Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I plan on submitting to the Black Library. I've already read their rules, etc. and have been working on my novel for a while.

So my question...

Very unlikely or extremely unlikely?

Any tips from anyone associated with The Black Library would be appreciated. Thanks.

Did you mean this?

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Getting-Started/FAQ-Working-For-Black-Library.html#guidelines

General author advice is probably best. Look at the fiction writers over in the Fiction forum and see what they say. Be prepared to submit some decent work for critique and such.

Often, no-name writers are not generally accepted at first unless their material is good. Throw up some general fiction in said forum and see what others think.

read read read, write write write. - margaret atwood

make character studies. know your extended universe. use common plot devices. find a solid book on creating book proposals. all kinds of terrible copy is published on a daily basis, so even if you aren't atwood or hemingway (as so few of us writers are), if your plot and character-building is strong, you have a pretty good chance, if you put together a strong proposal of at least getting the attention of the editorial team.

but be prepared for rejection and don't let it stop you. if you want to or need to write, you'll do it regardless.

I know the window opens in May, any clues based on past experiences as to when it will close?

The submission window method they're using now is only a year old I believe. Last year it was about a month if I'm not mistaken.