Hey, all.
Here's a thing I was pondering about recently, as I dug through my old novel folders and realised I had way more ideas for tri- quatro- quinto- etc-logies than I originally thought. This question has quite a few parts, but the main thing is - how would you go about approaching an agent if you're working on a series of novels?
To go into more details:
Would you wait till all the books are finished before querying, or go with the first one and note that the rest will be written eventually (I assume in this case you'd be given the deadline by the agent)? Would you query as a series, or go with the book one and then just note in the letter that it's a series? Do you think agents would likely give you a deadline to complete the other books (if only the first is completed when you're submitting) and only start publishing once all the books are done/at least the next book is done, or would they publish them as they come?
What if your series is of the sort that allows each book to stand on its own, but all the books are still connected and there is a bigger story that doesn't properly unfold until all the books are read? What if you have one book so far, and you aren't yet completely sure if you'd ever be writing a sequel to it, but you know it's /possible/ that you will? Would you mention it in the query letter?
What about the title? Say your series would be called The Chronicles, and then each book would have a separate title. If the last thing was the case, and you weren't sure yet whether there'd be a second, third, etc. book, would you still go with "The Chronicles; Title" for the first book, risking that it'd stay the only one, or would you go with just "Title", and then risk the possibility of "The Chronicles" getting added to just the latter books if you do end up writing them?
Would you (could you?) keep the decision to yourself, or would it be more reasonable to expect that the agent will have the last word when it comes to the question of whether or not to write the possible sequels? Could one expect to get a response reading something along the lines of "I will accept your novel only if you sign that there will/won't be sequels"? And on the similar note, would you see it as acceptable at all if you got a query letter saying that the writer isn't yet sure whether or not they'd add anything to the book they're querying about?
It's a lot of questions, I know, but really the above are just sort of guidelines. I'm not making a survey here, I'm just curious to see what other people think about these things and if their opinions on the matter are much different from my own. Please do add any related thoughts and experiences, and answers to questions I never even asked on the topic. Thanks, all!
Cheers~
Hi Aria, you have asked the question I have been pondering over, the sequel books. I have written the beginning of the follow up book at the end of the first book so for me I'm committed, I was going to joke about the obvious there (my being committed) but I won't, anyway moving swiftly on... You raised a tantalizing point in your post about speaking with agents over social media and their thoughts on using it, you didn't pass that info on, I don't want to use social media if I can help it but if it's that's devil I have to get into bed with then it looks like I may very well have to sell my soul...
Regards and good luck with the book/s Paul G
Interesting to read your thoughts, thanks!
Jonathan, I agree with you about standalone books within a series - especially when it comes to me writing them - though I still don't mind reading a series of books that all have to be read for the story to be finished. I think my favourite kinds (to both read and write) might be those in which each new book focuses on different character(s), while still keeping the old one(s) involved somehow, possibly in a side story or few... Then again, as I said, I do own and enjoy reading series which are the complete opposite to that =p
Adrian, sure thing, I wouldn't go into any of it without considering all those (not so) little things and consulting professionals about the contracts. Also, what you're suggesting sounds pretty neat (discussion with the agent about possible sequels, that is), I think something like that would be one of the possible options I'd go with in this situation.
Lorraine, I've heard that claim about the second book being the hardest to write before, and when I look at my attempts (granted, I was practically a kid when those were written, but still), I have to agree. Having the second book confidently underway sounds like a pretty sound plan. Interestingly, you're the first person I've seen so far who said that they might be more interested in series than one book - usually advice looks more like "don't even think of trying to pitch series before you have at least a few standalone novels published already". Oh, and The Chronicles was just a made up title. Could've used any word there c:
As for online presence, I actually talked to some agents about that before, mostly because I was interested in how much can one make their novel present on those sites without later being rejected because of it, and it was pretty interesting to see agents' view on the whole thing.
(Sidenote, am I just forgetful or did they change the order the answers are shown on here, putting the newest ones up instead of down?)
I think all series novels should be standalones. You can drip-feed relevant information into second and later books but each ought to have an ending which closes that particular story. You can get away with secondary character storylines not concluding, I reckon, but not the MCs involvement in the main plot. Stories without an end are not fair on the reader, in my book (sorry).
If you're writing a sequel it seems silly not to mention it in a pitch. If the agent/publisher likes your book it's a plus: if they don't you've lost nothing.
And I'd second what Lorraine says about fresh work, my biggest failure because of my 'real' work schedule. Otherwise it's one step forward and another back.