A one-of-a-kind question

[Chasing the Horizon]

The next project I'm planning to actually query on is a contemporary fiction novel. But I'm wondering if I should query on it, since I'm not a contemporary fiction writer (I swear, gremlins are typing this book on my computer while I sleep). All my other completed books, WIPs, and planned projects are fantasy or science fiction of one type or another. I just had this one idea for this weird contemporary (which is actually turning out amazingly well). My concern is that if a publisher does decide they want the book, they'll want some sort of contract for more. Now I can give them more books, but not more contemporary fiction. Of all my other projects, only one is even set on Earth, and that's still science fiction.

I don't want to waste time querying the contemporary fiction novel if the fact it's one-of-a-kind is going to keep it from being published.

[Shweta]

Several fantasy authors have written contemporary novels too. Patricia McKillip and Peter Beagle come to mind immediately.

[JustGo]

If you want to be labeled a writer of sci-fi/fantasy, I'd recommend trying to get works from those genres published first. That way, people will see the contemporary as the anomaly and you won't disappoint publishers who take your first submissions in the hope of getting more of the same. You'll also have the momentum of your building career to help carry it, bringing in fans of your speculative fiction for the contemporary and, afterwards, vice-versa.

Of course, if none of your other work is getting anywhere but this novel is as good as you're saying, then it might be your way to break through the doors of the publishing world. In that case, I'd say send it off.

Not that I have any actual experience with the subject yet - just seems the most sensible way to go to me, from what I've read and heard.

[Novelhistorian]

It sounds to me as if you're getting ahead of yourself. Write what you want to write, and if you sell it, marvelous. I wouldn't worry about future books you haven't written. Publishers aren't likely to pursue your trove of mss. like pirates, cutlasses in hand, waving contracts to sign and threatening to cut your throat if you don't.

In case you were wondering.

Also, you'll do better if you don't call your book a contemporary fiction novel. Novels are fiction--at least, the good ones are--and lumping the two words together is probably one of the ten things that will stop an agent dead in her tracks as she reads your query.

[jannawrites]

Don't worry about future what ifs. Query this one and take the rest as it comes.

Good luck!

[melaniehoo]

This is also why they created pseudonyms.

[steveg144]

I wouldn't sweat this problem just yet. :-) Worry about writing the best novel you can, and then commence the quixotic task of getting someone to actually publish it. Then, if it sells well, they might just possibly maybe come to you for another book. But we're talking years from now, and I'd assume that if your contemp novel gets published, you'll have at least another one in the same genre either in the can or in the works by the time the publisher asks your agent about your next book.

Seriously, this cart is way before the horse.

[kct webber]

This is also why they created pseudonyms.

Yup. Lots of writers who change genres also change names along with it.

[IceCreamEmpress]

You can be like Iain Banks a/k/a Iain M. Banks and write both mainstream and genre. Don't worry about it.

[KikiteNeko]

I think you might be getting ahead of yourself. I'm sure there's an agent who has a one-book contract.

[blacbird]

Several fantasy authors have written contemporary novels too. Patricia McKillip and Peter Beagle come to mind immediately.

And J.G. Ballard, and Philip K. Dick, all the way back to the redoubtable H.G. Wells. Nothing new or strange about it.

caw

[HeronW]

Write whatever you like and let dif. pennames take the credit in dif. genres. Query only after the fiction is done. Proposals usually go for non-fiction things.

[David I]

This should be the least of your worries.

Well, okay--not the least. The least of your worries should be, What will I do with all that money? and Should I get a facelift before that globetrotting book tour?

Genre-wise, I'm all over the map, and my grim cyberpunk political romantic comedy Tomorrowville will be published next year...under the name DG Underhill.

This is why god invented noms de plume (de ma tante).

[Chasing the Horizon]

Also, you'll do better if you don't call your book a contemporary fiction novel. Novels are fiction--at least, the good ones are--and lumping the two words together is probably one of the ten things that will stop an agent dead in her tracks as she reads your query.
I noticed the 'fiction novel' thing when I typed the OP. I know the two are redundant. I meant a work in the contemporary/mainstream fiction genre of novel length. I wouldn't use that phrasing in a query.

I wouldn't sweat this problem just yet. :-) Worry about writing the best novel you can, and then commence the quixotic task of getting someone to actually publish it. Then, if it sells well, they might just possibly maybe come to you for another book. But we're talking years from now, and I'd assume that if your contemp novel gets published, you'll have at least another one in the same genre either in the can or in the works by the time the publisher asks your agent about your next book.
The impression I've gotten from other published writers is that it doesn't take this long. I don't know how often an initial contract is for more than one book, but I know it does happen. If agents and editors really don't care at all about your previous unpublished novels or future plans, why do so many people say it's a good idea to mention in your query letter that you have other projects in the works?

I think you might be getting ahead of yourself.
Considering I'm 2/3 through the novel and have a very short editing phase (I write very clean first drafts), I really don't think I am getting ahead of myself. I'll be finished this book in a few months, and it often takes me that long to write a decent query letter and synopsis.

Whether I choose to query this book won't change the fact I'm going to complete it and write it as well as I can. I'm just trying to decide if it would be a smart and worthwhile move to query it.

[James D. Macdonald]

Write a contemporary-fiction novel and you are a contemporary-fiction novelist. No problem.

[David I]

Do I understand that you have a number of unagented, unpublished works, and that you are worried that successfully publishing a book in a different genre will endanger your ability to publish books that so far you have been unable to sell?

Or are you most worried that you'll be victimized by the publisher demanding you sign a multibook contract, and forced to write in a genre where, although you had one great idea, right now--when you haven't finished that book--you don't have any other good ideas?

That's the weirdest set of worries I've ever seen.

[DWSTXS]

pseudonyms?

Not to mention Stephen King

[JoNightshade]

The impression I've gotten from other published writers is that it doesn't take this long. I don't know how often an initial contract is for more than one book, but I know it does happen. If agents and editors really don't care at all about your previous unpublished novels or future plans, why do so many people say it's a good idea to mention in your query letter that you have other projects in the works?

Exactly who have you been talking to? Most people on AW (quite a few published authors) will tell you:

1) Sometimes it's fast, but in general it takes years to go from actually having written a novel to finding an agent to publishing it.

2) Nobody is going to contract you for multiple novels unless your initial novel is a clear setup for a series. In which case you would be contracted only for that series.

3) It's not a great idea to mention your "other projects" in the works.

If you're worried about having to find another agent, I wouldn't. If you query this novel and you get a bite, just tell your (potential) agent that you have other stuff and it's mostly fantasy (or whatever). At that point you will have a discussion about whether said agent would also be willing to represent those works or release you to find a different agent for them.

[job]

If you find yourself writing both mainstream fiction and F/SF ... you might query agents who deal with both. You will want someone who can deal with all sides of your ability.

It is probably not necessary to worry that establishing a glowing reputation in one field will interfere with your sales in another. Reputations tend to splash over from genre to genre.

Your writing is the important thing. Work on the story that grabs you.