Dear Duchess of Sharkington,
I'm currently querying a thriller, but I'm also working on a collection of dystopian sci-fi short stories. I can't imagine one agent being interested in both, so if I nab an agent with the thriller, how will she feel about me self-publishing the short stories? Is that taboo?
I'm not sure why you are assuming an agent who likes thrillers will not be an agent who likes dystopian sci-fi short stories.
In fact, on my list you'll find:
and you'll also find
I don't think that kind of diversity is the exception these days.
When an agent is interested in your work, you'll mention the other project. Some agents are quite ok with their clients self-pubbing things, others not so much. You'll want to work with one who is. But never assume that your work can't be sold either.
When I sign a client, I sign them for all their work. Sometimes that means calling in a co-agent. Sometimes it means getting help from friends. Sometimes it means things don't work out and the client needs a new agent. All of these things have happened. Cross the bridge when you get there.
"She holds a strong interest in Literary and Gothic Fiction, Horror, Paranormal, Adult Dystopian, Mystery/Crime, Thrillers (bonus points if they’re psychological), Historical, daring Young Adult, and narratives with philosophical undertones."
ReplyDeleteTaken from a new literary agent article on writer's digest. It is entirely possible to find an agent interested in both.
I confess to falling victim to the same kind of thinking: "Agent X might like this novel, but what if Agent X doesn't rep my current WIP's genre?" My antidote to this is to slap myself upside the head and remind myself that I'm still trying to get an agent for THIS novel. I don't need to be worrying about the next one (other than writing it) yet. First things first.
ReplyDeleteWorrying about the next one is "cart before the horse" thinking. When an agent expresses interest in "What else have you got?" is the time to have that conversation, not before.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a different agent for each of my projects I’d have my own baseball team.
ReplyDeleteI think uniforms in a nice teal would be nice, with caps in a soft yellow. I wonder if Nike would do our shoes. Do sensible heels come with cleats?
And the Earth’s gonna shake and the sky’s gonna fall.
ReplyDeleteSeveral lifetimes ago I started contemplating a Sci-Fi book of a group of scientists who left Earth so they didn’t have to turn over their new technologies to a government and change the face of war.
That developed into a need to build these scientists up and build toward that cusp. A series of three thrillers sprung up in my mind to accomplish this. I was wondering how to market that and had come close to believing that it would end up being broken along that sci-fi fault line.
Now I can see a candle in a window. I can put away those childish and trivial worries and get my mind right to finish the first one.
Perchance, perchance, perchance.
As I was querying, that definitely helped me narrow my focus. I specifically looked for agents who were into thrillers and sci-fi and found one!
ReplyDeleteI've got an MS that I think is more marketable than some of my others (werewolf book, I'm lookin' at you...), and because of that, in a way, I also think of it as my "foot in the door" with regards to agents. It doesn't mean my list isn't made up of people who also occasionally express interest in various beasties, though. It just seems like the best practice.
ReplyDeleteAs you said not long ago, Ms. Reid, the worst an agent will say is no, probably. Or maybe yell at you a bit via email, and in that case, you may not have wanted to work with them after all.