Finding A Home For Your Story

This will be pretty short and sweet today.

Your story does not fit with every publisher or every agent. Sure, there a lot of us that "acquire" the same genres, but within those genres, we tend to learn toward or away from different twists and turns of that genre. We have our likes and our dislikes just like readers when they go out to find a novel to read. Readers simply do not like everything.

One constant analogy I always like using talks about vampires heading to a party. While all of the attendees are vampires and the parties might offer all of the same things, the personalities of the vampires varies. The vampires that would attend an Avon/Harper Collins party are vastly different than the vampires who would attend a St. Martins event.

So, if you story doesn't fit at all places, how does a reader know where to send the stories to? It is all about the research. Read what those editors and agents are publishing and representing. Read and listen to what the editors and agents are saying in social media, blogs, vlogs, conferences and so forth. This takes time but it becomes pretty clear patterns will emerge.

This is how I operate when it comes to looking for homes for my clients' projects. We simply match the voice, plot and story to the right home.