Self-Published Author Seeks Agent

This sounds pretty good to me. Thanks for posting it. I haven’t self-pubbed. I’d be interested in a post (and maybe you all ready did one and I missed it) on how agents handle a client who is traditionally pubbed but decides to move into self-publishing. I’ve heard of some authors going that direction now and have wondered how things get handled on the agent side.
Thanks for all the info you post! It’s much appreciated.

“conspiracy theories” – *giggle*. And yet, seems to be a common post thread as of late.

Great information. I’ve always wondered how publishers view sales of $0.99 and whether that was equivalent. I’m shooting for the traditional publishing route but admire those who can make a living self-pubbing.

I’ve gone traditional and self pubbed and would love a foreign rights agent to push the books to other markets. Would you mind doing an indepth post on the subject?

An interesting article. I can certainly understand and agree with the comments about self-publishing because of negativity or sour grapes.

I have a little difficulty with the comments about the pricing of self-published books. This is more a reflection of ‘the market place’, i.e. what people today are actually prepared to pay than the worth of the book as a work. I feel the days of the £/$20 paperback and £/$9.99 eBook are pretty much done and dusted. Publishing houses are going to have to learn how to trim their costs and perhaps trim their expectations of profit.

I have several m/s with an agent and I’m very satisifed with the work she puts into editing/proof reading and marketing the m/s. That said, so far no sale (coming up for two years since acceptance). Of course it all takes time and in an age of instant gratification to have to wait perhaps a year or two for results after the editing/proof reading by the agent and then a further wait while a publisher knocks the m/s into the shape that they want is intolerable for some. I also have to say, and this is not sour grapes, that firstly being accepted by an agent and then that agent making a sale remains something of a lottery.

Hence my decision to ‘straddle the fence’. I’m writing a novella for self-publishing as an eBook and continuing to work on a project with my agent. My reasons for self-publishing are two, ‘get my name out there’ and see if I can generate some sort of cash flow. Mind you, there are some very unrealistic expectations bandied about in some quarters. A friend has self-published. He’s in the top 5% on Kindle, selling 30-40 eBooks a month fairly consistently. Think about that, less than 500 books sold per year puts him in the top 5%. Not too impressive, despite all the ‘Ra-ra’ hype about self-publishing.

My reasons for remaining with my agent are several, not the least of which is the fact that we are working on a project for an illustrated childrens book. The agent found a potential illustrator. The only cost to me will be her eventual percentage when/if the book is sold. The same can be said of editing/proof reading. I pay no money ‘up front’, but only ‘pay’ if not only the m/s is sold to a publisher, but actually sells to the public. Then of course there is the ‘rights’ minefield. In some shape or form the agent is here to stay, but their actual role may evolve into something less traditional, who can tell?

I’ve often had this question. I self published, but don’t want to completely give up the dream of going traditional. I’m happy to know that self pub isn’t an automatic disqualification (as some want me to think).

Thanks for this post!

Are there other “cautions” to be aware of if a self-published author seeks an agent for a new, unpublished novel? Would the reasons for self-publishing the first book still become a big factor? If so, would it be wrong to say, “I didn’t feel my first novel was strong enough for the traditional process?” I’m not actually self-published, but I’m genuinely curious!

I am loving the experience of self-publishing, especially the learning that’s taking place. Whew! A small publisher helped me get out the first book of my triology and after that, I self-pubbed because of the importance of getting the next two out in a timely manner. Even though my work is fiction, I have a strong platform which I continue to develop.

I intend to seek traditional publishing through an agent for my next novel and am energized for that commitment. By that time, I’m hopeful that my self-pubbed success will be a strong asset.

Rachelle, thanks so much for this blog and all the other support you provide for writers!

For my first novel, I sent ~200 queries, with mostly preprinted postcard type rejections, except for some kind comments from Peter Rubie, who liked my query but didn’t feel the book was right for him. For my second roman a clef novel, I had a marketing niche and really wanted to know whether I had any talent, so I designed the cover and paid for 2000 copies to be printed, listed it with Baker and Taylor and hit the road. “The Home Place” was selected by the NPR/PBS station in Atlanta for their 2007 Suggested Reading List and I had a two-page book review (positive) in Southern Distinction magazine. Did approx: 20 Barnes and Noble book signings, during which I usually sold the 20 copies ordered and even was asked to return to two of the outlets. Did 4 radio interviews and had 2 front page stories, with pages 3 and 4, in two medium-size (50,000) cities in Georgia. My goal in self-publishing was to see whether I had the talent and I hoped to draw enough attention to land an agent/publisher. I did land an agent, but so far, she hasn’t been able to sell it to publisher. I received many e-mails from people who deeply appreciated the book, so I’m very happy with that. The biggest question in my mind is why I never developed the walk-in follow-up sales after my B&N appearances. I’d see some of the people who had bought the book at my first appearance and they would tell me how much they liked it and had given to friends to read: so why no follow-up. I think for a self-published book to have the thousands copies sales agents talk about the book or author has to have a niche following already, eg, be expert in a field or well-known person, because stores will not stock a self-published book. Overall, I had a wonderful experience and still think “The Home Place” will fall into the right hands one day, and I am now working on my fourth book, with hopes that it will be different enough to intrigue an agent/publisher. I found out one thing for sure: I am a writer.

Thanks for the insight.

I too am a self published author and would love to someday have traditional publishing. I’m working on the second children’s book in a series and so far things have gone fairly well with the first. My question is, if I was able to be published traditionally, would my illustrator be used for the other books in the series? Of course I’d want the characters, etc to look the same. How does this work?

Thanks

Dear Rachelle, Many thanks for your most interesting information. Perusing them all carefully, I would like to state my comments and, as always, hope to be proven wrong.

ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHORS SEEKING AN AGENT
If I’m self-published, why might I still want an agent?

1. If your self-published books are extremely successful, you may want an agent to shop the print rights and subsidiary rights such as audio, film, and foreign rights. “Extremely successful” can be defined in various ways, but certainly it would mean you’ve sold several thousand units on your own in a short period of time, maybe a few months.

All authors need an agent, if only for guidance, business contacts, referrals, PR and other advice.

A self-published author can hardly be successful in book sales as he is denied the means of distribution , promotion, and public standing. (Unless he has notoriety, in which case agents and distributors will beat a path to his door.)

An author is not a business man and will hardly sell several thousands within a few month – he will not even have the capital to print that quantity in the first place. Since most agents do not reply to emails from authors, desperate for help, I find that advising a self-published author to contact agents to be another useless utterance, one of many these hard-tested writers encounter instead of real help!

2. If you’ve self-published previous books but want to go with traditional publishing for your subsequent ones, you’ll need an agent for this.

Most authors want to go traditional publishing however, agents normally do not reply to submissions. Therefore, the above statement is merely an attempt to give self-published authors the opportunity to exhaust their energy in useless activity and eventually become disheartened.

Would an agent be interested in representing me if I’ve self-published?

It depends on a variety of factors, just like agency representation always does. The number one factor is the book itself and whether the agent feels like they can do anything with it.

They haven’t even got time to look at it, with all their overseas trips, going to conferences and attending book fairs.

They are also highly suspicious of self-published books due to perceived quality control.

They’ll want to know why you chose self-publishing and will try to avoid working with those who chose it out of negativity or sour grapes. There are many legitimate reasons to self-publish that are positive and don’t involve hatred or conspiracy theories.

Since conventional publishers only accept about 1% of all submissions, an author has no other choice but to self-publish to see his work in print. Is that negativity or sour grapes? And when book distributors offer the hapless author only 10% off rrp, again, is that negativity or sour grapes? Also, Government book awards are only given to traditionally published books despite the fact that they are being financed with taxpayers’ money. Again, is that negativity or sour grapes?

The agent will need to know whether you’re asking them to sell rights to the self-published book(s), or if you’re submitting something completely new. If the former, they’ll need to know what rights are available.

This is a completely wrong attitude! Firstly, an agent needs to reply to a submission and ask pertinant questions; after all, he is the expert! Secondly, an agent needs to advise the author as to the next steps as authors invariably seek expert guidance from an agent. Again, this cannot happen if an agent does not reply to a submission.

Of course, they’ll need to know how many copies you’ve sold, and at what price point.

What a useless advice as most of this will be covered by an author in his submission! Besides, the quantity of copies sold by the author is not indicative as to a literary and commercial success as an author normally cannot access the right commercial channels .

Are there any cautions I should be aware of?
1. Selling many copies at 99¢ or 1.99 won’t necessarily translate to selling many copies at a traditional publisher hardcover or paperback price—and publishers are well aware of this. So don’t be surprised if your high sales numbers don’t impress an agent or editor as much as you think it should.

All this is merely waffling on……No author can sell his books at that price! On the other hand, publishers may sell them for even lass than that – as remainders!

2. It’s almost impossible to sell only print rights to a publisher without including subsidiary, which means including digital rights. In other words, if you’re going traditional, you may need to be prepared to take your self-pub book down off the retail sites and allow your publisher to produce and sell the e-book version. Many are unwilling to do this, and give up traditional publishing because of it. (However, it’s still possible to sell other sub rights.)

All authors would gladly co-operate with any publisher who shows the slightest interest. But this interest is, for most authors, not forthcoming…….

How do I approach an agent if I’ve self-published?

The same way you normally would. Just make sure your query letter contains not only the book pitch, but all the pertinent information the agent would need to make a decision about taking the conversation further. They would include how many you’ve sold, when you published, why you self-published, and what, exactly, you are hoping to accomplish by getting an agent.

All my submissions to agents have always contained the whole package: Cover letter, Bio, Marketing rationale, Synopsis, Chapter outline, Character outline, Stamped return envelope, copy of my book. With no reaction. After many phone calls, I usually found out from helpful staff that the principal was overseas, at a convention, book fair, interstate, in a meeting, will call back………

What are your thoughts or questions about self-published authors seeking agents?
My thoughts are:
All agents must reply to emails and postal correspondence – this is part of our civilisation! (Whilst very few are thus civilised, most of them are not as I had to experience. If they are not interested in an author and his publication, they should say so and not string that hapless author along!
All self-published authors should seek membership of a worthwhile organisation such as Authors Australia Inc. as only unity can give self-published authors the benefits they deserve.
The organisation Authors Australia Inc. should, as an organisation, contact agents with their digital catalogue, etc., for closer co-operation, bringing together professional experience with local talent. A Working Committee should be formed between Authors Australia Inc. and agents to improve the relationship between agents, traditional publishers and local authors. Myself, I would gladly be an active part of such a Working Committee!

With kind regards,
peter-frederick@hotmail.com

I’ve read the previous letters. And I am not a person who has decided that my novel is all about (me) the writer. It’s about the work and energy I put forth for 5 years, dedicated to writing. My first intentions was not to make a career out of it, I never thought, I’d get this far, to see it finished, edited, polished, and up for sale.
I feel like its a story, I’d like jump into and live there right inside the pages…
See, its not about (me) but much rather, my work. I’d like to share it with all the world, to give others the chance to hear this story, and watch them become as fascinated as it all made me, (a piece at a time, inch by inch, chapter by chapter.)
I would say on average, I am very easy to work with, and very dedicated to my work.
It’s not my intentions to give up, ever.
Some people, all they need is guidance in the right direction and a small, if any… one little, unique chance to prove the quality of their work.
I don’t ask for much credit, because I’m not a character in the book, though the novel is simply a work of art. It’s a picture worth a thousand words and the words that follow, available to finally read them.

Thanks for the great info Rachelle! BTW, this blog post came up #1 in my Google search for:

should i get an agent if i self publish

Nicely done!