of authors on his/her books who might be suitable for the book they've got in mind. Its not unknown for publishers to 'fire' authors from a project and draft in a new bunch if they think what they've submitted isn't up to scratch. I know of one publisher that went through four different authors on a project before they got what they wanted.
Publishers are less likely to take risks by publishing unknown authors. At the very least, they're going to want to see some kind of 'track record' - so having a long list of magazine publications, and maybe some self-published books which have sold well is always helpful for new authors. And having an agent is useful too, particularly if you're trying to get a deal with one of the bigger publishers.
Weiser's Submission Guidlines
Having said all that, there are always small publishers - Immanion Press for example who are looking for new authors. Capall Bann are a speciality press run by occultists - no advances, but they do pay royalties on a regular basis (so I'm told) and they've got a fairly wide distributor base, at least in the UK.
The other option is self-publishing, which is getting easier all the time thanks to "print on demand" technologies. Of course, in this scenario, you have to figure the distribution angle yourself, but this can be done over the web or through local bookshops. Here, it helps a lot if one is prepared to go on the lecture circuit to promote one's works, and of course, having some collateral to pay initial costs. But with self-publishing, at least one has 100% control over the look 'n' feel of a book, which you won't necessarily get with a publisher, as they like to keep production costs down, particularly if you're an unknown quantity to them.
There's a Yahoo e-group PaleoNova which is a kind of mutual assistance forum for magical creative-types, founded by Jim Garrison, former product manager at Llewellyn's - but don't let that put you off, he's a nice guy.
Fiona Horne's "Witch: A Hip Guide to Modern Witchcraft" by all accounts had an initial run of 60,000 units from Thorsons - but of course they are part of the HarperCollins Group, and won't even consider an unsolicited ms - everything they publish either comes from literary agents or manuscript assessment agencies.
Probably the best way forwards would be to make a shortlist of various publishers you like the look of, and then find out what their policy on submissions is. |
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