Hi, I’m Kate. Ask an Author is a reader-supported newsletter providing advice and support for authors at all stages of writing, publishing, and hand-wringing. If you know someone this applies to, you can forward them this email and encourage them to sign up. Have a question? Fill out this form and I’ll answer it in a future response.
Thank you all so, so much for your kind words and your support with the publication of Greenwich!!!!!!! It’s been a whirlwind — and so much fun — but I’m also excited to get back into the swing of things and into answering your questions again!
I’m going to answer this one in two parts, to make sure I have the space to get to it all. Part I is below, and I’ll link to Part II here once it’s posted.
But first, some news!
My debut novel Greenwich is now available wherever books are sold! It’s an Amazon Editor’s Pick, a Vanity Fair Summer Read, and a People Magazine Best New Book. Read more and grab your copy here.
Read my interview in the Chicago Review of Books: “Because What in Life is Ever Clear-Cut: An Interview with Kate Broad about Greenwich.”
Read my article in Electric Literature: “8 Novels about Class and Racial Tensions in the Suburbs.”
Read my article in LitHub: “A Refuge From Censorship: Why Independent Bookstores Will Save Us” Part I and my follow up on Substack: “A Refuge From Censorship: Part II.”
“Lipstick” is out in The Baltimore Review.
“Word of Mouth” is out in The Brooklyn Review.
“Care and Feeding” is out in The Rumpus.
“Good Dead Girls” is out in No Tokens.
Dear Kate,
Hello! In a nutshell, I'm wondering if I should keep pushing for a traditional agent/publisher or if I should self-publish? I'm a news reporter with a successful podcast and have dreamed about being an author my entire life. I got my first novel completed, a female-led mystery. I really, really want an agent for the thrill of seeing my book at Target, and the opportunity for major book clubs, reviews, etc. I spent a year querying about 50 agents and got several manuscript requests, but nothing beyond that. While I was querying, I wrote two other books in the same genre so I'd have several to push onto Amazon if I had to self-publish, and now I'm on the precipice ... Should I pull the trigger or keep querying?
If you had to start self-publishing over again where would you put your energy to get sales? And, does it hurt with agents that you self-published if you try to pitch a later book?
- Christy
Dear Christy,
The very first question I ever got at Ask an Author was about whether to stop querying a manuscript and consider self publishing instead. I think the questions I ask in it and the overall things to consider when making this decision still stand:
When to go rogue...
I’ve queried agents for almost two years to no avail. Do you recommend I keep trying or should I explore self publishing instead?
Traditional publishing (agent —> publisher) and self-publishing (doing it yourself, usually through Amazon) are two totally different paths. The first question I’d ask right away is whether your genre, and your book in particular, is better suited to one path or the other.
What are some of the main comp titles for your novel? Not just for your query, but if you were telling people about the book and wanted to get them interested. (“Oh, you liked X? You’ll love my novel!”) Keep these recent, published in the last 10 years max. Earlier than that and the publishing landscape just doesn’t apply.
What are some of your favorite books that were published in the last 10 years, whether they’re comps or not? What do you like to read the most? Who are your favorite authors writing and publishing today?
Now look at the lists you’ve generated. Who published those books?
If your comp titles are all or mostly trad published books, and you’re primarily or exclusively reading trad published books, that tells you something about what you like and what world you want your writing to be part of. Same if you’re mostly reading and excited about self-pubbed books.
Obviously it might not be as clear cut as I’m making it out here, but if you rarely read self-published novels, are you sure you want to join that ecosystem? Conversely, if you rarely read trad published novels, then why is a trad publisher is going to be the right partner to bring your words into the world?
Getting more into your querying journey thus far…
Did you get any feedback on your manuscript requests? Anything that gave you a sense of how agents were responding to your work? Did anything in that feedback resonate with you? If you got a solid handful of full requests (say, more than just 1 or 2 out of 50), I’d take that to mean your query and opening pages are engaging agents, so the next step is to consider whether something in your manuscript itself isn’t where it needs to be yet, or if you just haven’t found the right match and need to keep searching. One possibility is to continue querying and wait until you’ve truly exhausted your options before you make a decision — as long as there are more agents left on your list who you think might be a good fit.
Now that you’ve written two more manuscripts after this first one—do you think your writing has changed since you wrote your first book? Is your prose sharper, your stakes higher, your tension more alive on the page? You said these new books are in the same genre, but I’m assuming they aren’t sequels. In that case, what about querying another manuscript, whichever one has been revised the most and that you think is the strongest? You can go back and query agents with a new manuscript and see if you have better luck with a new project. If the agent requested materials from you before, definitely mention that in your letter. If they sent you a form rejection or never responded, I don’t think you have to say in your query that this is your second time querying them.
(Note that I’d only query them again if it’s been some time — like a year or close to it— since you queried your first project, so the turnaround doesn’t seem too rushed to them.) [Edit: I was up in the night thinking about this, as one does, and I think that’s too long to put your career on hold. A few months seems more reasonable. My point is just that if you get a pass and then turn around and immediately query the same agent with a different manuscript, I could see how that might seem spammy on their end.]
Facts: Many if not most authors whose debuts you see on shelves are not actually selling the first novel they wrote or completed, or anywhere close to that. The first novel is often not the one that gets an agent. The first that gets an agent isn’t necessarily the one that sells. (All of this was true for me.)
If your dream is to be traditionally published, I think your first completed manuscript is too soon to give up on that dream. Give yourself time—real time—to write, revise, and query. Keep querying your current manuscript, or start querying something newer. Keep really working on your prose. Read deeply and widely and see how other authors do what they’re doing. Make sure you have tension and stakes (so many books don’t have tension or stakes!).
There are many things that we as authors want but don’t get (and that our agents, editors, publicists, and marketers also want for us and are just as disappointed by). If you want a shot at things like Target placement, major book clubs, or national press, it’s more likely to happen if you’re traditionally published, which means starting by getting an agent. That “more likely” is still infintessimally small, though. I don’t say this to be a dream killer!!!!! Someone’s books wind up on Target shelves, so why not yours?!? I truly believe we as authors have every right to dream big and strive to make it happen. I just want to be clear that the majority of authors with agents and trad book deals don’t get those placements. Many other wonderful things happen, some of which might be things you never even dreamed of, but so much of publishing is beyond the author’s control (pretty much anything that’s not the writing itself). You want to give yourself a chance to meet all of your dreams and goals, but also recognize what might still be a long shot, and what other ways you might measure success.
Self publishing isn’t a backup plan if trad publishing doesn’t work out. It isn’t a lesser path. Many self published authors make significantly more money and sell many more copies than trad pub, if those are your goals. But it’s different. In self-publishing, you act as your own publisher. You’re doing all of the art and design, the marketing and publicity, and the distribution. You have complete creative control. You also have full responsibility. You’re on the hook for any upfront costs (editing, copyediting, proofreading, cover design, formatting) but you also get a larger cut of earnings because you aren’t sharing it with an agent or a corporation.
Trad publishers work to get your book into bookstores and on shelves, whereas self-publishing primarily works through Amazon. Some stores have consignment options for local options; other bookstores won’t work with Amazon at all. Self-pubbed authors are reaching their readers more online and building up a fan base that way. There can be crossover, with publishers sometimes picking up self-pubbed novels that have done extremely well. But like being an Oprah pick, it’s not something to automatically assume is going to happen.
It’s worth thinking about what you want from your writing, and from your publishing experience. If you want the perks (and frustrations) that come with trad publishing, I think it’s important not to give up too soon. If you want the perks (and frustrations) of self publishing, then there’s no reason not to go that route with the three books you have ready to go.
One other thing to factor into your thinking is that it will take MUCH longer for these books to be published on the trad pub side. First you have to sign with the agent, then probably revise, then spend months if not a year or more on submission to editors, then more revising with an editor, and it’s often 18 months to two years from book deal to publication day. Your subsequent books might be placed one to two years apart, depending on how the publisher wants to time it. There’s also no guarantee that getting an agent will also get you a publisher, or that the publisher who takes your first book will want another from you. If all that makes your skin crawl, you might enjoy the faster pace and control of self-publishing. If you want the bookstore placements that come with a traditional publisher, putting up with the slower timeline is part of what makes those placements possible, because a TON of work happens on the front end before the book comes out.
Again, it also comes down to where your readers are, how you want to reach them, and what kind of dreams you have for this book and your future projects.
I’m going to save the last two questions for the next post because I want to do some more research into self-publishing resources. But I hope I’ve given you some things to think about, even if there are no clear answers. No matter what path you choose, the most important part is always the writing — making the strongest book that you can, that’s true to your vision and the story you most want to tell.
Keep writing!
Kate
Congratulations and thank you. Your insights are very helpful. Much appreciated!