I’m hoping to announce some BIG news on the blog over the next few days regarding the fantasy novel I’ve been working on for the last year – ‘The Kirkwood Scott Chronicles – Skelly’s Square.’ But before then, I need some help from my fellow writers. Can you recommend any literary agents or publishers who are currently accepting submissions in the above genre? Below is a summary of the plot to help.
The book is set in modern day Belfast, Northern Ireland, and tells the story of our eponymous hero, a twenty something university graduate languishing in a dead end job, who has recently been dumped by the love of his life. He is also attempting to come to terms with a traumatic childhood experience and cope with crippling OCD which results in his life being controlled by a series of tortuous routines.
All that changes when he meets a mysterious homeless girl, Meredith Starc, who he believes holds the key to freeing him from the horrors of his past and present life. The two join forces and are hurled into an supernatural battle between ancient forces of good and evil, fighting for supremacy of the planet on the streets of Belfast. Kirkwood comes to realise that, in order to slay his own personal demons, he must first overcome an enemy whose power and cruelty the planet have never seen before….Colonel Augustus Skelly.
The book is part of a planned trilogy and is an urban fantasy primarily aimed at the young adult market, but accessible to anyone aged 13-103 and beyond. It’s a supernatural fantasy but firmly grounded in the urban setting of modern day Belfast where it tackles gritty themes of mental health, homelessness, addiction and self harm. It is largely character driven but contains dollops of action and adventure, topped with a sprinkling of Northern Irish humour.
Intrigued? Interested? Or not your cup of tea? Whatever your take on the above, any recommendations or suggestions will be gratefully received.
Black Thoughts 
Wish I could. But have no idea whatsoever.
I have heard you can self publish on Amazon… but that’s not what you want… good luck. I’ll stay tuned. 😁👏🏻
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Yes, that’s certainly an option I’m considering. Thank you.
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Strident publishing do YA books.
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Thanks for the suggestion.
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I will be reading this book when it is published!! Check your library for Writers Magazine, Writers Digest, (Magazines for writers) that sort of thing. They print publishers and tell you what each is looking for.
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Thank you very much. Great suggestions.
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My publisher, Pen It Publications is accepting. They are a traditional publisher, no cost to publish. They have a lot of integrity, the President, Debi Stanton is always quick to respond. They have a marketing dept. but also an added service that you do pay for, (Cold Coffee Press) and illustrations (needed for the interior of children’s books) is a paid service but very minimal. Illustrators are great. Check out my book pages of my site, I have adult and children’s if you want to see their covers. http://www.sandralott.wordpress.com
Their website is http://www.penitpublications.com
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Thank you Sandra. I’ll check it out.
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Another good resource is writersmarket.com. They have monthly as well as yearly subscriptions which is nice if you only need to use it for a short time. Plus it’s constantly updated, so you know the data is current. The search features are also good.
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Thank you very much.
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Id take any personal recommendations you get first obviously. But then, there’s probably over a hundred agents you could query. I like querytracker and publishers marketplace. You can also use mswishlist.com and twitter. You learn a lot about agent interest from twitter. They also do pitch competitions on twitter. That being said, I’ve yet to nab one myself but this is how people do it when they don’t have a specific “in”. You can track all of your agents on querytracker. It’s like having an excel spreadsheet. Good luck Stephen, I think you got this.
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Thank you Amy. Great advice. What are your thoughts on self publishing?
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I’m daunted by it. But at this point it is a very real option as I have not secured An agent. I still have 80 left to try tho. Lol. There are some bloggers I follow here that do it so successfully. I particularly admire Kent Wayne- dirty sci-fi Buddha. He is our genre, and he just has great style, organization and quite a few works out.
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I finished it last night 😳
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Congratulations! Bask in the glory, not many people who set out to write a book finish one.
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Thank you Amy 🙂
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A subscription to the Writers Market gives access to which agents and publishers deal with which kinds of books, latest deals, etc. You can subscribe month by month, so a trial is not expensive, and you can get a list of agents to receive your proposal. http://www.writersmarket.com/
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Thank you. A few people have suggested that website.
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I have not crossed that bridge. A friend of mine recommended checking out evolved press. They are very different from other companies in that they offer extremely customized contracts. check them out at: https://evolvedpub.com/ Evolved Publishing | Quality Is Priority #1 Evolved Publishing is dedicated to bringing readers the best material on the planet today. We scour for the best writers, the best storytellers, and we then mercilessly pursue them, forcing them into our ranks. evolvedpub.com
Good luck and keep us posted.
respectfully, G.P.Dickerson
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Thank you for the suggestion. I’ll have a look on their website.
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Hopefully you don’t lose to many readers 104 and older 😉
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It’s a calculated risk 😉
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I’ve nothing to offer other than I look forward to reading your book!
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That’s all I need to know Deborah. Many thanks 🙂
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Lots of awesome suggestions, I may bookmark this post for help in the future. I hope you find something that works for you!
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Have you thought about self publishing?
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I’ve certainly considered it. I actually…already made all the covers of the five books…should publishing not be something I do. I have a close friend who graduated in graphic design and she told me the covers look legit so that’s good to know.
Also, I just finished Ch. 11. I’m going to send an email with feedback for Ch.9-15. So the first half is almost done! I’m going to go over the questions you have for the readers at the end for that set of chapters just in case those questions were not specifically answered in the feedback of other chapters.
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Tor had an open submission system, the last time I checked. You could try them by snail mail, but they take a while to respond( at least six months usually). This manuscript sounds like their cup of tea.
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I just read about how you can type in your niche (fantasy novel) then + paid writing sites, and you should get some hits of things on the internet.
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Thank you for the suggestion.
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Check out my last post. There are more options out there than there has ever been before!
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I will. Thank you.
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