Interview Transcripts

Jennifer Lee Anderson: ComStar Media Wants YOUR Story! 5/19/05

Event start time:

Thu May 19 19:03:36 2005

Event end time:

Thu May 19 21:10:02 2005



Legend:
Questions from the Audience are presented in red.
Answers by the Speaker are in black.
The Moderator's comments are in blue.

Mary Rosenblum

Hello, all! Coming to you rather damply from the SOGGY Northwest...

Mary Rosenblum

Welcome to our Professional Connection online live interview.

 

Tonight we're chatting with Jennifer Lee Anderson, Managing Editor of ComStar Media LLC.

 

ComStar Media, LLC is a publishing company that was started in early 2004 to reach out to new or undiscovered writers and give them a chance to live the dream of a professional writer. As Managing Editor of the company, Jennifer Andersen spends her days communicating with authors, editing stories, and overseeing many aspects of the company.

 

This is a new type of publisher and I'm very curious myself!

 

Jennifer, welcome! I'm so pleased to have you here, tonight.

Jennifer Lee Anderson

I'm glad to be here

Mary Rosenblum

So Jennifer, how did you get into publishing? Did you start out as a writer first?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Yes, absolutely. I have been writing since I was 9 years old. I got into publishing

 

because of some friends of mine who were into it. It seemed like a better idea than selling my characters to someone else!

Mary Rosenblum

Do you still write, or is your creative time taken up entirely by publishing and editing now?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

I steal away some time to write, but by and large my time is spent editing other manuscripts. Editing and creating are two very different mind sets.

 

I find myself trying to edit my stories while I'm writing them now, so I have to really concentrate to write, but I don't mind that much. I know I'll get back to my own stuff. Right now I'm very focused on helping others realize their goals as writers.

Mary Rosenblum

Oh, don't I know that Editor and Writer are different mind sets! I keep telling students to Write first and Edit later! :-)

Jennifer Lee Anderson

LOL, yes, definitely. Otherwise you'll change it and "fix" your manuscript to death!

ashton

What genre do you like to write, Jennifer?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Hello, Ashton. Personally, I like to write anything that is a compelling story. I have written romances, dramas, and fantasy. Right now I'm more fantasy minded than anything else, but different moods bring on different creative streaks. :) Each

 

genre has so many interesting facets that I usually want to try many different kinds!

Mary Rosenblum

So tell us a bit about ComStar and what it does, if you will.

Jennifer Lee Anderson

ComStar was created with the author in mind. Because I'm running much of the fiction side of the company, I always think about how things we do affect the writers that are counting on us. We wanted to create a company that catered to authors

 

giving them professional editing and printing without making them sell their life's work to someone else. We wanted to give writers the chance to feel a part of the company and not just another writer among many. So

 

we worked on creating a very flexible busines style that allows the authors to really get to know the people working on their books. When a book is accepted, we cover the cost of editing, layout, etc. All the things

 

a publishing company should be responsible for, and then we fight to get those authors the recognition we believe they deserve.

Mary Rosenblum

Wow, that sounds good.

chekat

How do you cater to the novice author?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Hello Chekat. Yes, we absolutely cater the novice authors. Perhaps especially, although we do have some authors that are not novices contracted to us. We understand that every great writer starts from somewhere. You don't already have

 

to be Mark Twain, Stephen King, or Danielle Steele to write for us.

Mary Rosenblum

There are a lot of publishers out there...from the huge NY houses that are VERY hard to sell to, to 'vanity press' and POD houses like

 

iUniverse that publish all submissions for a fee. Do you want to put ComStar on this map for us? You are not a vanity press, right? You do

 

turn down some submissions, yes?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

We do and have unfortunately had to turn down submissions. Even some stories that are truly great stories had to be turned down for one reason or another. We never like doing it..

 

We want to be easier to get into than the NY publishers, some who turn away deserving authors, but we are not a vanity press that accepts everything.

Mary Rosenblum

That's good, in my book. Means you get more respect from the publishing universe and so do your authors.

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Absolutely. And we only publish the stories we believe 100% in and we do not give up on those stories.

elspye

Are there specific genres you seek?

Mary Rosenblum

Yes, perhaps you could tell our audience what you publish?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Hello Elspye. We are not genre specific. We will accept any genre as long as it has a great story and that story actually does fit into a genre of some sort. We have Christian Romance and Science Fiction and everything in between.

chekat

Do you accept short stories or do you only publish novels?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

We also publish short stories as well as novel sized stories.

 

I read your mind, Chekat! :)

Mary Rosenblum

Actually, I had a couple of questions from someone who couldn't be here tonight right along this line of discussion.  From Terry:

 

On your site, the Fantasy Anthology is currently closed. Are you accepting questionnaires for future editions?

 

Also on your site, a number of anthologies in the works are alluded to. What other types of anthologies are you currently collecting stories for?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Currently we are still accepting science fiction, super hero, and romance short stories for our anthologies. We are also asking writers to send in Christmas themed stories so we can see if there is any support for a Christmas Anthology for 2006.

Mary Rosenblum

Oooh...I'm chuckling...you just opened the door here, heheh.

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Should I be scared? ;)

Mary Rosenblum

Now you'll get all the stories people wrote for the LR Christmas anthology last year, heheh.

 

Maybe you'd better give the length guidelines!

 

These were short shorts.

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Great! We'd love to see them!

elspye

Could you give us your web site address?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Sure, Elspye. The web address is www.comstar-media.com. But be warned, it's in serious need of updating. We're moving to a new format and the transition has been slower than we'd like.

Mary Rosenblum

ComStar Link

speckledorf

Is there any specific theme to the anthologies? Or just anything related to Christmas?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Hello Speckledorf. Actually, there isn't yet a theme. I wasn't sure which genre we'd get the most support for, so I asked people to submit proposals for short stories. If it seems we're getting more romance or more mystery, then we intend to conform

 

the submission guidelines to that. I also wanted to mention that any short story idea that an author has, we're willing to look over and entertain the idea of creating an anthology around it. Our first anthology, a collection of were-beast stories was

 

created in such a way. And we're always looking for stories to be included in future anthologies we know we'll eventually have. So we welcome anyone to send us short stories, just go to the website to find out how!

Mary Rosenblum

What about payment, Jennifer? How does that work?

 

Royalties?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Yes, we give royalties. We do not, however, give advances, as we just aren't a big enough company yet to do such a thing. The royalties are different based on what type of book the author is working on (either anthology or novel).

Mary Rosenblum

That's pretty standard for small press. Very few can give an advance at all, and those who do offer a VERY small one. :-)

speckledorf

Very cool! I'll dig out my SF Christmas story.

geezer

What would the cut off date for submissions be?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Exactly. It creates a hardship that actually hurts the writer if we cannot afford to do something like, say, marketing because we've given advances.

 

We look forward to hearing from you, then Speckledorf!

 

Hello Geezer. Well, currently the website will say that the cut off dates have all come and gone, but we had some issues with our first two anthologies that delayed things for a while so we are now accepting until further notice. No reason to have

 

a cut off until we're ready to review stories. We have a News Group through Yahoo that can be accessed on our webpage...we usually put dates like that up on the group and make announcements like that there. But to answer the question, we don't have

 

an official cut off date just yet. Although I can tell you that the super hero anthology is about to be worked on, so we won't be taking submissions for it much longer.

roe

Is there a word limit in the guidelines? I mean do you do novellas as well as short stories and novels?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Hello Roe. There is a word limit. 10,000-20,000 words constitute a short story. 20,000-40,000 is a novella. Anything over 40,000 words is a novel.

 

And yes, we would publish novellas, but we haven't yet.

Mary Rosenblum

So what you're looking for is mostly 10,000 - 20,000 words then?

 

Anything shorter than 10,000?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

For short stories, yes. But they are just guidelines, they aren't rules. We'll take a story under 10,000 and we'll put a short story over 20,000 in the book...we use these numbers more for benchmarking than anything else.

chekat

Will you accept true life stories for the Christmas genre?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

I'd be willing to look over such a proposal, Chekat. I'd have to see the proposal before deciding one way or the other, but we wouldn't have an aversion to doing so. :)

tolkienlvr

Does ComStar do any YA or children's works?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Hello Tolkienlvr. We are really excited at the possibility of doing some YA and children's books. We've had only one proposal for such a thing, though. I, myself, want to write a YA novel but alas...I edit too much...lol. Short answer: We'd love too!

Mary Rosenblum

Cool!!!

speckledorf

Eileen wants to know if you are still considering the mystery anthology. And how short is too short for you?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Yes, we are still considering a mystery anthology, Speckledorf. I'd like to see a few more of our already proposed anthologies go to print before opening up that floodgate, but we do intend to do one. Too short is defined as not enough words to

 

tell the whole and complete story. If you can accurately describe your characters while making the reader feel something for them, describe your situation and resolve your issues within 3000 words, great. But it doesn't normally happen. So we really

 

just care that the whole story is being given the care and the attention it deserves.

elspye

You mentioned the "fiction side" ..is there nonfiction?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Well, we have been approached about nonfiction, but we have no plans to do nonfiction just yet. In addition to the fiction side, we have a game side. We are also in the market to produce roleplaying games (similar in vein to Dungeons and Dragons or

 

something of the like) and we've had a lot of success in finding writers for projects such as these. We are excited about the possibility of doing cross promotional books so that people who are playing in a fantasy role-playing world can also read

 

fiction being written for that world--or vice versa, where maybe you fall in love with a world and find that you can make characters and actually play in that world using our role-playing books. We have a husband/wife team where one plans to write the

 

novels and the other write the rpg books and we're excited to see what they come up with!

Mary Rosenblum

What are you looking for in role playing writers?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Someone who has a good understanding of the system they are writing for--be it d20, Action! System, or any other--and someone who is creative and willing to collaborate with us to make the project truly grand. We are looking for fantasy,

 

science-fiction, and super hero game creators, but we'd really be willing to entertain any proposals as long as the games are exciting and fun!

janp

Hi, Will you ever expand to a pet anthology?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Hello Janp. If by pet anthology you mean an anthology of stories about people's pets or in the POV of pets or something like this--sure, we'd consider it. But if that isn't what you mean, I'm afraid I'm not sure what is meant by "pet anthology".

roe

Do you take simultaneous submissions? Or proposals would be the better term.

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Yes, Roe...we will look over any proposals sent to us, even if one writer is sending a bunch. One of the things we pride ourselves on is that we READ EVERYTHING. We will entertain any serious proposal of fiction that is sent to us, we seriously discuss

 

the intention of the story and whether it is something that we believe will be good or better the literary world, and if we think it will then we write the greatest letters we can write to an author...if we don't, then we give them the common courtesy

 

to tell them no and why. We think that's very important. Otherwise people are left to wonder if we're interested and wonder why we aren't. And rejection letters can be great tools to help writers!

Mary Rosenblum

Good for you, Jennifer! And that represents a huge amount of YOUR time, too.

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Yes, it does, but we recognize that authors are giving us something very precious to them when they propose their stories to us...it's the least we can do for them.

janp

Hi, What about true stories about exceptional pets for an animal anthology—heroic  to comic?

babbles

Will you be accepting ms that are from an animal’s POV?  For example, a Black Lab who resides in a summer resort and has great outdoor adventures/

 

 

Jennifer Lee Anderson

I see, Janp. Yeah, we'd be interested in seeing a proposal.

 

Hello Babbles. Doing animal POVs sounds like darling YA books...really we would have to see a proposal and we'd take every book proposal on a case by case basis. If the proposal was rock solid and we could see that this story had potential to be

 

another Benji, or Black Beauty...certainly we'd want to have the chance to see that!

gwanny

My genre is hen-lit. Do you publish it?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Hello Gwanny. Might I know Hen-Lit by a different name? I haven't actually heard of that before.

gwanny

Chick lit for women over 40.

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Ah, I see. I'm actually not familiar with the genre, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't be willing to look over a proposal for it. If it was something we were interested in publishing, I'd get out there and bone up on the genre so that I am familiar with

 

its conventions and such. :)

eldoria

What is your criterion for evaluating a good story?

ashton

What kind of writing grabs you personally?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Hello Eldoria. My criteria for evaluating a good story is hard to put into words. After reading the story I take a look at character development and story development. If the story is solid and the characters are "real feeling" then I would think

 

the story a good one. It must have compelling drama and believability, even for things like fantasy and science fiction. Just because the worlds and races are fictional, the emotions probably aren't. After I read a story I like to feel sorry

 

that it has ended...I want to feel like I miss the characters and I want to think about the world and the drama well after the story has passed my desk. If that happens, it's a great story.

Mary Rosenblum

I think that's an excellent criterion myself! :-)

tory

How long does it usually take to pull an anthology together?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Well, it's taken almost a year to pull the first anthology together, Tory. We had some unfortunate problems with writers who felt they couldn't do their stories anymore or who had personal problems that prevented them from going forward with the

 

project, so we had to find some new stories mid-editing. But the second anthology hasn't taken quite as much time to get through. So I would have to say it depends. If everything goes as expected, I would say nine months would be about standard.

tory

If you like a story, do you contract for it even if the anthology is a long way from publishing or are we able to continue to market it?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Good question, Tory. I try not to keep a writer on the line longer than they have to be. If I'm not ready to publish the anthology, I won't contract them. Because our contracts are time sensitive, it would not be beneficial to anyone to do that. By

 

time sensitive, I mean that we write into the contract that if we don't publish the story within a given amount of time, say 18 months, then the author is released from their contract and we have no further right to the story. So when the contracts are

 

signed, we're pushing to get the anthology out in a decent time.

chekat

What do you mean by "real feeling" characters?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Well, Chekat, I want the characters to be 3 dimensional with thoughts, emotions, and agendas all their own. If the hero of the story is perfect in every way and never has to face a bit of challenge that he can't very easy handle and he never does

 

anything wrong, nothing bad every happens to him, and everything goes his way...he is not believable or real feeling. Nor would he be interesting. If the character doesn't significantly grow or change from the beginning of the story to the end, then I

 

don't feel like "real life" mechanics have been put into play here. Every experience you have makes you grow as a person...so too should the characters of a story grow.

speckledorf

What kind of promotion do you do for your authors and how are your books distributed?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Well, we use wholesalers like Ingram and Baker and Taylor (to mention a few) to help sell our books. We use conventions, book tours, and web retailers like Amazon. We try unconventional ways to advertise books, but we also are trying to tap into

 

conventional marketing. We have the books reviewed so that a buzz can be created about them, and we are always looking for an opportunity to make our books available to stores and retailers internationally.

Mary Rosenblum

That's very standard marketing, good for you.

 

Do independent bookstores carry them?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

As of yet, we haven't had a book get to the distribution stage. We're very new (only about a year old) and much of our beginning time was spent in advertising ComStar and getting the word out, plus building the actual business. But we have a book that

 

is going to print within the next week or two and will be going to distribution after that. I guess we'll have to see what happens. We have plans to approach libraries and smaller bookstores (which would be easier to get into) first to try to show a

 

market for our books before trying to hit too hard the bigger chain stores. So we definitely hope that independents will carry us!

elspye

Can major retail sites order them upon request?

Mary Rosenblum

Probably through Ingram’s, right?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Yes, Elspye, they will be able to because our books will all be wholesaled through Ingram and Baker and Taylor. All of them will be equipped with ISBNs and will be very easy for stores to order.

ashton

Do you handle the covers or does the author have some control?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Good question, Ashton. Both are true. We do handle the covers but we try to involve the author in as many decisions about the cover of their book as we can and as they are willing to be involved in. We want the authors to feel comfortable with their

 

creation, inside and out.

elspye

Are they trade paperback or hard cover editions?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

We deal mainly in trade paperback editions, Elspye. But we would be able to do hardcover if there was a market for it.

whistlin_smithy

Do you accept only agented submissions? Unsolicited manuscripts?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Good question, Smithy. You don't need and agent to submit to us...although if you have one, that's ok too. Our submission process works like this: Our website will have a Novel Questionnaire that you can download. You fill it out and send with it a

 

summary of your book (up to two pages) and a chapter-by-chapter outline. We look it over and let you know if we want to see more of it. If someone were to send us just the manuscript, we would email them and ask if they would go through the submission

 

guidelines and we would let them know that the manuscript won't be read. We don't do this to be tyrants! We just want to make it easier on the people who review the incoming stories.

 

Also, remember, when doing proposals, don't leave out the ending or the surprise twists! You aren't enticing us to read your book, but rather to publish them!

elspye

Could you explain how it works beginning with submission to acceptance to publication?

Mary Rosenblum

And is the proposal system the same for the short stories, Jennifer?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Well, Elspye, when I get a proposal, I file it with the others to be read in the order they came to me on days I set aside for that task. If I like the stories, I ask to see the first few chapters. If I still like it, I ask to see the whole thing.

 

Then I make a decision based on my readings and the readings of the other people who help me review. This is sometimes a long process. Then contracts are signed. After which I start the editing.

 

Only after editing is done do we spend any other money on the book because we give every author the right to refuse edits (giving them complete control over the manuscript) but obviously the less flexible a writer is on editing, the less able we may be

 

to publish the story after all. But when edits are accepted, then we commission artists, send the book to layout, and start the marketing.

 

And yes, this works nearly exactly the same for short stories too...only I just ask to see the short story instead of the first part of it.

elspye

Sounds like a great way for a new writer to get started.

Mary Rosenblum

No kidding!

 

Jennifer, I hope people here realize, how much work you are doing on spec for these books

 

and how much you risk losing all that time you've committed if the writer pulls the book before you actually publish it.

 

This really is a labor of love and I hope it really succeeds for you!

 

My hat is off to you, dear.

Jennifer Lee Anderson

That is precisely the point. :) We very much want to help new writers. It is a shame how publishing is sometimes who you know rather than the quality of your book. Therefore you can hardly get a break! We try to help writers get away from that!

 

Thank you Mary. That is very nice of you to say. :)

gail

ComStar seems very open to any authors with "good" stories to tell -- of any length. Other than the "content" exceptions listed in your guidelines, are there any genre types you will not consider? Literary? Character studies?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Well, Gail, I haven't met a genre I haven't liked yet. ;) We'd probably even do tasteful erotica if the writer was serious about making it a good story as well.

sweett

Do you require novels to be complete before sending a proposal?

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Hello Sweett. Yes, we require the novels be complete first. So many people out there have great story ideas...but we need to know that the person has the staying power to get it all down on paper...not an easy task all the time!

Mary Rosenblum

Oh, ain't THAT the truth, LOL!

elspye

From what you are saying a writer can take a risk with the

 

creative aspect of her work and have a chance to present it

Mary Rosenblum

Sounds like it to me!

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Yes, absolutely, Elspye. :)

tkat_2

Jennifer, did you have to study anything in particular before getting into publishing? I'm developing my own editing style, now that I know what to look for.

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Well, Tkat, the studying never stops! I'm constantly reading books on publishing and editing. I've taken creative writing and other writing classes at the college level. I've gone to workshops and most importantly, I read, read, read as much as I can..

 

The best advice I can give someone is if you want to write in a genre, read that genre. And not just a book or two...read up! You'll be glad you did. You'll learn something about the genre and about what it's strong points are and what it lacks...and

 

maybe even how you can better it! Never know!

Mary Rosenblum

Well, we're just about out of time, and I want to give you a chance to tell us what you have coming up in print soon!

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Well, very soon we have a roleplaying book named Kevin and Kell coming out, we have a were-beast anthology named Lycanthropes and a fantasy anthology named Tavern Tales coming out this summer. We have two Christian Romance novels, Tempered Hearts and

 

Tempered Dreams coming out later this year, and a science fiction novel called Flight From Eden that will likely be coming out in the late summer/fall time. As you can see, we're busy trying to get them out there!

Mary Rosenblum

That's great, Jennifer, and I really hope that ComStar turns out to be a great success!

 

I really hope you keep me posted on what you're doing!

janp

Thank you so much Jennifer. You're a shining light in this

 

in this dim bulb world of breaking in to markets

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Thank you very much. We appreciate your kind words and your opportunity you've given us today. I hope we can do this again!

ashton

Thank you for visiting with us tonight. I'll be rooting for ComStar!

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Thank you Ashton! We appreciate that!

roe

What a great interview Mary and Jennifer. I'm sure you'll be hearing from a lot of us very soon.

Mary Rosenblum

Jennifer, do keep me posted!

Jennifer Lee Anderson

I look forward to it, Roe. Thank you!

writeaway

Good luck with ComStar. Thanks Jennifer and Mary.

Mary Rosenblum

Remember, those of you who might have missed earlier facts, you can find out about submissions on the ComStar website.

Mary Rosenblum

I'll put the live link in here in the transcript.

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Thanks Writeaway!

elspye

It all sounds so good. Thanks for being so informative.

tolkienlvr

Thanks Jennifer and Mary!

eldoria

Thank you Jennifer for talking to us. I learned a lot!

Jennifer Lee Anderson

No problem, Elspye, thanks for your great questions!

Mary Rosenblum

Thank you so much for coming, Jennifer! We'll let you go, you've been a GREAT guest.

Jennifer Lee Anderson

Thanks Eldoria...anytime!

 

Thanks...this has really been fun. Goodbye everyone, and I hope you will write, write, write!

Mary Rosenblum

Good night!

 

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