Hi guys,

Is there a problem with submitting novel extracts to small literary magazines, if you don't yet have an agent, and this is a novel you would hope to publish in full at some point? That is, could the fact that you have already published an extract somewhere prior to publication have adverse implications for the deal you might sign, in terms of serialisation rights, etc? Would an agent be unhappy that you had already published parts of the work before showing it to him / her?

Any thoughts gratefully received.

thanks,

John.

I don't know about extracts, but I do know that authors have published short stories which they've later worked up into full length novels without any problems.


- NaomiM

I don't really know, but I think it would depend hugely on how much you'd published. A couple of thousand words - the kind of thing which would be more of a 'taster' than a serious chunk of the novel - would be fine, I'd have thought. But if you'd published it as a serial, or more than, I dunno, 5,000 words, might be a problem.

Emma

I would have thought you'd have a problem, because it would be classed as previously published.