posted
Whew. I have been one busy girl lately. I've finished the rough of my second novel and have the first three chapters polished to a fair-thee-well.
So I'm going to "shop" it to publishers. Now I just came across this quote (hope it's ok to quote Mr. Card, but it is after all on this same site):
Send this query package to all the sf publishers or fantasy publishers. Because it's a query -- i.e., you're not offering the book for sale, you're inquiring as to whether they want to see the whole manuscript -- you can query all of them at once.
Now I was under the impression that even with queries, if the publisher said no simultaneous submissions, you couldn't do more than one at a time. Is this advice standard to the industry? No disrespect intended, but it's quite different from what I had been told before. But I could obviously have been told wrong, too.
posted
Well that particular advice was also originally published close to 18 years ago in his classic book How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy.
He treats a query as a separate issue from submissions. For OSC, a query is not an offer to sell a novel but rather a letter intended to server as investigation of any interest the publisher might have in buying the book.
If they ask for your full, then that I think is what to OSC qualifies as a submission.
[This message has been edited by Matt Lust (edited August 04, 2007).]
posted
Also as a sign of the times, Card in his 1990 classic makes the firm claim that no agent should get more than ten percent but I highly doubt given the very small amount of money that constitute advances nowadays that he has probably adjusted his position on this but then again maybe not.
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posted
I think a standard rate for an agent is 15%. It all really depends on what you are willing to give. If you think they'll do a good job for you, or no one else is biting, it might be worth it to give more, or give up other rights. Or, it might be better to wait or go without an agent.
When it comes to queries, I believe you can query to whomever. Simultaneous submissions only apply to manuscripts. Otherwise, to wait to go through each publisher, it would take years to hear back from everyone.
The benefits of having an agent: 1. They can send your manuscript to everyone and accept higher bids from multiple publishing houses. 2. They can send to houses that only take agented submissions. 3. They know the people to talk to and who wants what. 4. They know if you're getting a good contract or not and how to negotiate.
posted
The problem is that most agents and editors consider any part of the actual manuscript as a submission.
You can simultaneously query with a description to as many agents and editors as you like, but if you are a new writer, you can't simultaneously submit even a part of the manuscript to more than one agent or editor.
posted
If they don't say "no simultaneous subs" you can submit a query, partial, or full manuscript to as many as you want.
But in general, go off their submission guidelines. Most will probably just want a query letter. If they're interested they'll ask for a partial (first 3 chaps, 30+ pages, etc) or the full.
If they ask for the full, they might ask for an exclusive read. Exclusives aren't normally in your best interest, but if you give in and say yes, make sure they give you a time frame for when they're going to get back to you--3 weeks for example. After which you can submit to other editors.
Don't be afraid of agents. Just be afraid of bad agents, and they are legion. agentquery.com is a great place to start. You can search for agents that rep your genre and query them first.
Even if you get an editor to buy your book on your own, you're going to need an agent for contract negotiations. And chances are a good agent will get you more money than you could on your own.
quote:He treats a query as a separate issue from submissions. For OSC, a query is not an offer to sell a novel but rather a letter intended to server as investigation of any interest the publisher might have in buying the book.
I agree that that is how Mr. Card treats it. My question is really, is that how agents treat it? Most say no simultaneous subs, and it seems to me you have to follow the agent's guidelines.
And incidentally, that advise may have originally been given in his book but he repeats in the the "lessons" section of this website that is much more recent, in 1999 or 2000, I believe.
Now, I'll be the first to admit he can probably get away with things that I couldn't even consider and I rather doubt he's out hunting for an agent, while I am about to start sending out submission packets to agents.
Most of the agents I am seriously considering do NOT only want a query letter, by the way. Most want at least some writing sample, which makes sense to me since you can't tell much by a one page letter.
So what are the opinions? Is Mr. Card alone in considering multiple agent queries (as opposed to the full ms) to not be multiple submissions?
posted
( Is Mr. Card alone in considering multiple agent queries (as opposed to the full ms) to not be multiple submissions? )
If you are querying agents, it's understood that you'll be querying simultaneously. Even if you're sending a query w/partial. My agent gets as many as 400 queries a week--so make that query sing. Not only can you tell a lot in one page, in most cases that's all you get.
But, if you are querying editors directly, by all means just use their submission guidelines.
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