Rare opportunity for Latino writers with a short spec novel

[La Bloga's regular Sunday columnists might not post today, due to other commitments.] 

 

Writers don't always know how long a story will end up. Sometimes what you thought would become a novel turns out shorter, like into a novella, or doesn't meet the minimal-length guidelines for a novel. And the market for short novels is more restricted than for novels.

 

I wrote one with a super title--The Enigma of the Grandest Gardener of Texcoco--that no matter what I did, would NOT grow any bigger than 20,000 words. For me, and those of you with a work of about that range, here's a chance to maybe get it published with a big press. Begun as an on-line and digital publisher, this is their first venture into print publications, and they state they encourage submissions from Latinos and others (the "underrepresented"). They have digitally published stories by Adam Troy-Castro and Daniel José Older, and stories with Latino characters, like Loco by Rudy Rucker. Here's the information:

 

Tor.com Imprint Submissions Guidelines

Posted on: May 29, 2014

The following guidelines outline how to submit fiction to Tor.com: The Imprint. They are different than submissions guidelines for Tor.com's short fiction program and Tor.com's non-fiction/blog submissions.

We will consider unsolicited, un-agented submissions for the next three months and will close submissions at the end of August. We are accepting agented submissions throughout this period.

What we're looking for: complete, original science fiction and fantasy stories of 17,500 words or more, with a preference for novellas and short novels. We are seeking stories with commercial appeal that take advantage of the particular strengths of the novella and short novel formats. We aim to publish titles in the adult marketplace, but will consider young adult submissions.

Ideal submissions will benefit from the careful and interesting world-creation that is the domain of the novel and the concise focus on language and emotion that the novella demands. We do not accept works that have been previously published elsewhere, works that fall below the specified word length, or works not identifiable as fantasy or science fiction.

Tor.com graphic from Daniel José Older story

We encourage submissions by writers from underrepresented populations. This includes but is not limited to writers of any race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, class, and ability, as well as characters and settings that reflect these experiences.

How to submit: Submissions should be emailed to carlDOTengle-laird AT tor DOT com. They should be in something approximating standard manuscript format and be sent as .doc, .docx, .rtf, or plain-text attachments. They should not be sent as plain text in the body of an email. Please send a ten-page sample for shorter novels. For serializations, please provide a synopsis of the overarching plot and a plan for the development of your work in each serial part.

Put SUB: at the start of your subject line. While we are very excited about unsolicited submissions, and have had excellent luck with acquiring unsolicited submissions for Tor.com’s shorter fiction program, please understand that we expect the majority of our catalogue to come from agented submissions. We do not accept multiple or simultaneous submissions.

We can find out how open Tor.com is to Latinos, blacks and indios, by submitting our stories to them. Vamos a ver. I would suggest you prep your MS pronto, before August, and get it in because their list will get filled.

Es todo, hoy,

RudyG

a.k.a. author Rudy Ch. Garcia