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~
I would see if you can hook an agent with the first book. If you're successful you can discuss your ideas for a series based on the first novel, or whether it would be better to write stand-alone novels. Then you can decide whether to keep or change the title of your first novel to suit your purpose.
It's up to you to decide whether the publishers deadline for one or more novels is fair and not to demanding. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT IT'S YOU WHO SIGNS THE PUBLISHER'S CONTRACT NOT YOUR AGENT. Always get a professional legal advisor to read the small print.
There are many things to consider before signing a contract. Deadlines for future novels, English rights, foreign rights, film rights, percentage of royalties, and a rising scale of royalties the more copies you sell.
I hope that helps.
Good luck.
I'm not a publisher, Aria, but I suggest things should go as follows:
1: No, don't wait until you've finished the series - you could be there for the next ten years! Make sure that you have the second well (and confidently) underway, if not finished. You need to be able to prove that you can keep up the momentum, and the second book in the series is frequently the hardest one to write.
2: If you have the second one at that point, tell them; it's a selling point. If they like the first, they'll be pleased to know that the second can be got out there asap, which would keep the readers interested while you write the third. Getting one past a publisher as a newbie is going to be tough; but they may well be more interested in a series (assuming the first one passes muster) than a single book with no chance of you coming up with any more. Multiples sell better, because you'd have a following. Remember this is all about money to them, first, last and always.
3: You'd agree a deadline for the next book, if they want the series - they need to know you can work to their schedule. People's attention spans are tiny - got to keep your name out there and with fresh content.
4: You need to know if you're going to write a sequel/series upfront. As mentioned, a publisher will be more interested in plurals from a new name, if they're convinced by Book One in the first place... Don't go in all wishy-washy - 'I might write a sequel, I don't know, I might not' - that won't sell you to the publisher at all. Tell them that each book can stand alone, but that there will be a running theme to link them.
5: The Chronicles can be one book - doesn't have to be a series. OED: chronicle: a fictitious or factual work describing a series of events.
6: You could get a response saying 'we'd be interested in publishing your work as two (or however many) sequential novels', which would imply not as just one.
7: as 4 - make your mind up in advance!
By the way, they will want you to have an online presence of some sort - a FB page, a blog, on Twitter (though I can never understand why that matters), because you've already started the selling process just by being visible. See 2 about money!
Hope this helps.