Querying after a less than steller debut

 

 

My debut novel sold very poorly, largely because the publisher is an indie press who puts 100% of the marketing on the authors' shoulders. I'm proud of the book and feel it deserved much better. 

 

Two questions: 1: When querying for my follow-up, do I mention the book? 2. If I do mention the book, will agents look up the numbers and be dismayed at the poor sales, and will that affect my chances? 

 

Is there another strategy here?

 

(1) Yes you need to make mention of it if only so the agent knows your situation.

 

(2) yup, you've got yourself a problem.

 

 

So, what to do?

 

If your follow up is a continuation of the story in Book #1, stop right now.

Almost no agent will consider a book that is the second on a series if they didn't sell the first one, and the first one sold badly.  The reason is they can't get editors to buy those books and they're not

going to invest time trying. EVEN if they love the books.

 

If your follow up book is not a continuation, you're in a better position.

 

But you need to query with something more than your new book and high hopes for better results.

 

It will help if you have a robust mailing list.

 

It will help if you have more than a few tepid reviews on Amazon.

 

In other words, if you're driving to the prom in your jalopy make sure it's in good running order and you filled the tank.

 

I've taken on authors who had self-published books that didn't do all that well. I read them before I signed the author, talked to him about why he'd self-pubbed, and knew I could get him a deal at a trade publisher. (And I did.)

 

So, all is not lost.

 

You need a really good book, and a strong marketing position, but it can be done.

 

You're on my mailing list, right? Right??

 

 

 

Blog post: publishing as a class project

 

I'm currently a student in a creative writing program, and as a senior project, we write a book. It's traditional in the program to self-publish that book on Amazon, buy some print copies, and give them to your friends to celebrate all your work in the program.

 

I'm just starting on my project, and I do really want to self-publish with my classmates and have the full experience. However, I've also read your blog enough to know that self-publishing should be done wisely. I know that anything I self-publish is unlikely to sell very well unless I put in a lot of extra time and effort.

 

Furthermore, I admit that my pipe dream would be to get a traditional publishing contract for this novel. But unless I chose to skip the self-publishing part of this program (which again, sounds really fun) I'd probably need to publish my project before any agents would even get back to me.

 

Which means I'd be shopping around a novel that's already been self-published. Aim at foot, shoot.

 

This program's project wasn't designed with these concerns in mind. Most kids my age probably don't care about future marketability. Me, though? I'm worried I'm going to self-publish a novel I really love and then have it haunt me forever.

 

Should I avoid self-publishing now, and hold out for a future traditional publish? Should I make peace with the idea that this book just won't go anywhere, and that I could sell something else one day? Should I take the leap of faith and see if anyone will pick up a previously self-pubbed book? Should I stop worrying about it, and (as I ended my question last time) put this whole publishing thing on a back burner and wait 'til I'm older?

 

Thanks again for all you do. It might seem like just a blog to you, but I truly learned so much from all of your writing. You really made a difference for me as a kid, and I hope I can put everything I learned to use one day.

 

You get an A+ for asking an interesting question.

 

I'm not sure there's a right/wrong answer here.

For starters, you didn't mention if there's a downside, in terms of your grade for the program, if you don't publish.

 

If it's going to mess with your GPA, do publish. Your GPA now has a higher priority than something which might/maybe/not happen down the road.

 

If you do elect to publish (for whatever reason), you can wait a suitable length of time and then take the book off Amazon.

Yes, it will still be findable for those nosy Parkers who like to suss out every youthful peccadillo, but the hell with them.

 

IF you want to query this novel at a later time you can say:

 

An early version of this novel was published as part of a class project in my creative writing program.  My mom bought the entire print run.

 

Publishing this before you query will NOT kill you, particularly if it's a class project.

 

Even I, purse-lipped rejector of previously published books, give young folks/students a break on something like this.

 

The reason for that is NOT that I am nice and kind (I absolutely am not.) It's that a project like this doesn't make me think you've exhausted the buyer pool. You probably aren't even IN the buyer pool.

 

Which means do NOT publicize this, tout it on social media, buy copies for your Christmas list, and DO discourage Mum from buying more than one copy (Good luck with that!)

Any questions?

 

 

There are always exceptions to rules and guidelines.

This is one of them.

 

 

Reviving previously published books

 

 

My question is about submitting a previously self-published novel to agents. It was 8 years ago and had zero promotion. After almost no sales, it was unpublished 4 years later.

 

Today, it has been thoroughly rewritten and has a new title and might as well be a new novel. You see my question coming—does this history need to be revealed to agents if I submit it?

 

 

That it might as well be a new novel doesn't mean it is a new novel.  And this is the worst kind of thing to try to skate around.

 

 

 

Readers are clever beasts and sure as shit isn't shinola, someone will figure it out and write a scathing review on Amazon or Goodreads, or worse, accuse you of plagiarizing yourself. (That this can happen is hilariously true.)

 

And then there's the matter of a publishing contract that has a little clause in the Warranties section that looks something like this:

 

the Work is original, previously unpublished and neither the Work nor any material portion thereof is in the public domain.

 

This is entirely negotiable of course, but your agent has to know to do so.

 

Just ignoring it is asking for problems and you do NOT want to f/around with the warranties clause in your contract. It will burn bridges you need.

 

So yes, you have to tell them.

Now, the question of course is when.

 

I can only speak for myself but even setting aside the fact that I do not take on previously published novels, if you queried me, I requested the full, read it and loved it and then you let me know this was a refurbished novel, I'd be VERY hesitant to sign you up.

 

If you're concealing this uncomfy fact, what else aren't you telling me?

 

And honestly in this day and age of morality clauses in publishing contracts, I am VERY hesitant to sign anyone who has skates on. 

 

 

So, if you intend to requery this novel here's the ONE thing you can say that will make it more likely an agent will want to read it.

 

"I published it eight years ago. In the intervening years I have built a robust mailing list of eager subscribers and have a thriving social media presence."

 

 

If your novel didn't sell it's probably not because it was terrible. It didn't sell cause no one had heard of it.  So, refurbish the novel all you want, but without a compelling change in your public outreach, it won't mean much.

 

 

The other strategy is simply wait until you have a publisher and a track record with them. It's MUCH easier to present something problematic when they know your books can sell.

 

 

Any questions?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Am I A Delusional Nutbag?

 

I have read your many posts on comps, and I am reading (even more) books in my genre like a crazy person right now. But, I have found that the best comps for my book would be Dennis Lehane's GONE BABY, GONE and Delia Owens's WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING.

 

Now, I'm an unpublished writer and this is my first novel, so it would be arrogant of me to compare myself to two best sellers (and I know one of these books is too old to use as a comp anyway). I'm in no way saying that I think my writing is on par with these two authors, but the themes, subject matter and structure of my novel really is a loose hybrid of both (accidentally).

 

I guess what I'm trying to ask, in a not-so-articulate way, is—is there a way that a querying author could mention this without sounding like a delusional nutbag? Is there a way, after mentioning more recent comps (that are as close as possible to my novel, but don't really convey what I've written) to hint at these other books being similar in the ways I've stated?

 

I think I may be losing my mind with this comp business.

 

You may be losing your mind, but you are not a delusional nutbag. Well, at least not to any greater degree than all the rest of us who work in publishing.

 

Your book may well compare in theme, subject matter, and structure to Gone Baby Gone or Where the Crawdads Sing, BUT.

 

But, the other purpose of comps is to show the size of the prospective audience.

 

Gone Baby Gone was the fourth book in an established series featuring Boston PIs Kenzie and Gennaro.

 

Readers weren't looking for theme, subject matter or structure when they considered buying the book. They were mostly looking to spend more time with characters they already liked.

 

As a debut, you don't have that advantage.

 

 

Where The Crawdads Sing is such an outlier that it's not an effective comp anymore for anyone. The chances of repeating that book's success are not high.

 

Plus, Where The Crawdads Sing isn't really crime fiction. Amazon lists it as coming of age, and literary fiction.

The publisher lists it as general fiction.

 

Gone Baby Gone is crime fiction.

 

You wouldn't want to use both of these as comps because they are on different shelves.

So, you're not a delusional nutbag, but you're not on the right path either. Figure out your category first then look for books that are:

(1) recent (pubbed no earlier than 2019);

(2) from a debut author (or close to it);

(3) from a trade house (ie not self published).

 

Any questions?

This is the reason there's a word count limit in queries.

 

 

My WIP is historical fiction.  It covers a year-long period during the American Revolution featuring real players and rare biographical insights I have uncovered from my extensive research, as well as narrative non-fiction-like accounts of specific battles.  The "fiction" part comes from the main POV character, whose fictional story (a composite of accounts) is interwoven among these real events, connecting everything together.  I would say the balance is 50% accurate history/50% historical dramatization.  My main goal is to introduce readers to some great unsung heroes from both sides and educate about this lesser-known saga.

 

I know query space is ideally limited to plot/stakes/first act, but since most agents will not be familiar with the events or people I am covering, I feel the need to explain the real history and why it's worthy of being written about.  I am afraid if I just present it as a standard fiction query, the true history I am trying to bring to light will get lost.  

 

For example, I would like to include something like this to introduce the agent to the real history behind the story:

 

Lt.-Col. The Honourable John Maitland, the son of the 6th Earl of Lauderdale, has been dubbed by military historians as the "Savior of Savannah" for his ingenuity in leading 800 troops from Beaufort under impossible odds, reaching Savannah ahead of the French blockade just in time to defend the town--despite having already lost one arm in battle and while suffering from malaria.  Even the USMC museum on Parris Island has a display memorializing this feat, despite the fact that Maitland was an "opponent." 

 

(1) Is it okay that I include a brief paragraph like this explaining the real history behind the story?

(2) If I do this, can I be forgiven for going over the standard query word count, or would I have to sacrifice precious plot/stakes space? 

(3) Or is this unnecessary altogether and I am overthinking it?

 

(1) No

(2) NO

(3) Sorta but not really

 

This is a textbook example of the value of an author website even if you've never published anything.

 

These kinds of explanations/elaborations/info dumps belong on your website, not in the query.

 

You need to engage the agent in your story first, not the history behind it.

 

If I'm interested in the story, I'll probably swim by your website BEFORE I request pages.

 

One reason I do that is to find out if you've self published this and "forgot" to tell me.

 

You can make sure I know to swim by if you include something like:

 

"My main goal is  I want to introduce readers to some great unsung heroes from both sides

 

Your main goal is to tell a good story.

Please don't hint that it's anything else.

 

and educate about this lesser-known saga.  There's more information about them on my website (listed below.)"

Under NO, ZERO, ZIPPO circumstances will you use the word educate in a query for a novel.  People do not buy novels to learn about things. They buy novels for the story. That they learn stuff is a bonus.

 

Any questions?

 

 

"Beginner mistakes"

Dear Madam Shark,

 

I was taught that there are “amateur mistakes” that will likely knock a writer straight into an agent’s circular file. I’ll leave out the most obvious, such as careless typos. The ones I’m questioning include:

 

Creative speech tags, instead of the almost invisible “said,” “asked,” etc.

 

Too many exclamation points.

 

When I see these in excellent novels, I wonder if, when these writers were newbies, they avoided these habits, but now that they’re well-known, they can do what they like? What are your thoughts?

 

 

 

If I like a book, if it has a fresh, vivid voice, an interesting concept, and the writer isn't a self-aggrandizing professional PITA, do you really think I'm going to let exclamation marks get in the way??

 

 

Hello, I'm an intterobang!

 

 

Of course not.

These are minor things.

 

Fixable things.

That's what editing is all about, although I'm not keen on doing copyediting level work on your ms. That's YOUR job.

 

Authors are quick to blame almost everything but the real problem: uninteresting writing, stale concepts and inter-personal communications that make me want to smack them upside the head.

 

 

If you're reading this blog, most likely you've avoided that third one.

 

It's much harder to assess your own work for stale concepts and uninteresting writing.

 

As to seeing those small errors in published books, well sometimes established writers get away with stuff that all y'all debut author cannot.

 

 

Established authors can write terrible books and hit the NYT Bestseller list cause they have an thriving fan base.  Case in point: the otherwise amazing Robert Parker started phoning in his novels at #13 or #14. 

 

Don't sweat the small stuff as Richard Carlson famously said. (Which is hilariously ironic if you ever had a chance to work with him, as I did back in m publicity days. That guy was as meticulous as they come.)

 

 

 

Recognizing when you ARE the exception

Dear Shark,
I am an author who has been querying my second novel for two years now. I have one published novel (originally self-published in 2014 but then miraculously republished by a press in Montreal) which has not sold much, alas, but has received great reviews and even an endorsement from Margaret Atwood.

My question is: Do I not even mention this in my query? Is this book, which I am proud of even if it didn`t sell much, hurting me? Some agents seem to indicate that past failures (in a sales sense if not an artistic sense) hurt you if you mention them, and you may be better off with a pseudonym or otherwise divorcing yourself from them.

Any advice you might have would be greatly appreciated.

Dear Chum,

What you don't realize is that a quote from Margaret Atwood trumps all.

And I don't think you realize that a publisher taking on a previously self-published book is quite rare. More rare than a Margaret Atwood blurb.

What you've got here is something a savvy agent is going to recognize as an opportunity.

Yes, you mention this. Almost exactly the way you did here:

I have one published novel (originally self-published in 2014 but then miraculously republished by a press in Montreal) which has not sold much, alas, but has received great reviews and even an endorsement from Margaret Atwood.

Any questions?

Selling rights to a previously published translated book

 

Have you ever received a query from Mongolia by someone who originally wrote their book in Mongolian, self-published that book in Mongolia but has now finished translating their book from Mongolian to English and would like to find an agent for their book in the English speaking market where it has not yet been published in any form?

OK, I don't speak Mongolian but I know you wanted blog posts that include Mongolia (now I've mentioned it enough, I think 😂).

Here's the reality and maybe it's a stupid thought/idea but sometimes I get stupid ideas: I wrote my first book in English and self-published it to KDP-Amazon UK and it is available in English, worldwide, and has been bought in at least eight different countries that I'm aware of. The ISBNs for all editions of this book (e-book, paperback, hardback) are mine - not Amazon's.

I am nearing the end of translating this book from English to German, and I am moving from the UK to Switzerland (German speaking part -> German speaking book market) next year. I had planned on just sticking the German edition onto Amazon as a self-published book as well, but then I had this thought: Would it be query-able for a German speaking agent? Like, what would YOU do if I queried you with an English edition of a book that was originally written in Mongolian and self-published in Mongolia?

The critical piece of info here is that you self-published it.
That means you didn't license the rights to publisher, you only offered the book for sale yourself.

If you had licensed the book to a publisher, an agent would need to see that contract to make sure you only licensed English language rights, not world rights.

If you license world rights, there's no deal to be made with you.
The deal would be with the publisher who now controls those rights.

So, you're free to query German language agents.
I have no idea how the domestic market works in Germany and Switzerland.
All that is handled by our co-agents who shop books there.

The ISBNs don't matter at all.
And most agents will want to take a look at the contract you signed with Amazon, just to make sure everything is hunky-dory.



Any questions?

Registering copyright (answering a question asked in the comment section)

I saw your statement not to copyright your material. The 1976 Copyright Act applies to original works whether published or unpublished, as soon as created and put in any reproducible form. The work does not need to be registered with the USPTO to be protected under state and federal copyright laws. Formal registration with the USPTO is beneficial in that treble damages and attorney fees for infringement, inter alia, are available.

 

For starters, let's be clear about who you register with.

It's the US Copyright Office, part of the Library of Congress.

Info about them.

 

 

USPTO is the US Patent and Trademark office.

Patents and trademarks are NOT the same thing as copyright.

 

USPTO is a federal agency.

Info about them.

And, moreover, copyrights can be assigned to a publisher, so I am very curious about your statement.

Secondly, you never EVER assign your copyright to anyone, particularly not a publisher.

Not even if they ask nicely.

 

Copyright is ownership.

A publishing contract is a license to publish. It does NOT transfer ownership.

 

A publisher "buys" your book only in shorthand. What they actually do is license the right to print it. 

Here's a screen shot of a publishing contract:

 

(This is one of those terms that a savvy agent looks for in a publishing contract, particularly those from small presses or periodicals.)

If you see a publishing contract that requires you to transfer your copyright, do not sign it.

You're essentially surrendering complete control of your work.

 

Publishers that talk about "Big 5" publishers taking your copyright are either ignorant of how publishing works, or trying to use your ignorance to line their pockets.

 

But the real question you want answered here is why I advise writers not to register their copyright before the book is published.

 

Simple: once you register, that's it.

If a publisher comes along later, the Copyright Office lets them know the book is already registered, and oh by the way, this is a copyright amendment and they charge you more than they do for the initial registration, and it's a big old pain in the asterisk.

 

If you self-publish your work, you DO need to register the copyright.

 

But if you're querying, you really don't.

If you have, for whatever reason, make sure you tell your agent when an offer is received from a publisher.

 

Like a lot of things, it can be handled easily IF the agent knows about it.

 

Any other questions?

 

 

 

Rights reverted to me, now what?

My debut was published in 2020 by a small press. The publisher just announced they are closing - 30 days notice, all rights and files revert to me.


I currently have an unpublished but polished sequel (same world/characters, dif POV) I've been submitting to both agents and publishers. With this new development, how can(should?) I restructure my query letter and approach?


(A) Should I keep querying book 2 and mention the situation with book 1? 

(B) Should I requery book 1 and mention I have book 2 ready and a fan base anxious to read it? 

(C) Should I just bite the bullet and self-publish both books 1 and 2?

First, yikesy yikes yikes.

This is very Not-Fun BUT it's also not the end of the world.

It's just a bump on the road, and the thing to do is gear down and hit the accelerator.

Vroom baby vrooooom.

 

 

The first thing you're going to do is make sure you have a robust mailing list of friends and fans. Demonstrating that there is a readership for your book/s is going to give your vroom-mobile extra clearance to get over that bump.

It sounds like you have that from question (B). Make SURE you mention it in your query.

Now, let's look at what you've got to sell so to speak: both books.

I assume you've queried book #1 and garnered some passes (idiots all of us, right?)

You do NOT want to requery a book that I've already seen. I'll remember. 

That leaves Book #2.

You query Book #2 but you also say you've got Book #1, rights reverted from X Press.

Some publishers will want to publish both books at the same time, OR republish #1 closely followed by Book #2.

There are lots of interesting ways that can be done.

Now, if you want to undertake publishing this yourself, make sure you know what you're getting into.

I can't tell you what your best choice is here.

Only you know what you want to spend your time on.

This might be the time for a very careful analysis of what you want to accomplish, and the best way to do that.

Fans want to buy my Instagram stories. Should I sell them?

I've started writing flash fiction regularly and posting them on Instagram. I'm really enjoying it and it's great practice for editing/tightening up my writing because of the caption limit. Also the stories are drawing interest from potential readers of my first book I'd like to query/publish when it's ready. Several of them have been asking me to let them pay for more short stories, or for expanded versions of the stories I've already posted. I'd like to earn some income from it, but my following is still small.

Here's my question:

(1) If I collect these 400-word stories as an anthology in a PDF to sell on my website, does that shoot me in the foot like self-publishing a book on Amazon with lackluster sales would?

(2) Would it hurt my chances of being a debut with my novel in the future and make me less appealing to agents and publishers?

(3) Does it count as a book if it doesn't have an ISBN?

(4) Or what if I send short stories through a subscription email list? Does that interfere with my chances of being traditionally published later?

(5) Or is all of this silliness and trying to reinvent the wheel, and I should stick to selling short stories to magazines instead? I've been reluctant because I write YA and teens are online. (I am aware that the stories I've posted on Instagram can't be sold as first rights.)

First, I like your idea of a question.
I counted five.

This reminded me of a scene from The West Wing when the NYT Science reporter is asking CJ Cregg about Life on Mars.

Katie: This is Ralph Gish, our Science Editor.
CJ: Hi. It's my pleasure. Why is Science coming to the White House?


Gish: Um, are you familiar with the Nasa Commission on space Science and Research?
CJ: Only to the extent that I'm aware that it exists. But I can take your question to the president's science adviser.

Gish: This is not a science question.

Gish: Is the White House concealing a report from the commission containing two different pieces of evidence of water molecules on Mars? Is there a report that's not being released? A report from the NASA commission on Space Science and Research saying fossilized water molecules were found on a meteorite-I won't tell you when this thing blew off of the surface of Mars--but that this report ...

Brief interlude while CJ yells at Katie in the hall sotto voce for bringing her a question of "Is there life on Mars"

Gish: Is there an existing report that says anything at all and if so, what, and will it be made public and if not, why, and if not, isn't that illegal?

Which I gotta say, is one helluva question!

But I digress. 

Here are the answers to your questionS:

(1) If I collect these 400-word stories as an anthology in a PDF to sell on my website, does that shoot me in the foot like self-publishing a book on Amazon with lackluster sales would?

No

(2) Would it hurt my chances of being a debut with my novel in the future and make me less appealing to agents and publishers?

No

(3) Does it count as a book if it doesn't have an ISBN?

No

(4) Or what if I send short stories through a subscription email list? Does that interfere with my chances of being traditionally published later?

No

(5) Or is all of this silliness and trying to reinvent the wheel, and I should stick to selling short stories to magazines instead? I've been reluctant because I write YA and teens are online. (I am aware that the stories I've posted on Instagram can't be sold as first rights.)

It's not silly to be careful.

Let's look at what you really want to know: are you going to mess anything up for future trade publishing by selling stories you've posted on Instagram?

Answer: No.

The question of whether you are a debut is one that can ONLY be answered by the folks who are setting the requirements of what a debut is. If it's a contest, their idea of a debut might be something far different than what the marketing department at GotBucks Publishing LLC wants to call a debut.

What these stories are very good for is building your fan base and your mailing list.

Don't worry too far down the road.

You're writing, and people want to read your stuff.

Maybe they'll be reading it on Mars one day!

When to query a travel memoir?

I'm currently about halfway through a 50-state road trip around the United States. I'm stopping in cities and small towns to talk with people about community and identity. There are many multimedia parts to the project (including an upcoming podcast series) but the ultimate goal is to turn everything I've learned into a published book.
I envision the book as one part ethnography, one part memoir. I'll be pairing the interviews and research I've conducted on the road with the personal lessons and growth I've experienced over what will be 18 months of full-time travel.

I'm looking to get this work published by a more traditional publisher, rather than self-publishing. I've been researching agents and preparing a book proposal and sample chapter. But, due to the combination of narrative non-fiction and memoir, I'm wondering:

When should I query agents? Should it happen now, with a book proposal like narrative non-fiction? Or should I wait until the project is complete and submit it like a memoir?

You want to wait until the trip is over to query.
You won't know what the trip is about until you've done the whole thing.
You won't know what the memoir is about until you've done the personal growth you're undertaking.

Use this time to build your mailing list.
An Instagram account with photos of your travels will woo the many of us stuck at home right now.

I'd actually be very interested to hear more about travelling during this social isolation, and seeing how different communities are dealing with this.

Of course, when I hear you're on a road trip, my first thought is this:

No Book 3 on a 3-book deal

Over a year ago I got an offer from a small publisher to publish a trilogy of books. The first and second were published but now I’ve been told that the decision was taken to drop the series and the rights have been returned to me. I would imagine it’s pointless to query other publishers to take up the series, which means I have few options: shelve 5 years of work, self-publish (which I really would not like to do) or, I’m toying with the idea of publishing the books one chapter a week on my blog as a thank you to those who loved the series so far and also as self-promotion. Is this another decision as bad as trusting a small publisher? I no longer trust my judgement! I’m writing another novel and hope to find an agent who will help me find a good home for it, so I don’t wish to ruin any little credibility I still have!


I'd really appreciate any advice you and your readers care to give to help me put things in perspective.

Ouch!
That's a whole lot of dream stomping there. I've been through this with some clients and it's very hard to find any kind of silver lining.

But, there's no reason you have to do anything with Book #3 right now.
In fact, it's probably better to let it sit for awhile while you regroup and plan.

Get started finding a new agent with the new book.
Then, with your agent, who probably knows a thing or two about this kind of problem, figure out what to do.

The LAST thing you want to do is post it for free.
That limits your options down the road in ways you don't want to imagine.

If you don't want to self-publish, please please please listen to your self and DO NOT DO IT.

Self publishing is a VERY hard task, even when you're all in.

Shelve Book #3, and you'll have all your options preserved for when you need them.

Rushing to help

I've been brainstorming ways I can contribute to helpful causes and the people doing them while sheltering at home. One idea I'm seriously considering is emailing one of my (unpublished and never-to-be-published) novels to people who show proof they've donated any amount at all to a charity. My questions about this are:


1) Is this even a good/feasible/reasonable idea? Am I being self-centered to think people would go for this? (If this isn't a good idea, you can stop here.)


2) I'd of course make a good amount of chapters from the novel publicly available so people know what they're getting, which brings me to a few sub-questions:


2a) I wrote, edited, and queried this novel over five years ago. I queried only four agents, got a full request from my dream agent that never went beyond that, and then shelved the novel and moved on because I knew I could do better (in terms of my writing). I have no intention of ever trying to get this novel traditionally published, and while perhaps not my utmost BEST work, I certainly don't think it's horrible and would make a nice bonus in addition to the fuzzy feelings you get when you contribute to a good cause.


That being said: if I query an agent with a different novel in the future and they google me and see the chapters from this novel, will they understand that I wrote this novel several years ago and have improved since then? Will they judge me only on the work I'm querying with or by this novel as well? Would this impact my future querying in any other negative way?


2b) Should I try to do some fancy link-only pdf when emailing the novel to people, or just say "screw it, we're in a pandemic" and give everyone a link to an uneditable google doc?

If you take to time to read and/or answer all this, thank you! And I'd like to say thank you for your blog and all you do—I've never commented before but I've been lurking since I was thirteen years old! Your advice (and yes, snark) has been invaluable.

Your question is very timely.
This is the weirdest kind of crisis that most of us have ever experienced because the best way to help is stay home!

When my neighbor's house caught on fire one night, all of us rushed over to help save the animals (we did.)

When the City of Portland faced rising flood waters a while back, the mayor got on the radio and said that public works couldn't handle this alone and thousands of people rushed to help sandbag the seawalll.

The first thing many people did upon hearing about 9/11 was rush to donate blood.

It's one of the best parts of us: when there's trouble, our urge is to help.

Except now, we're faced with an enemy that is best fought by staying home (unless we have medical skills or an essential job), not hoarding, not going crazy.

So, your urge to Do Something speaks highly of you.

Will agents understand context? No.

But this isn't really the question. The question is how will this be seen by potential readers? And I urge caution here.

People are VERY sensitive about folks who use a crisis for self-promotion.
And I fear this could be seen as just that, even though it's not what you have in mind.

This novel has value to YOU but not among general readers.
The idea of a gift is that it will be something of value to the recipient.

This novel is unpublished; the characters aren't familiar to us. We're not getting a bonus, we're getting a first bite at an unknown pastry. It might be very tasty, but there aren't any Yelp reviews to guide me.

Your instincts are spot on.
The rest needs some re-thinking.

The blog readers will like as not have some very good ideas here.

Readers?

When your past comes back to haunt you

I'm working through a backlog of queries this week and finding some really interesting projects. I've noticed however that some of you think I don't skulk around in your publishing past.

If you've been published previously, and tell me about it, I look up your book/s.

Which means if you self-published them, I know that and wonder why you didn't say that in the query.

Which means if your first book got six reviews, all of them bad, I see that too.

Which means if your last book was published ten years ago, and you don't have any social media presence, I see that too.

THUS:
If you've got a less than stellar publishing history,

OR

If that that first book with the terrible reviews isn't indicative of your work today,

Query Under a New Name. 
It's not lying.
It's not obfuscating.
It's not a violation of trust.

At some point you'll have to tell me, but it's ok that it's Not Now.


I am not actively looking for people who need career resuscitation.
I'm not sure any agent is.

Any questions?

"The money isn't the issue." ...oh, yes it is.

Ok, so this might be an odd question, but I’m genuinely curious.  By trade, I have been a video game developer and teacher of video game design for thirty years. Last year, I finished my first novel (a YA Urban Fantasy). I tried querying 4 or 5 dozen literary agents, but 70% never responded at all. The 30% that did respond, sent a form letter rejection.

This is probably to be expected. I have no track record as an author, no educational background in writing, and don’t have a massive twitter following. I get it.  By virtue of those unknowns alone, the chances of getting the time of day from an agent are close to zero. (1)

That being the case, I self-published my novel. For a brief moment, my book climbed to #4 in its category on Amazon. But of course, I know absolutely zero about marketing or PR, so after the launch spike died out, sales did too. I sold 400 in the first two weeks, and another 100 or so in the ensuing 4 months).  Interestingly, I have 22 reviews on Amazon (I had closer to 35, but Amazon has some oddly draconian rules about removing reviews for a variety of reasons). Either way, the reviews I have left on Amazon, most of which are from total strangers, are all 4 and 5 star reviews. This leads me to believe that the book couldn’t have been horrible, and that the lack of sales might plausibly be attributed to my non-existent marketing skills. (2)

So this leads me to today. The next book I write, I’ll have to find a way to connect with an agent. I get it that I still represent the exact same risks I did before. However, it also seems to me that given the Return on Investment calculus of the average agent, I might have considerably more flexibility than the average author. I have a good job that pays the bills. I am pragmatic enough to recognize the tradeoffs of business. In my position, since I don’t actually need the money from book sales, I’d happily exchange revenues for name recognition.

The typical agent fees (as far as I’m led to believe) hover around 15%. Given the risks I represent, that undoubtedly looks like a poor bet. But I’d cheerfully give the agent 50%, 60%, maybe more. The money isn’t the issue. At this stage, it’s about getting some level of recognition.

How would an agent react to that sort of offer? I’m just curious.

You've made some key errors here.

(1) your chances of getting an agent have nothing to do with track record, education or social media. It's about the writing first, and whether I can sell the book second.

Urban fantasy is not a growing category.

In fact it's shrinking.

Unless you are spectacularly fresh and new, have turned the category on its ear and your writing is breathtaking, this book is a hard hard sell.

(2) Don't ever assume the book isn't horrible by the number of starred reviews on Amazon. A lot of people have really terrible taste.

Check out some of the one-star reviews on books YOU like to see what I  mean.

And books that are "terrible" often do well: The DaVinci Code;  Fifty Shades of Gray; Left Behind series.

As to your actual question: people who offer me more money to take on their books are insulting me.

It's as though I am a maitre d' and you'll get seated faster when you wave a $20.

I don't want to work with people who think they can buy their way on to my list.

Nothing earns a rejection faster.

Not even fiction novel.

I fired my agent, now what?

Dearest QOTKU,

Two years ago I asked this:  https://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2017/10/ive-got-offer-whats-agent-doing-while.html 

Today, I'm unfortunately agentless because I ended our relationship last week. Communication has been a serious issue for well over a year (I couldn't get a list of what editors have seen my book after repeated requests) and I finally just decided the situation wasn't going to get better and it was time for me to move on.

But move on to what? Without the list of where the book's been, which I still don't have and now will likely never get, I don't think I can query additional agents (can I?). Two others were interested in discussing representing me back those two years ago, but they wouldn't still be (would they?). I don't know what I need to do, what I should do, and what I even can do.

It's a historical novel and I do think it'd be better off being traditionally published, but is that even an option for it any more? I can self-publish, I've done it before, but not with historical fiction (my others are contemporary women's fiction). Do I look for a small press that might take me without an agent? Wait a few years and hope an agent'll want it then? Crawl into a hole and cry? 

What does a writer do after being agented? I'm researching another historical and partway through the second draft of a contemporary, so I am still working, and I could maybe get an agent for one/both of those at some point, but I hate the idea of letting this book rot on my hard drive. Any thoughts you have would be wonderful.

Here, have some bourbon. Medicinal purposes of course. This is #EpicPain.

And it's #EpicAgentFail

The good news though is an ugly truth: when I see agents who flat out refuse to share ed lists with clients, my first very uncharitable thought is the agent didn't sub anything.

So, you might not be in as bad a shape as you think.

Step One is get in touch with the agents who offered rep two years ago. Your query will vary from the standard format in that you lead with "I was an idiot not to sign with you" "I parted ways with my agent and you were interested in repping this book earlier." Obviously tidy that up a bit.

The big question from the agents will be: has the book been on sub.

Tell them what you've told me: you don't know. You asked for a sub list and couldn't get one.

Sidebar: if the agent you left is part of a larger company, you might ping the owner.  Failure to keep clients informed about submissions is a HUGE breach of AAR ethics.

AAR Canon of Ethics clause 4

Some agents will see that as an interesting challenge.

Some will see it as more work than they care to take on.

But the best course is to query something new, and keep this on the back burner. Once you've secured rep, and a print deal, all the problems with this ms will disappear.

The larger lesson here is that if an agent does not share info with you in a timely manner, be firm. It's your book, your career, and agents don't get to hide behind "I'm busy" for more than a week.

This is one of my weakest areas, and I have to work on it more often than I care to discuss.  I've set some standards for myself about how quickly I have to reply to things, and I'm sorry to say I don't meet them 100% of the time.  More emails than I want to think about start out "sorry for being a slackerpuss."

BUT, I may be slow, but I do get the info to them.

Which is why I think this agent didn't do anything and just can't bear to say so.

No response means no is not an acceptable way for your agent to communicate with you.