Pull it out of limbo..

Colossus said:

I have a situation about a previous work. I signed an agent (or at least she said she was) and she in turn worked out a contract with my MS and a small independent publisher.

This was about two years ago. The problem I face now is that the publisher may be gone.... their website has shut down and now the agent's website is gone too.

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Oh dear. It happens often, but it's horrible every time. I'm so sorry.

Does BR&BC have any information on either the agent or the publisher? If so, I wonder if this thread would be better moved there.

The book had a lot of potential, but the agent never came forward with a promotional plan and now I feel like it was a waste of time.

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Literary agents don't promote their clients' books: that's up to the publisher, with the author assisting.

To complicate things, I had already written a sequel to the work and outlines a third book.

Do you think it is worth pursuing a return of rights for the work or do you think an agent will want to stay away from it considering its less-than-stellar first launch? (by no fault of its own I believe).

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Are you still receiving royalty statements from the publisher? Has it ever sent you one? Have you tried emailing your editor there to find out what's happening, and why the publisher's website has disappeared? Have you tried contacting your agent to ask what's going on? In your position my first reaction would be to contact my agent. Agents look after their clients; your agent should be looking after you in this instance.

If both have closed shop then you should certainly investigate what happened, and see if you can get your rights to that first book reverted to you. I think you'll struggle to find an agent or publisher willing to take on your second book in the series if it refers heavily to the first; but that doesn't stop you self-publishing both of them, if you'd be happy doing that; and if you continue writing and establish yourself in the market, you might one day be happy that you got the rights to that particular book back.

Colossus said:

I have a situation about a previous work. I signed an agent (or at least she said she was) and she in turn worked out a contract with my MS and a small independent publisher.

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Did you actually sign a contract with the publisher? Or does "worked out a contract" mean they were in negotiations? Did your "agent" sign the contract for you? Did you authorize that?

And if you did sign a contract with the publisher, did your book ever go to print? If it was never printed (hard, soft or e) you might still have your first print rights.

Colossus said:

This was about two years ago. The problem I face now is that the publisher may be gone.... their website has shut down and now the agent's website is gone too. The book had a lot of potential, but the agent never came forward with a promotional plan and now I feel like it was a waste of time.

To complicate things, I had already written a sequel to the work and outlines a third book.

Do you think it is worth pursuing a return of rights for the work or do you think an agent will want to stay away from it considering its less-than-stellar first launch? (by no fault of its own I believe).

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What does your contract say (agent and publisher contract)? What rights did you sign away (if any)? And is there a reversion clause? What does it say?

Your contract might not allow for you to reclaim the rights, Colossus: it's not always a question of just demanding them back.

Without having read the book or the contract I can't give you specific advice but here's some general stuff.

If the book has not yet been published, or was published but sold very few copies, and it's a stunner of a book, then yes, it might well be worth seeing if you can get your rights reverted.

Check your contract very carefully and see if there's a reversion clause and if so, what it says. If there are specific instructions there on when and how a reversion can be obtained, follow them to the letter. If there's no such clause then you're relying on the publisher's good nature but there's no harm in asking.

This should all be done against the backdrop of you writing a new and unrelated book, so that even if this book is lost to you (which I think it might be, I'm afraid) you will have a book to submit.

You might also consider letting us know the names of the agent and publisher concerned just in case there's some background to them that you're not aware of which might help you get your rights back. If you don't want to say this in public then feel free to PM me with their names (you're not obliged to, and I won't be offended if you don't, but it might well help; it has in the past) and I'll see if I can find anything out for you.