#on publishing

or; what HIMluv has learned in the past 15 years of publishing short stories!

This series is full of lessons I've learned in my writing career. As such, it can be rather specific in some ways. I write predominantly Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror short stories, so my advice pertains to those genre expectations, and those publishing experiences. As with ALL writing advice, your mileage may vary. Try it all, keep what works and lose the rest.

It's also worth noting that nothing I say here is revolutionary. There are a ton of amazing books about writing, revision, publishing, and leading a creative life. I'll share some of my personal favorites at the end of each post :)

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

Part 3: Publishing

The most important thing you MUST accept about publishing short fiction is this: YOU DO NOT CONTROL WHETHER OR NOT YOUR WORK GETS PUBLISHED.

Like, special editions feel a whole lot less special when they're everywhere.

And I know that makes it sound like I hate fun, but on the contrary, it's a major concern for those of us who publish. Those luxury editions are very expensive to produce, and major industry folks can make them affordable for buyers and profitable for their companies because they are printing huge numbers of them.

But when "luxury" features become "standard," smaller publishers really can't...do them. Like, there's absolutely no affordable way for a publisher the size of Duck Prints Press to produce editions like that. The more people expect them and come to think they're not special and luxury, the harder it will be to sell something any less fancy to them.

It's. a very frustrating cycle.

I, the phantom existence of my dagger, and my potentially record-breaking delay return to chat in reply to asks/reviews/comments in a series of boldly shameless rambles wherein I, Olivie Blake, am not writing. Today's topics include books I've recently enjoyed (1:07), some publishing ins and outs (3:13), rehashing creative anxiety (16:01), on whether I regret not finishing law school (22:34, THE ATLAS COMPLEX spoilers from 24:42-27:42), who is the most fight-worthy sibling from GIFTED & TALENTED (28:13), a bit about my 2026 book, DREAMLAND (30:40), and how to??? make??? friends??? (33:29).

Concrete example: I spent an Alarming amount of time while making this post debating on whether I should keep my habit of Capitalizing Random Letters. (What can I say, I read too much Winnie the Pooh as a very small child.) I decided to keep the capitalization, because I think it helps me be more easily understood-- but it also gets certain people to think you're cringe and make fun of you. I think it's worth it, but another writer might not.

And every Internet Maker Person has to deal with a series of tradeoffs like this. Do you talk about your political opinions? What about those political opinions, the ones that would definitely tick off part of your audience or get you doxxed by the Horrible Old Men of the internet? Do you talk about your childhood? What about the parts you don't want to talk about, or the parts that someone could weaponize against you if they wanted?

Do you just post links to your work and run? If so, are you willing to forgo the kind of intimate connection with your audience that Posting can help you build up? Do you meme and try to build a community? Are you willing to do the kind of work you need to do to welcome new readers/followers into that community, and if not, are you willing to let your work become completely inscrutable to anyone but your audience?

Dr. Tingle has publically spoken about why he* chooses to talk the way he does online, to wear the mask, and so on-- she's consciously choosing to play up aspects of himself that don't play nicely with society's consensus on Acceptable Behaviour. It lets her express those sides of himself, and brings in the audience she wants to bring in-- weird buckaroos who believe Love Is Real. It's an authentic expression of who he is. It is also, on some level, a curated performance. We're not seeing the full buckaroo behind the mask.

But the reason I made this post, and the reason I've been wanting to make it for a while, is that I don't think most readers know:

Every writer wears a mask.

Yes, even the Queer Vulnerability Folks who talk a lot about their trauma-- they've taken parts of themselves that most people hide and turned them into their mask. Even the folks who seem completely mundane and anodyne, or the folks who give chatty updates about their lives-- they're not wearing a very thick mask; it's a COVID mask and not a Halloween mask.

But they're wearing a mask, and as a reader? You don't actually have the right to see behind it. Because writers kinda have to keep a separation between who they are when they're performing for you, and who they are when they're alone, or they go a bit mad. Most writers will do you the courtesy of giving you what you expect-- they give you a persona that is very closely based on who they are in their workaday lives, that matches what you'd expect them to be from their writing, and that is passably 'normal' enough that you can fool yourself into thinking that the persona is the person.

I think people get big mad at Dr. Tingle because he makes the mask very obvious and literal. She doesn't let you sit confident that you Know Dr. Chuck Tingle (TM); he's making it very very clear that this is a persona he is choosing to use to interact with her audience. 'These are the parts of me that I want you to see, they're the parts of me that are the most important and the least palatable to society, they're the big loud queer autistic parts that ride off into the sunset, and that's what you get to see. No more, no less.'

So people get big mad and go "oh, this has to be a group of people Doing A Bit, Cynically", because that's the only way they can conceptualize a Writer Mask. But... no. Everyone does this. Even the people you don't think do this, do this. And the sooner you can accept that, the sooner you can take people's work on its merits instead of trying to judge it based on your idea of the person who created it.

Which leaves me with a couple choices.

The first is to go through it and slash as much as possible. I've already been through the editing trenches with this one, for literally years at this point, so I don't know what I could possibly cut. I'd need outside help to guide me but professional editors are way out of my price range. As this is setting up a series, I don't want to cut what is important in terms of character and plot development, but I'm so close to the damn thing that I can't see the forest for the trees.

Another option is to go the radical route and attempt to split this into two, shorter, books. It would require a ton of restructuring and I would have to rethink arcs and climaxes. This would fit my genre better, as it tends to have short books but long series. The problem with this option is—and you'll never believe this—I've already done this. This version is the cut in half version! Which is insane! Why am I such an overwriter 😭

The last option I can think of is to leave it as-is (or tinker with it mildly) and send it out to agents. If they reject me for length, then I'll know that and have a better understanding of what they want. But if someone loves it, then I won't have to do any kind of radical surgery to it. The only thing I would lose at that point is time, which is not of concern to me, as I'm diligently working on the sequels.

Editing is a weird career.

Really, I started as a writer. Like, when I was eleven. In jr. high and high school, I was in a writing critique group and I wrote a lot. I graduated from university with a degree in theatre, film, and creative writing. I was often the person my friends came to when they needed help with a paper (or the correct placement of a semicolon). I've been involved in fandom since I was about 17, and I was very fortunate to fall in with a group of excellent writers who were also excellent betas and editors. I learned a TON from them without realizing how much I was learning.

I started editing by accident, really. Sometimes, that's how it happens. I mostly got gigs here and there through friends or word of mouth. About ten years ago, I got more serious about it. I worked for companies that paid horribly. Then I did an editing test for a company that paid less horribly, and they hired me. After a couple of years editing countless academic papers, ESL academic papers, novels, emails, business documents, etc., I decided to branch out on my own (mostly so I could work on more fiction; I was burned out on academic papers).

I joined Editors Canada, started volunteering with them, got a lot more experience, and took a few continuing ed courses to gauge where my skills were at and to determine if I needed to upgrade my education. I decided I didn't need to do that, because I already knew the things I was being taught.

I read a lot of books on editing, writing, and craft. I familiarized myself with the Chicago Manual of Style, APA, MLA, and a couple of other style guides. I learned the differences in spelling, punctuation, and style between US, UK, and Canadian English. I went to webinars, conferences, and courses (all the major editing associations offer these, usually cheaper or free for members; they are a great way to determine what kinds of editing you actually LIKE). I learned the difference between rules and preferences, and when to apply them to a text.

I work freelance, which means I have my own business as a sole proprietor. I'm a contractor with a couple of companies who sometimes send work my way, but most of my clients are individual writers planning to either self-publish or polish their work before seeking traditional publication via the agent/tradpub route.

Freelancing has many perks but is not particularly secure. Especially if you're American and need an employer to provide health insurance, or if you're single and don't have another income to lean on when contracts are scarce. These days, most of my work comes via referrals, my website, or the listing I have in the Editors Canada directory. I follow a couple of editing-related Facebook groups; I've learned a lot there, and I've also picked up the occasional client. A couple of people have found me through LinkedIn. A couple of people have found me through here!

I've never worked in-house for a publisher--mostly because having control over how many hours I work and when I work them is my top priority. In-house is a whole different ballgame; I know a bit about it from my peers, but I don't have firsthand experience to pass on. These jobs are supposedly more secure--and they tend to be salaried, with benefits, etc.

"Editing" is a GIANT umbrella term. There are SO many types of editing out there. People tend to think of book publishing first, but that's only one avenue. There are also different kinds of editors who tackle different types of problems. I've done enough of everything to recognize that I am much happier when I'm working on big picture stuff--coaching, developmental editing, manuscript critique. Others specialize in the nitty gritty mechanical details that make proofreading or copy editing a better fit.

Right now, the bulk of my work life is actually spent ghostwriting. The client's business-materials editor posted that his client was looking for someone to help with characterization in a novel. I ended up winning that contract. He came to me with one monster book. I helped him realize it needed to be at least a trilogy, and now he has plans for a ten-book series--and I'm helping write it. But I got the job because of the work I've done on the development side of editing--and because I've spent SO MUCH TIME learning about characterization (via acting, fandom/writing fanfic, reading, etc.). So. It all feeds into the same place.

The tl;dr is that my experience has been a bizarre mix of being in the right place at the right time, ongoing professional development, and learning the value of volunteering with an association. If I were starting down this career path right now, I'd probably do an editing certificate (there are many out there, depending on country). I'd definitely join an association sooner (even as a student member) and volunteer.