You’re an author with lots of talent and a great idea! You know the market and are confident your story will work. There’s plenty of plot to make word count. So why not sell on proposal?
Selling on proposal seems ideal, but might not be a good idea for the new author. Why not?
Pacing
A new author can’t necessarily gauge how long it will take to write a book. Perhaps the first book rode like the wind. The author was excited, and chapters poured onto the screen. But book two might not go as well. Writing it may feel like a chore, and take an extra six months. Or it may go even better as the author maintains excitement. But it’s hard to know without having the experience of writing at least two or three books behind you. Before I became a published book author, I wrote three complete novels and started two others. They will never see the light of day, at least not in their present form. Despite majoring in journalism in college, meaning I had formal training, the experience was nevertheless a crucial part of my process.
Ahead of the Game
One great thing about having the first novel completed upon contract is that you don’t have to hurry to write the first book! Not only that, but there’s a strong chance the editor can place your book on the roster in a hurry, jump-starting that first published book. Regardless, you can write the second book during the publishing process of the first book, leaving you with plenty of time to do your best work. The extra time also gives you time to live outside your writing hole.
Great Start, then Meh
Some time ago, an editor told me that many authors put everything into the first three chapters, but the rest of the book didn’t deliver. That’s why she didn’t want to see a proposal. She wanted to see a complete manuscript. Please note that productive veteran authors have earned the right to sell on proposal. Some authors even go to contract on a paragraph, or even the idea that they will write a book by a stated time. That’s a hard-won position, and one a new author aspires to. But in the meantime, a novice author will need to show an editor that her book delivers from page one to page 401. Not happy that you have to write the whole thing? See the previous paragraph.
Your turn:
How many books have you written?
Did you sell the first book you ever wrote?
What advice would you give to authors struggling to complete a manuscript?
Seven Tips for Your Next Writers’ Conference
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Thank you for this post! I love agent insights! I have written two novels of a for part series and two novels of a trilogy. I am currently working on the third novel of the trilogy while editing the first two to make sure the story flows within each text! I haven’t sold any yet, but I’ve just begun the query process, so we’ll see what happens! 🙂
I hope you receive lots of enthusiastic responses!
I wrote two children’s picture books and received a handshake agreement with a publisher (literally–I was invited to travel to meet with the editorial staff in person and discuss also being the illustrator of the books when they released them in multiple languages). The agreement was later rescinded before the formal contract was signed. That experience totally took the wind out of my book-publishing sails! I kept writing, but made no further attempts to publish a book for many years–maybe a decade.
Instead, I conducted doctoral research and published in professional journals and published articles in Christian magazines. I began researching and writing for a weekly newspaper history column, and still do that. I wrote a picture book about adoption, and finished two YA novels no one has ever seen, one contemporary, one historical. (Writer’s block has never been an issue ;-D)
My academic background is in history, the other social sciences, and education. I’m a serious researcher, and I dream of publishing Thoene-type books. I’ve finished a Christian “thriller” novel set in Washington, Rome, and Santiago, Chile (where we served as missionaries), and two historical novels in a series that follows a family of non-Mormons as their moves West parallel the movement of the Mormons from NY to OH to MO to IL in the 1830s and ’40s. One of the Mormon stops was in the city where I live: when the governor of MO banished them on threat of death in October,1838, 5000 made it to Quincy, IL, and the 1600 local residents took them in until they moved on the following spring. That story is what originally piqued my interest: my Methodist-circuit-riding-preachers’-wife protagonist sheltered a Mormon family that winter.
A well-known agent to whom I pitched the first of the series said she “loved” it, and would represent me if I could build a substantial platform within a year. I was not able to do it. A publisher also liked my writing, but urged me to write something that doesn’t involve Mormons for their future consideration. So–I’m praying for direction: should I keep trying to find an agent or publisher, concentrate on platform, go indie, or give up on the whole concept of a Mormon thread through my series story line? (I think I need to talk to Carol!)
I believe I have to keep going through the doors the Lord does open. I’ve written and taught a ton of school, church, and Bible study curriculum from middle grades through college and adult, so I’m taking an online course in writing and teaching online curriculum for theological studies for nationals, offered to missions and seminaries around the world. Maybe I have been too unfocused or spread myself too thin to publish my fiction, and/or chosen a theme no one wants to publish; but I’ll get to teach pastoral scholars around the world from the computer on my desk. I think I could love it. We’ll see! 🙂
Linda, it sounds to me like you answered your question in the last sentence: write what you love and your audience will find you!
Great discussion. Thanks, Tamela, for getting it going. I’ve written 5 novels so far – 3 YA and a novella. Working on book 1 of a 3 part series now. I was blessed to win the Best New Canadian Christian Author award for my first novel, One Smooth Stone, which included publication by a small Canadian publisher. He was going to publish the sequel but the bottom fell out of the economy just then and he dropped all his fiction titles. A big disappointment to me, but I went ahead and published it through Word Alive, also Canadian. I’ve done all the YA on Create Space. I don’t think I’d feel comfortable selling a fiction title by proposal. I know that goes against the usual advice but that’s the way i feel about it – I suppose because I’m not a plotter – so putting down an outline beforehand would be a chore and it’s unlikely I’d stick to it as I wrote.
My biggest challenge is the marketing. Sales are slow. Sigh.
Keep going! The readers you are reaching surely appreciate you!
Some great information to think about. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
Hi Tamela
Another great blog article. It’s often easy to rush through even the first draft.
Like the saying goes, ‘It’s not the crime, it’s the cover up.’ Such is that for writers… me, anyway (not crime!). ‘It’s not the writing, it’s the editing.’
I think I slog slower through an edit (oh, wait. Yes, I know I do) than the entire 80,000 word first draft. I’ve completed 5 NanoWrimo events, and have completed drafts at each stage.
I have one completed novel (done, sent, etc) and one I am fiddling with the ending, but otherwise, veerrry close.
My other novels need complete rewrites, or plot hole changes. Editing.
On top of those five . . . I have um, plots for another nine. All are stand-alones except one trilogy. Hey, I started that one in 1990, finished it, and it needs work. Yep. 1990.
I have a degree in Biblical studies and after wandering the wilderness for forty years, I’ve returned to my first love-God. And it was through writing How to Steal a Romance (done, with agent, not published ~yet? so don’t git yer hopes up there folks, you won’t find it at the bookstore.) that God was inviting me to get off the thorny path in the woods and back to Him.
So, should I ever be published, I hope and pray that it will be to the glory of God. Through all 14 awaiting.
thank you always for sharing your wisdom
Cindy