Questions close at 3pm today, Thursday, EST. I will answer by Friday night...I hope. (I'm travelling this Labor Day weekend)
Go for it!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
#AskAgent 2
OK, topic today will loosely be self-publishing, since that's what we've been talking about this week. But feel free to ask anything, even if it pertains to your own project, so long as it's not a personal question for me.
Questions close at 3pm today, Thursday, EST. I will answer by Friday night...I hope. (I'm travelling this Labor Day weekend)
Questions close at 3pm today, Thursday, EST. I will answer by Friday night...I hope. (I'm travelling this Labor Day weekend)
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If I self publish anything that is not an English work of fiction, will that have any effect on later attempts to get an English novel published?
ReplyDeleteFor example: Will self publishing a volume of poetry or a romance written in Afrikaans, matter?
Les out of left field, will self publishing in one genre have a large effect on your chances of being traditionally published in a different genre? Or at least as large an effect as if it was the same genre?
Hi Meredith! I have a couple of minutes and wanted to get your opinion. In my experience, self-publishing success depends largely on momentum. You need to get books out quick in order to capitalize on the success of previous books. Because of this, many authors in my genre are writing novellas instead of full length novels. If looking to make the transition to traditional publishing, would this practice hurt their chances?
ReplyDeleteGetting a print book out there (at least in e-format) is getting easier, but there are so many other venues. If I self-publish a book and it does well, would an agent be willing to represent me to foreign markets, film, and audio?
ReplyDeleteDoes it help if you send an agent a personalized query?
ReplyDeleteI am considering publishing the first few chapters of my MG adventure book online in short pieces as a serial to try to build a following and possibly a pre-order email list.
ReplyDeleteCan you see any downside of this in terms of trying to get an agent. If I go to an agent with a per-order email list of X people will that help persuade an agent to work with me?
What would be a good pre-order mailing list number to approach an agent with?
Hi! It's not a self-publishing question, but it's one I've been wondering:
ReplyDeleteIf you query an agent, then revamp your work/query, what is the appropriate length of time you should wait before querying that same agent again? Or should you not query an agent twice with the same work? I'm thinking specifically about form rejections, where the reason for rejection wasn't clear.
Thanks!
Sarah
Many agents list "children's" in their AQC (or the like) repertoire. What is the best way to understand if they actually mean MG or YA or chapter books? Sometimes it's not clear and I don't want to waste their time or mine. Chapter books often seem skipped. They mention picture books, MG , and YA specifically but rarely mention chapter books specifically. I look at the agency websites and the agent's recent sales. Are there other ways to research?
ReplyDeleteThanks for answering a non-self pub question!
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ReplyDeleteWhat I asked last week, but this time on the right day :-D
ReplyDelete1) A 19 year old heroine in her last year of college- what genre would you call that? New Adult? Which houses are publishing those works?
2) Is it a problem to get a short story published by a small press if the characters are from a longer manuscript I'm querying?
Thank you!
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ReplyDeleteWhat is the deinition of historical fiction?Should a historical novel take place prior to the twentieth century?
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to stop in and say hello. I don't have any questions to ask but I think those above are some pretty good ones! I look forward to the answers!
ReplyDeleteHave safe travels this holiday weekend! Enjoy yourself!
Few questions on this one: A) about how long does it take to go from a finished manuscript to a finished self-pub e-book? B) assuming an author is self-pubbing to build some writing credits so as to attract the attention of traditional publishers, are their rules of etiquette to be followed re: pseudonyms? Is it kosher to, for example, just not mention to a potential agent past self-pubs under a pseudonym that flopped, or will the agent be cheesed off if he/she finds out about it later?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry, realized the cut off date for questions was yesterday =P
ReplyDelete@Christina
ReplyDeleteNo, your publication in another language, or if you served as translator for a project, will not really affect your English publication--since they're such different markets the sales numbers aren't as applicable. But of course do tell any agent/publisher about *all* of your publication history once they've expressed serious interest.
As to the question of genre, self-publishing in a different genre but in the English language will affect your next English-language publication. Particularly if it's paranormal romance to, say, fantasy or urban fantasy because there's a lot of crossover in those markets.
@Brandon
ReplyDeleteUnless you have some serious sales history (you do) it's difficult to get traction for a novella in legacy publishing, although more and more we're seeing publishers do novellas as ebook originals for their established authors.
@Angela
ReplyDeleteSee the posts from last week for more detail on this subject (or search the self-publishing tag). Agents represent self-published work for subsidiary rights, but you should only try for that if you've sold substantially--5K or more within a 6 month period or less. Of course, more sales and shorter time frames are more appealing.
@No
ReplyDeleteIf you don't actually know me (like we met at a conference, or we talk *all the time* on Twitter), don't bend over backwards to personalize the query. I just want to see that you know my name and that, more importantly, you've followed my specific query guidelines.
@Alex
ReplyDeleteSee this post for my feelings on excerpts posted online: http://merbarnes.blogspot.com/2011/03/you-want-to-blog-not-ruin-your-career.html
@projectzirconia
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah,
Yes, you can absolutely re-query if you've revised SUBSTANTIALLY...be honest with yourself.
But more importantly, revise your query (go to queryshark.blogspot.com). If you got a form rejection it's most likely that the agent didn't get far past the query.
@Kellie
ReplyDeleteAn agent that reps "children's" typically does both MG and YA. Unless an agent specifically says something about picture books or chapter/early readers (for ages 10 and under) assume they don't represent those categories.
@Deb
ReplyDelete1. "New Adult" is a difficult category. Some people don't recognize it because it's not a recognized category in bookstores, so it's safer not to use it in your query. Your heroine is young to be in her last years of college...is she some sort of prodigy? If so, I say make her 18 and call it YA. If not...I think you might have a timeline discrepancy (most people graduate college between 21 and 22) but it's an adult novel.
2. Nope, that should be fine!
@No
ReplyDeleteHistorical novels are any novel set prior to our time--say 10 years or more in the past.
The most defining feature of a historical novel is one that requires worldbuilding...as in you have to set up the time period because things are done significantly differently or culture is significantly different. So, for instance THE HELP is a historical, even though it's still in the 20th century, because the culture is far removed from ours.
@LupLun
ReplyDeleteA)It's impossible to say how long it takes to go from manuscript to self-published book because everyone writes and edits at different speeds. I would say, though, that your self-publishing process MUST include some form of beta reading--other people giving you feedback on your work. Even if it takes a little longer.
B)If you've had a book of any type flop and you're querying a NEW, totally separate project, don't mention the flop. If/when the agent offers representation and you have your call, let him or her know about it. If you're querying something connected to the flop (like a sequel or companion novel) you HAVE TO mention that the first was self-pubbed and give sales numbers. If the sales numbers are small enough that you don't want to mention them, you should probably move on to a separate project and polish that up to query.
Thank you Meredith! She is 19- not a prodigy, just a desperate hard worker, and with good reason (not as desperate as Judith Krantz's Princess Daisy, but close ;-)).
ReplyDeleteThanks Meredith!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for answering my question. Your answer certainly narrows the list, but that's good. I don't want to send to agents that don't rep. Thanks!
ReplyDelete