Is my book too weird to be published?
This question may have already been answered, but I'm just making sure.
So, I'm just making a silly book for fun. It's short (compared to other books) but I'd say it's decent. However, let's say I wanted to publish it. Would it be too weird to publish?
The book I've been writing is about a boy who wakes up one day and finds out he is a fruit-loop (not sure if correct spelling, as my country doesn't have them). He is transported to a land of alive foods. Part of it has been overrun by an evil spork (spoon-fork) and the boy, with new fruit-loop friends, must save "Fruitloopia".
I think this is an original idea, but, as I said, it may just be too weird to be published. It's kind of like with Harry Potter: J.K. Rowling had to go through quite a few publishers to get her book published (or so I've been told). The only difference is it's about a piece of alive food.
If someone could answer this, it would be a great help (just in case I actually do want to send it to the world).
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/44833. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
2 answers
Nothing is too weird to be published. Truly, nothing. But plenty of works will not interest any of the publishers that currently exist. Even many works that are totally mainstream don't get published because nobody the author submitted to wants to publish them.
Assuming you fix the problem of using a trademarked phrase (Fruit Loops), your silly story could find a home. Any silly or weird or odd story can. If it's well written. No guarantees in the publishing business, but weird isn't a dealbreaker.
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I'd say, for a short book, pitch it as a young children's book. Imaginative and silly are great for that. Get rid of your trademark issue with Fruit Loops, come up with some other name that doesn't infringe. e.g "Flavor Rings" or "RingaDings" or something (and Google whatever you come up with to ensure it isn't trademarked also).
Edit your story to exclude anything inappropriate to young children, and you might even pitch it as a story that could benefit from illustrations. (Don't worry, illustrations are almost always done by artists the publishers hire).
The plots of such stories are usually simple hero stories with minor setbacks and fairly easily defeated villains.
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