Welcome… I’m New Here! Hello all

[Glaiss]

Phil here (Glaiss is the name of my title character) introducing myself. I have spent a year and a half querying agents with my 250k word epic (yes, probably too long) alternate history novel, The Inspector. Besides being occasionally damned with faintish praise I haven’t opened any doors that route so thinking about self publishing though fairly clueless about it.

I also use Scribophile and have had valuable critiquing through beta readers there. I am not exactly sure what the analog to that is on Litopia but early days. Any directions from veterans here would be welcome, as in where would I post something like my query letter as an introduction. I also have a romance novel cooking, currently at 20K words. Friends and family find this hilarious by the way.

 

[RK Wallis]

Welcome aboard, @Glaiss Good luck on your self publishing journey. It's a very tough one (having been there) and I take my hat off to anyone braving how tough it is to market a book in a too-crowded market. Personally, I won't do that again.

 

[Claire G]

Hi Phil,

Welcome! I love both alternative histories and romances. Keep writing what you want to write and ignore those who laugh. In terms of getting feedback, @Sedayne can tell you more, but the Lab is the place to post your work. You do have to have given critiques on others' work first though (I think four pieces).

Claire x

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Hello Phil,

Welcome to the group. Nice to have you here.

As Claire said, the Lab is where we post query letters, synopses, and those oh-so-important opening chapters. And yes, you have to critique for others a few times first., but that gets you used to our method of doing it (as it's always useful to see the feedback others give too).
We also find that giving feedback teaches you as much, if not more, than getting it yourself. So it's an incredibly valuable tool to have under your belt. Which I'm sure you already know?

Further down the line, you can also bring things like that to the weekly Huddles, run by agent Pete. To attend you need to be a full member, but being able to get advice from an industry profession is absolute gold-dust.

And we have many people in this group who have gone down the self-publishing route and could advise you on the pitfalls, should you choose that as an option.

So, take your time, look around, get to know us. And hopefully you'll find what you need. x

 

[Sedayne]

Hi Phil @Glaiss

Nice to meet you. I hope you're having a nose around the Colony and settling in.

As Claire and VH say, the Lab is the place to be to share your work and get opinions, advice and suggestions for your writing. It's a multi-way thing and we'd love your insight on other people's writing too.

If you haven't already, it's worth watching this video to get an idea of how it all works.

Any questions about the Lab, drop me a line.
Looking forward to reading your work in there soon,
Rachel

 

[JoanUP]

Hi Phil!
I'm looking forward to hearing more about your Alt History epic.
I'm working on a historical novel (NYC, 1902-1915), am up to 100k, and have only gotten up to 1905...