Finally, the question many fans would like answered - what are your tips for getting a Buffy or Angel novel published?
This is a really hard nut to crack. I’ll give you the depressing news before I give you my suggestions. The depressing news is that if Lisa Clancy says she’ll read, it she will eventually read it. I have no reason to believe otherwise. It may take a very long time.
Her stable of writers is pretty much full, so the truth of the matter is that whether you’re great or not, she doesn’t really need you. But that doesn’t mean that she won’t feel she needs you if she reads the material and it’s really good. It’s a two fold process. You have to get her attention and you have to be good.
The best way to get the attention of any editor is to have an agent. Presumably most of the people that we’re talking to here aren’t going to have an agent going into this. If we assume that you don’t have an agent going into it, then I do have just a few dos and don’ts.
My number one don’t is - and this happens all the time - don’t presume that you know more about Buffy The Vampire Slayer than Lisa Clancy. I don’t care how much of an expert you think you are. Even if, by some stretch of the imagination, you do know more than she does, don’t presume that you do.
Don’t say, "I know that this doesn’t really work in continuity," or, "I know this isn’t something that you normally would have done, but my idea is so wonderful that I know once you read it you’ll realise that it’s the right way to go.".
If you suspect that it’s not something that they’ll going to let you do, don’t pitch it. Pitch something that you think is perfect for them. Find the idea that is absolutely perfect, not the most outrageous thing. Don’t do ‘risky’ your first time out.
Try to come up with the best absolute strongest story that you can come up with within the usual parameters of the book series. If you happen to get involved and things are happening, maybe they’ll pay more attention to your ideas - as wacky as they may seem at the time.
Don’t send them an entire manuscript and be able to write well. Sadly, most people don’t write well. don’t say, "My mum says that I’m a really good writer". Have other people read it before you send it in. And that’s it really.
If you are a skilled and talented writer and you know the show inside and out and, write down a eight to ten page synopsis of the entire story and three or four chapters and send it in. Then realise that it’s going to be a long wait. You may never hear back.
The one thing you don’t do is to contact anybody at Pocket two weeks after you’ve sent it and say, "How come you haven’t got back to me yet?" Because the reality is that it’s going to sit in a pile for months.
Also, please don’t email me and tell me that you have a great idea for a Buffy novel for me to write, or ask me if I want to collaborate on a Buffy novel with you. Or ask me to help you sell a Buffy novel. I can’t do any of those things. They are literally not within my purview. I have enough collaborators, I have enough ideas of my own and I don’t want to get sued by anybody! It’s not the way to break in either.
The last thing I’ll say is that there is no magic wand. If I had a magic wand, believe me, I would be using it on myself. And then I would go use it on my friends. That’s the truth of it.
