February Query Stats

Our first open query period of 2014 is over and the numbers are (mostly) in. Below are some of our submission stats. Clarity in a query letter is paramount, for the simple reason that we're much more likely to be interested if we can quickly understand what you're talking about. It was also quite tickling anytime an author belted out a description of their genre and market -- YA contemporary fantasy -- that let us know they'd researched and taught themselves what the heck those words meant.

Further, I love writers who know the difference between a dash and an em dash. Editors shall grant you a special place in heaven for exercising that knowledge.

If I had to boil it down, I'd say that sample pages drew me in for their voice, clarity of prose, and quickly established tension. Many sample pages did not have a hook at their opening, or they had a hook but the tension dissipated as soon as the hook ended.

We've been vocal about seeking more science fiction and more romance (within all speculative fiction genres), but neither was enough to tip the scales into a request. Nothing is an "automatic request" nor an "automatic rejection."

Of course, "the thing" that makes us decline a query or request more pages is far more difficult to describe than anything that can be quantified on this page.

Queries received in total: 64
Length of query period: 28 days
Received after close of period: 1
Received via Facebook  (where we don't accept queries): 1

Note: Not all of these number sets add up to 64. This is because sometimes a manuscript fits in multiple categories, or because it didn't provide info for a particular data set, or because we screwed up the tally somewhere along the way. Please don't get too nit-picky about the numbers; we're word people, not statisticians. Although we did love watching Numb3rs on TV.

Gender of writers submitting queries (as best we could tell by their names and occasionally by the pictures accompanying their email addresses).

• Male: 27
• Female: 31
• Unknown: 5
• Duo of writers: 1

Sub-genre of Speculative Fiction

• Science Fiction: 16
• Fantasy: 45
  • Primary-world fantasy (e.g. contemporary fantasy, alternate history, urban fantasy): 26
  • Second-world fantasy (e.g. high fantasy): 12
  • Dimension hopping (e.g. portals between primary-world and second-world): 6
• Science-Fantasy: 1
• Sub-genres we don't publish (e.g. surrealism, psychological horror, ghost novellas/novels): 5

Other Elements (as described by authors in the query letters).

• Fairy tale / retellings: 2
• Paranormal: 8
• Romance or romantic elements: 9

Form

• Novel: 56
• Novella: 6
• Collection: 2
• Anthology proposal: 2

Heavyweights and Lightweights. The sweet spot for a first novel is 70,000-90,000 words, generally speaking. Speculative fiction often opens that range up to 70,000-110,000 words. At World Weaver Press we also accept novella submissions. According to SFWA, a novella ends at 40,000 words, at which point it becomes a novel. But that area of 40,000-60,000 words is still a gray area in terms of how the story reads. Is it a fully satisfying novel, or is it a lengthy short? The feel becomes very important in these lightweight situations. On the far end of the spectrum, anything over 110,000 words really tips the scales for us. We start wondering how we can modify our usual print format to accommodate the heavyweight novel without pushing the paperback price-point beyond a reasonable place.

• Lightweights: 11 (43,000, 44,000, 55,000, 56,000, 58,000, 60,000, 60,000, 61,000, 63,000, 64,000, 66,000)
• Heavyweights: 5 (120,000, 138,000, 140,000, 162,000, 192,000)
• No weight (queries that forgot to mention how long the manuscript was): 3

Storytelling choices. Mainly I collected this data to affirm to myself that present tense story telling was not prevalent. It's a storytelling choice that can frequently backfire, making itself more conspicuous than useful. Whenever I notice it, I cringe. Which isn't to say that it can't be pulled off in an interesting, useful, completely appropriate way, like Michelle Lowery Combs did in Heir to the Lamp. But it's a challenge. I won't say that a query that comes into my inbox in the present tense has "a strike against it," but it's certainly batting with a handicap.

• First-person present tense: 6
• Third-person present tense: 3
• First-person past tense: 10
• Third-person past tense: 37
• Prologues (or other introductory passage): 6

Audience/Target Market. In terms of clearly identifying target market, remember those moments when the teacher hands back the quiz and says we'll be throwing out this score for everyone? A little less than half of queries did not state their target market. I can posit several reasons for this: foremost, that many writers/readers do not feel they need to note a difference between "fantasy" and "general adult fantasy." There was also confusion between young adult and new adult, which is not surprising as new adult is scooping out territory that was formerly YA or adult on either side. And there's no clear cut distinction. In young adult, the protagonist must be a teenager. However an 18 or 19 year-old protagonist can be young adult or new adult depending on what sort of problems they are facing, whether those problems are teen-problems or becoming-an-adult-problems. For example, eighteen-year-old Christina Sundy of Glamour has not yet gotten over high school in spite of the fact that she's already graduated, putting her story squarely in young adult territory. However, it's never accurate to say in a query this novel will suit both adult and young adult markets, because it won't. Sure, adults read young adult books, and teens read adult books, but in each of these statements the former is an age group and the latter is a target market; a book can have only one target market. If multiple age groups read it -- bravo! -- but just because adults read Harry Potter does not make Harry Potter a general adult fantasy novel. Some of the following distinctions are what our editors decided the real market was; the numbers for unnamed, incorrect, etc. are as found in the query letters.

• General Adult: 23
• New Adult: 8
• Young Adult: 17
• Unnamed: 23
• Blatantly mislabeled: 1
• Incorrectly claimed multiple markets: 9

Responses. Personal responses from the editors range from a single sentence to multiple paragraphs depending on what our editors could succinctly say as to what intrigued and/or troubled them about a query and sample pages.

• Requested full manuscripts: 8
• Requested partial manuscripts: 3
• Declined queries: 51
  • Declined queries that received personal responses: 17
  • Declined queries that received requests to submit future projects: 2
  • Re-write requests: 0
  • Authors who asked for feedback after receiving a form rejection: 2
  • Authors who refuted feedback provided in personalized responses: 1
• Acceptances: 2
  • Both acceptances were anthology proposals (Corvidae and Scarecrow), all novel MSs are still under review

Percentages

• Requested manuscripts: 17.2%
  • Partial: 4.7%
  • Full: 12.5%
• Queries receiving personal responses: 26.6%
• Queries of novels/novellas resulting in offers: ... none yet.

Stats on Requested Manuscripts.

• Author Gender
  • Male: 2
  • Female: 9
• Speculative Fiction Sub-genre
  • Science Fiction: 1
  • Fantasy: 9
    • Primary-world fantasy (e.g. contemporary fantasy, alternate history, urban fantasy): 5
    • Second-world fantasy (e.g. high fantasy): 4
  • Science-Fantasy: 1
• Form
  • Novel: 9
  • Novella: 2 (43,000 and 44,000 words)
• Storytelling choices
  • First-person present tense: 1
  • Third-person present tense: 1
  • First-person past tense 2
  • Third-person past tense: 7
  • Prologue: 1
• Audience / Target Market
  • General Adult: 6
  • New Adult: 2
  • Young Adult: 3

Trends. February 2014 was the month to submit ancient history based speculative fiction! Almost 8% of queries had to do with Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, or Ancient Egypt (or were heavily influenced by those times / mythologies).

Query Fail. Stats on query letters gone wrong. While #QueryFail isn't certain death for a submission should we see something worth pursuing, it does make it a whole lot harder to find that spark to pursue. We hold to the notion that a query letter should contain a "pitch" of the story (much like the paragraphs on the back cover of a paperback), some information about the story's market (YA, NA, Adult, what sub-genre of speculative fiction, word count), and maybe one or two lines about the author. This, as per our guidelines should be followed by a 5,000-word writing sample (i.e. the opening of the manuscript). We lay everything out on on Submissions page, and for the most part, everyone sends us what we ask and avoids stuff that we don't ask for.

• Query letters that didn't have a query/pitch: 2
• Submissions with a synopsis following the letter (without a pitch): 3
• Submissions with a synopsis in addition to the pitch: 2
• Submissions that did not include a 5,000-word sample, or included the wrong type of sample: 4
• Letters that referenced WWP's "other horror titles" when we don't publish horror: 1
• Letters addressed "to whom it may concern" that claimed they'd been closely following us: 1
• Letters addressed "dear sir" or "dear sir or madam": 0 --  A huge step up from years past, here! We love you!

Our next open submission periods are June and September 2014. We also have several anthologies that will be accepting submissions in 2014. And as always, check back for new releases -- the best way to get to know what a publisher is producing is to read the works they publish.