Lit mag subs before querying or publication

 I've seen a lot of literary magazines and journals that take submissions for novel excerpts. Are those typically published novels only, or is it okay to send in an excerpt from a finished, but currently being queried novel?

Also, if the excerpt was accepted for publication (likely with rights reverting to the author on pub), could that then be added to the query bio?

Generally excerpts are from UNpubbed novels. Check the submission guidelines for the magazines in question about what they take. It varies widely.

If the excerpt is published, even if the rights don't revert to you, you're fine. In fact, most short story
collections include previously published stories.

How to query for this: write "excerpts from this novel have been accepted for publication by The Good Taste Review" or "excerpts from this novel have appeared in The Better Taste Review and The Carkoon Review."

And yes, you really should include those with your publishing credits in a query.

When your book is sold, you'll include "an excerpt from this novel in a different form appeared in The Good Taste Review" on the copyright page.

You'll also make sure your publishing contract acknowledges that excerpts have been previously published. 
Your agent will know what to do.


Having excerpts already published is something I view as a plus. It means someone else looked at your writing and found it publishable. That's almost always a good thing to see in a query.

Any questions?
 

Query Question: freshness dates on pub credits

Can I use that time I was published in the local paper in 3rd grade as a publishing credit now? I entertained the idea, because it put a smile on my face and almost made me laugh aloud. However, the more I explored the "yes" and "no" to this question...the less sure I became. I mean, I was in the third grade 11 years ago. Some authors, I'd imagine, reference their credits that are older than that. Surely that wasn't their best work and they've grown since then. Perhaps not comparatively to the degree of a child, but still.

No.
Pub credits are works that have been published by someone who chose your submission from a competitive field and generally speaking offered you a contract for publication.

Publishing anything by a third grader in the local newspaper is considered cute, not competitive.

If you put that in a query letter and I discovered it was something you wrote when you ten years old, I'd stop taking you seriously.

Don't reach for pub credits you don't have. If you don't have them, you don't. I've signed and sold a LOT of writers who had zilch on their resume other than "I want to be a published writer" and were smart enough not to say "I've been writing since I could hold a pen" or "I've wanted to be a writer from when I was in kindegarten."

A query letter is a business communication. Don't do anything that makes you look silly unless you are writing the next Captain Underpants.

Query Question: chapters pubbed before querying

I read your blog every day, and I have also gone through posts in the archive. Still, I could not find the answer to a question that has been bugging me for a while.

Suppose I have a novel (draft version) and my chapters are stand alone.

Suppose I submit the first chapter, which is polished, to journals accepting unsolicited submissions for fiction. Of course, I would mention it is a novel excerpt.

Suppose it gets published. My question is: in the future, when I will be querying agents, having one chapter out there, published, will be seen as pro or con?

It's seen as a pro. This is called a "publishing credit."  It's a Good Thing indeed. And you don't need to mention it's part of a novel in your submission to lit journals.

The reason it's a good thing is that someone else has seen your work, and liked it.  That tells me that you can string sentences together nicely, or at least have been able to do so in the past. That's reassuring when you're reading queries.

And for all you crazed rodent-wheel running authors out there: NO you do not NEED publishing credits in a query. It's worse to list idiotic ones (I won honorable mention in the XYZ writing contest!) than to list nothing at all.