The real question is whether to write it, and the answer is yes. Always write your heart first. You never know what you're going to learn, or what opportunities will present themselves. This way you have two books instead of one ready to go for when some smart editor sees them.
Friday, June 08, 2012
Friday Night at the Question Emporium
A few years ago I wrote a book that got picked up by a very good agent but didn't sell. After leaving the agent, I went on to write other unrelated books, but lately I decided to write a sequel to that first book. This is a true love book, and I have no desire to make it anything but a sequel. Is it possible to query this book, knowing it can't stand alone? Should I shelve it and keep querying other things? Self-publish?
Writing is first a creative act, then a business.
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5 comments:
Thank you! I really needed to be reminded of this today. I'm starting to get depressed about ever selling the first book in a series while I'm working on the third! It's been a forehead-meets-wall kind of day.
But even if it's completed, revised, etc., should it be queried? Or just set aside in the hopes that one day the series will get picked up by way of another, unrelated book?
This is so very true. For me it's impossible to write something my heart doesn't desire. If only there wasn't the little matter of having enough money for shoes and handbags…
Helena
Thanks for the reminder. Sometimes the swirling thoughts of business crowd out the creative voice in my brain.
Yes, yes, this is how we all got started, by loving to WRITE. In my writing classes I say over and over again, "don't write to make money (most likely you won't) write because you HAVE to and you LOVE TO."
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