So, this is actually for my partner, who doesn't use social media at all, but she's written a book, and is working on more, but is really struggling getting anything at all from publishing companies. Rare to even get a 'no' response, mostly just ghosting.

Not sure if anyone has any kind of advice; she did set up a website, and has some of the first few chapters posted, and is perhaps considering giving the webserial format a try. But in general, struggling with mental health of having accomplished a cool thing, and now doing the 'business' side of it, and realizing how soulcrushing it all is.

A loooot of the authors we've seen talk about getting their start either knew a publisher already, or had a family connection, and its pretty hard to not feel cynical, even if the authors are genuinely good writers.

FWIW, genre is basically YA fantasy, but gayer.

  • ssjmarx [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Lindsay Ellis spent like ten years writing her book, and then two getting it published, despite being a pretty popular YouTuber and seemingly having a lot of fan clout behind her. So I can't offer any advice besides keep trying, especially with indie publishers since they tend to be more specific (ie find a publisher that specifically does YA LGBT fiction, I'm sure there are a few that exist).