Yet more advice - publisher wants full, (post 26)

CathleenT

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Request for full from publisher

Um, so Spencer Hill Press wants a full for Hans & Greta. They've already read my first chapter.

Other than frantically rereading my book with my final beta recommendations today, I'm kind of at the "okay, now what?" place. And I'm emotionally compromised from the sheer validation of being wanted at the moment, so I don't have a whole lot of confidence in my decision-making capability.

Do I keep querying? Do I query frantically? Do I query just the 'best' agents, and honestly, other than the gal at Janet Reid's agency, I don't know who that is. I can go with AAR (I think that's the certification) only. I can look at which agencies sell a lot of books, but I honestly don't know what that is. A dozen a year? Two dozen? The only thing I really want out of an agent is that they'll sell my books. I'd rather not have to do it on a one-by-one basis (so I'd like them to commit to trying to sell all of mine), and I don't want to be cheated. Um, that's it. Not expecting some deep, personal relationship.

Should I still do pitchMAS? (I didn't get favorited in PitMad, but my tweets weren't that good - whole other story.) I've worked up some better ones in QLH.

Please advise, if you would be so kind. Thank you in advance. :)

ETA: If I do continue querying, do I mention that I have a full out to Spencer Hill in my query?
 
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kkbe

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Congrats, for sure. As for advice, all I can tell you is what happened with me. Two indie pub editors requested the full. I had queries out with agents at the time. Two agents also had the full.

I sent the full to both editors. Did not mention either to the other. Waited. And waited. Because, in my case at least, that's part and parcel. Waiting and waiting and. . .

Meanwhile, one agent offered an R&R, so I have started that. I contacted both editors and asked if they'd be willing to wait, blah blah, very professional :)

They both said yes. So. Good luck, for sure. You may hear something right away, or not for a long time. Hoping the former, of course. I'd keep querying for now. My opinion. I wouldn't mention you have the full out unless somebody asks. Of course, if you get an offer, definitely tell the powers that be, ask your offer person for a couple of wks. to decide. That's norm, I think.

As for getting an offer from a publisher without having an agent, I think J. Reid suggests you actually do get an agent, post haste. I could be mistaken, that's my understanding. Might be easier to get an agent if you already have an offer on the table. It's a bridge I shall cross when/if I come to it.
 
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CathleenT

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So I should just query like nothing has happened? I suppose it's only a request, after all. I was just wondering if this changes my strategy.
 

Aggy B.

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I'm not certain why you're querying publishers and agents at the same time as that is usually frowned upon.

I would say to keep querying as you have been although focus on agents until you are certain there is no interest there.
 

CathleenT

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Okay, I queried one publisher. That's all. Spencer Hill Press was having it's (I believe it's only once a year) open submissions for unagented authors from December 1-10. I read about it in BRBC, and they seemed to be a respectable place. Several AW folks are represented by them.

I sent them a query and chapter 1 and moved on to PitMad. I didn't really expect much out of it. They seemed to have a big emphasis on urban fantasy, and mine is historical fiction with elements of magic realism. I sent it anyway, just in case. Sort of on the no stone uncovered principle, and because an AW member had been signed because of open submissions last year and seemed totally happy about it.

Spencer Hill is used to working with agents, I imagine, if there's only ten days a year that you can sub to them without one. I still want an agent.

But they got back to me very fast (I submitted on the second, and they were back to me by the seventh. I wasn't expecting an answer until the fifteenth at the earliest.) Open submissions isn't even closed yet.

So, anyway, I was wondering if I should pick my favorite agents and sub to them first. I had been intending to mix it up more, in case my query needed work. It's pretty hard to say much from one data point, but the query's probably doing it's job. And I don't know if Spencer Hill will get back to me quickly on the full, given their response on the first chapter.

I don't know. It made sense to me. There's a vast amount of information I lack about this whole process. I'm trying to rectify my ignorance; that's what all these posts have been about.

Thank you, everyone, for all the help so far.
 
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waylander

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I would say hold to your querying strategy. Spencer Hill could take a loooong time to read your full.
And start writing something else that isn't a sequel.
 

mayqueen

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I agree with waylander. Keep querying. It might take Spencer Hill a long time to read your full. It might turn into a rejection. Anything could happen, so I say keep querying. I would say that your initial plan to mix up agents is a good idea. You will inevitably learn things as you query, so I would say don't go through all your top choice agents at once. Don't wait until the bitter end to query them, either. :) But just don't go through all of them at once.

Re: finding agents. I like to use a mix of agentquery and querytracker. Then I look them up here on B&BC. To be honest, I don't thoroughly research sales because 1) PM is expensive to subscribe to and 2) agents don't always report all of their sales. I look to see if they have any books in my genre (historical fiction) that are recent (1-2 years) with major publishers. If I see a lot of digital only or digital first that don't require an agent or if I see absolutely nothing in my genre, I move them down to the bottom of my list. So, that's my strategy. I'm sure other people will disagree.
 

Thedrellum

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I agree with mayqueen re: strategies to finding agents, with one addition. I subscribed to Publisher's Marketplace for a few months when starting my querying process in order to more fully research the agents I found through other methods--and even though all sales aren't reported, you can get a good idea of what kinds of sales an agent makes as well as find, specifically, those agents who are making lots of sales (and reporting them).

It's an expense, though.
 

lacygnette

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I have a PM account right now - intend to keep it until the end of Dec. I've found it very useful because many many agents say they want literary fiction but they are selling thrillers or YA. So if I see that they have sold mostly genre (which MAY be literary, don't get me wrong), then I wonder how many contacts they have that buy what I write.

Anyway, I put those to the bottom of my list...Oh, and it's been useful for looking at new agents.

I got favorited by a publisher in PitMad but won't submit to them until I've burned most of my agent bridges. At least, that's my current strategy.