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Originally Posted by ctg  No need to apologise John. You had to do, what you had to do and that's end of the matter. Although I'm afraid this is going to be a brief visit. So couple of questions, just in case you'll disappear again.
1. Is it still true that the publishers want 99.999% ready debut's before they write a contract?
2. What publishers are looking for year 2010?
3. Is there any trend in the genre that the publishers now prefer over the others? Like for example the Road (written painstakingly for the mainstream audience). |
It's always best to finish and fully edit a book before presenting it to publishers or agents.
There is nothing specific that publishers are looking for, it simply isn't that cut and dried - which is why editors usually reply to the question: What are you looking for? by saying: I'll know it when I see it. Market research is good, look carefully at books by recently-successful writers in your genre in local bookshops. BUT be aware that for every vampire-based urban fantasy or space-based SF novel you see, hundreds in the same area are turned down, because the prose, characeterisation and other basics aren't good enough, or they don't float specific editors' boats. It's a subjective business. And the answer to point 3 is the same. They know what they're looking for when they see it. No hard-and-fast parameters. But no one is looking for straightforward humorous fantasy.