Hi guys,

I've read various posts on this subject, but I wondered if anyone had any feedback on my specific situation.

I'm in contact with two publishers who are interested in reading my novel when it is finished (I'm polishing / editing / re-writing now with a view to having it ready by the beginning of September.) One of them is a part of a conglomerate, the other is a well-respected indie. The former is a house that doesn't really put out my sort of stuff (broadly, literary fiction) but an editor there (through a friend) has read a couple of my short stories, likes them and has asked to see a longer piece this is ostensibly to give feedback and appears to be quite an informal offer. The latter is a small-ish press which is probably ideally suited to me, having already published a couple of books similar to mine. An editor there has read some of my stuff online and has asked me to send him the whole thing when it's ready.

At this point I don't have an agent, although I've had a few conversations with one who, again, has read one of my stories, and has asked to see the start of a novel as and when it's ready.

The temptation is to send it to all of them and just see what happens, but I have been advised that this may not be the best course of action. Should I ring the agent, tell him the situation and take his advice (that said, there is no commitment from him to represent me)? Or should I send to several agents at the same time as hitting the publishers, telling them about the (so far) positive feedback I received? Or should I put the publishers off and try to secure an agent first (perhaps the right advice, but getting an agent is hard and it seems a little foolish to look a (potential) gift-horse in the mouth.

Any thoughts on this would be welcomed.

Thanks,

J

Personally, I would try to find an agent first and start off by going through the Writers and Artists yearbook and deciding on your ideal agents, sending out in batches of, say, four at a time, and then seeing what happens.

I know that when you've almost finished a novel it's so exciting and you feel impatient for things to happen, but publishing is a very slow game and better to take time to get the right representation at this stage than to rush into something that might not be right for you.

Also, make sure that your ms is as polished and perfect as it possibly can be - that can be the difference between getting an agent or not these days. Agents - and publishers too - tend to want to see perfect 'finished' projects, without the need to do any work on them.

Good luck.

Sarah

I suspect most people will advise you to get an agent first. But I'd recommend going for a publisher first. Once you have an offer, it will be much easier to then find the right agent for you.

If you're feeling brave enough to take a look at some very radical views on this subject (but only radical against what is probably most authors' complacency in this area), try this blog article. The follow-up comments are well worth reading too:

http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=1685

Terry

Personally I think it's a case of 'bird in the hand...'. Being published puts you in a much better position of getting an agent for your second novel, who can then, hopefully, get you an advance.


- NaomiM

Hi - many thanks for your help on this. I think the bird in the hand analogy is appsite, alothugh if the conversations were to progress with either party, I'd look to enlist the services of an agent ASAP.

John.

If I was in your situation, Johnny, with a couple of publishers wanting to read more of my work, I'd send it to them.. Until you sign something, there's no harm done, and it's great to have this inroad into the business. It's always best not to get too excited about these things, but who knows? Doing that could land you a publishing deal - although short stories and novels are very different forms, but maybe you're good at both.
If you really do want to have an agent, then why not send him the start of the novel, tell him that X and Y are also reading it, and see how he/she reacts, I'd think he'd want to get the novel off you and re-present it to the same publishers who you were in contact with independently.
But If X or Y take up the novel, the agent doesn't need to be involved with that piece of business. If the agent is interested in representing you on the first novel, he surely will be for the second, and he'd have the added comfort of knowing your writing can be sold to publishers successfully.
I think that one of the most frustrating things about agents is the fact that you don't know how long they're going to hang onto your novel without doing anything with it, you don't know how far down their pile you are, and unless you do some really slick research, you don't know how good they are at their business.
I have to say that the link Terry supplied is extremely interesting!
Becca.