Write for Black Library

[RobMac]

To be fair, Robbie MacNiven got a novel commissioned relatively quickly (a serialized one at that), and has his Carcharodons coming up. He got in through the submission process, even though it took him a couple of years of tries to get accepted. But when he did, things apparently went well.

I think that was in part because there's so much material that needs to be written at the moment. But Marshal Rohr is more or less correct, you need to prove yourself first to the editors, and that's done by submitting on time and to specifications as well as writing well - it's a business and a profession after all, not just an "art." 

 

And "a couple of years," heh, try ten, my first Black Library submission was for The Cold Hand of Betrayal anthology back in 2006 ;) 

[DarkChaplain]

Haha, I tried to keep it ambiguous how long you tried to get your foot in. Ten years is a long long time. I'm glad it finally worked and you didn't get completely discouraged along the way.

[HeritorA]

To be fair, Robbie MacNiven got a novel commissioned relatively quickly (a serialized one at that), and has his Carcharodons coming up. He got in through the submission process, even though it took him a couple of years of tries to get accepted. But when he did, things apparently went well.

I think that was in part because there's so much material that needs to be written at the moment. But Marshal Rohr is more or less correct, you need to prove yourself first to the editors, and that's done by submitting on time and to specifications as well as writing well - it's a business and a profession after all, not just an "art."

And "a couple of years," heh, try ten, my first Black Library submission was for The Cold Hand of Betrayal anthology back in 2006

Wow, 10 years! Tis a long time! By the way The Cold Hand of Betrayal was truly good!

[LaurieJGoulding]

I heard somewhere that their calls for submissions were some kind of ploy to stir up interest in the novels or something.

 

Christ, why did no one tell me that when I was Submissions Editor? I wouldn't have spent seven and a half months going through 2200+ submissions, and reading every single one, if I'd known it was all just a cynical ploy by my evil overlords...

 

(In case it's not clear, I'm being sarcastic. If you ever recall where you heard that nonsense from, give them a hefty nut-punch from me.)

[KramFoot]

Thanks so much for the update! I heard somewhere that their calls for submissions were some kind of ploy to stir up interest in the novels or something. And that Dr. Who did that too. But that's not true, right? I mean, some of you have found success through those calls, yeah?

I got through the first round this year and still waiting on a response for round 2. And I've never been published before. So yeah BL isn't doing this as a PR event.

[LaurieJGoulding]

The Editorial team hasn't finished going through "round 1", yet. I don't think that will be completed before I leave at the end of the month, TBH.

 

How long since you heard anything, KramFoot?

[KramFoot]

The Editorial team hasn't finished going through "round 1", yet. I don't think that will be completed before I leave at the end of the month, TBH.

 

How long since you heard anything, KramFoot?

I got a email on the 25th of May saying I got through round 1. Nothing since but I'm a patient guy.

[Kelborn]

Wait a second Laurie Goulding is in here as well? Oo

 

Well, hello there. ^^

 

Still checking round 1? Wow... Do you guys receive more and more submissions with each new call?

[Bonestomper]

Sorry, I realize you guys work hard at this and have made progress. Yeah, myself, I submitted a couple of years back about the Deathwatch thing and never heard back. I also submitted multiple entries (in separate e-mails); is that frowned upon? I couldn't find anything against it in the rules... Anyway and regardless, I didn't get a response.

 

But then I did get a response when I just wrote directly to the recruitment e-mail address in regard to a job listing that had said it had no expiry date. The kind person in recruitment said she'd track down the right people and pass my e-mail on. That was like a week ago. Anyway, I'm keen to give it all I've got in 2017. In March most likely, right?

[LaurieJGoulding]

I may have signed up here years ago, but I completely forgot my sign-in details, and I've changed email a few times since then... no worries. This is definitely me. I'm looking at my reflection in the screen as I type, just to be sure. (Profile pic is unrelated)

 

So, back in the day, there was just the one Submissions Editor - me. Then my managers realised I was better utilised elsewhere in BL, so the job became "whoever is available from Editorial, trawl the inbox". Now we have a much better system in place, which is our freelance liaison (liaison freelancers, not a liaison who is freelance) checks each submission against a set of criteria. If they pass those criteria, he reads it properly and checks if it at least makes sense. You'd be surprised how many don't.

 

If a submission fails before this point, you won't hear anything back. It'd be too time-consuming.

 

Then the liaison makes a pile of the submissions that have made the cut, and brings them to our weekly Editorial meeting. They get put in the middle of a table, and we each grab one at a time and read it.

 

If we like it, we put a tick at the top and put it back in the middle for another editor to look at. If we're not sure, we put a question mark and explain what gives us pause. If we don't like it, we put a cross and throw it aside.

 

Two ticks is enough to be "approved", or a combination of three ticks/question marks. A cross is an instant rejection.

 

Approved submissions get notified, and we work out the next step. Usually this is "Await our instructions", but it could be specific feedback like "You've not quite got the dialogue for Space Marines right, please make more formal" or "This isn't how the warp works, please check the 40k rulebook" or "Would this not be better from the Tau point of view?" At this stage we are inviting the submitter to tweak their work to make up for what we see as its weak points.

 

After that, we'd enter into a conversation to start a back-and-forth with that writer on expanding their sample into a full story. This is handled by the editor who most enjoyed the work, so you've got someone batting for you.

 

Bonestomper, it sounds like you're in that final limbo space, waiting for the rest of the submissions to be dealt with so we can enter the next phase with everyone. The guys who are already in that phase were the submissions from 2013, before BL joined Publications in the main Studio. THAT shows how long this process can take. I can't comment on specifics because I don't necessarily know the situation with everyone's submissions... but my advice would be hang in there and keep writing regardless of whether your submission to BL has yielded a reply.

 

(And no, nothing against multiple submissions - but we'd rather see one AWESOME and well thought-out submission than five mediocre ones produced in the same amount of time. If you have time to write three, for example, why not revise the first one a few times instead? Quality over quantity, always.)

[Bonestomper]

OMG! Thank you so much for that detailed, authoritative reply! I'm so inspired! Can't wait for the next chance...

[Kelborn]

Wow thanks Laurie!

 

Will there be another call in 2017? Can't wait for it. :D

[helterskelter]

So what happens if it's one tick and a cross? Does that mean outright no even though one guy said yes?

Not trying to be funny, because it seems quite opinionated, going off another chaps feedback off here a while ago, he was told that a thematic similarity was both good and bad (if I remember correctly)(also sorry for vagueness)

Because that approach in and of itself you could chuck out pure gold because someone put an X on it first/second.

Even ozzy threw aside zakk Wylde's audition tape (thank whoever picked it up later for saving a guitar God), maybe 2 crosses would be better than one?

[LaurieJGoulding]

I can see what you're saying... but there's only three Editors at present, and we're all pretty experienced at this. We tend to think along similar lines, although we look for slightly different things.

 

A cross would only be earned by something that breaks the IP, or really bad (or even over-written) English, or a solid wall of text, or just not understanding the concept of POV in prose. That sort of thing.

 

Subjective stuff like non-standard use of tenses, a unique twist that might not quite work, or just something quite unoriginal - that would get a question mark. (Three question marks would probably be a rejection, as that seems like we'd be teaching the author to write, rather than working with someone who already can.)

 

But from your example, if Nick put a tick and then I wanted to put a cross, we'd probably have a quick discussion. What did he like? What did I dislike? Has one of us missed something, here? Lindsey, what do you reckon, etc. We're not machines, we have opinions, but we have to have some kind of structure to this process or it would go on forever.

In fact, to clarify - if we got a writing sample that was excellent but a story idea that was garbage, we'd probably still contact that author. "Hey there, we like your style but that idea wasn't working. What else do you have for us?"

[helterskelter]

Thanks for extra clarification ^_^

[simison]

Hm, so the first time I did well but was asked to write up a new concept. Then the second time I received a failure notification.

 

So, at the very least, I'm always sure to stay within the guidelines. If you have the time, sir, I understand that the team is still working through the last bunch of submissions, but is there a time table for the next open submission? 

[bluntblade]

Failure notification, as in you strayed outside the IP?

[simison]

Failure notification, as in you strayed outside the IP?

As in, my work wasn't of quality, but within IP.

[bluntblade]

Ah, damn.

 

Just wondering LJG, what would you consider over-written? Or is that just too vague a question?

[LaurieJGoulding]

Bluntblade - that's a very subjective thing. Normally, BL likes prose to be quite straightforward, but you have varying degrees across different author "voices".

 

For example, Rob Sanders and Graham McNeill, I would say, are at the more descriptive and experimental in their writing, whereas ADB and Gav Thorpe are far more straightforward and conversational. Dan Abnett's writing tends to have a very pleasant middle-class English (almost aristocratic?) note to a lot of his characters and language, whereas Guy Haley has a lot more northern brusqueness to his. There's no right or wrong, and it's all subjective...

 

...but if I have trouble reading someone else's work out loud, that's usually a good sign that it's over-written. It certainly doesn't work for audio.

 

===

 

As for when the next submissions call will be, I reckon probably once the current batch is finished, maybe early-mid 2017? I don't know for sure.

 

DEFINITELY DON'T wait around for it, though. If someone wants to be a writer, they are writing all the time whether or not they have been commissioned. Start working on ideas now. Post your stuff online. Get feedback. Set each other writing challenges. Offer critique beyond "I don't like this".

 

And READ. Read as much as you can. Read all BL releases (especially mine, hur hur) and read outside of Warhammer fiction. Read the newspaper, read the BBC news app. Read journalism, read reviews, read fiction, non-fiction, everything. Listen to Radio 4 instead of music. Get a feel for language and speaking styles that aren't your own.

 

Don't wait for the bus. Walk to where you want to be, and start now.

[simison]

Thank you for the heads-up and the advice.

[DarkChaplain]

Out of curiosity, where'd you place Peter Fehervari on the prose scale? He's pretty experimental and his content is convoluted and deceptive, but a joy to read. How's that fit the picture? (By the by, get him some more commissions. The guy's a genius.)

[Mellow]

I could easily write a short story. Just need to figure out what prose means and then I'm good to go.

[Marshal Rohr]

I believe Prose is the guy in the original Darth Vader suit but I could be mistaken.

[LaurieJGoulding]

Peter Fehervari (agreed, great writer) has some amazing, dark ideas. I don't think his prose is particularly complex, though. That's a good thing - it allows the ideas to be more easily communicated.

 

If it sounds like someone trying to impress us with their use of language, it's not usually going to be easy to read.