The End Product
Thursday, September 2, 2010 Question of the day: I know that I have to submit a finished manuscript to an agent, but I'm curious if published authors have to do the same. In other words: did you write all of your books in their entirety before selling them?
Great question, and one that I actually don't think has ever been asked here before! Yes, you already seem to know that to submit to an agent and then a publishing house, that your manuscript (at least fiction) has to be complete. Why? It's too easy to start a book and never finish it. It's also similarly easy to start a book well and finish it badly.
So that's that.
As far as what comes next, most authors do NOT have to write the entire book to make a sale. Most of our contracts have something built in which requires us to write the first three (or so) chapters, along with a proposal, for consideration. The publisher then has right of first refusal on that submission. That said, my agent has always encouraged me to write more than the bare minimum because the more they see of great work, the more excited they'll be about the book and their offer. (Translation: potentially more money.)
With Time of My Life, because we were changing publishers, I believe that I wrote the first 100 pages, which we then shopped around. With The One That I Want, I did indeed stick to three chapters, which is something I regretted, and am unlikely to do again. For me, part of the problem with my struggle to write that book was knowing that I was contracted to do something and really not having an iota of how I was going to do it. Psychologically, it felt harder than having those first 100 pages down and feeling good about them. Instead, I pretty much had the entire book looming, and I KNEW I had to deliver it. It was a little paralyzing. With The Memory of Us, again, I had, I believe, 150 or so pages done, before anyone laid eyes on it. Not because I had to but because I learned from experience that I respond best to circumstances in which I feel like I'm in control: once you've written that much of a book, the end is in sight, and you know that you can get there without too many problems.
So that's how I like to do things, regardless of what my contract states. I'm curious: writers, do you sell on the first three chapters? If so, why? If not, are you like me in that you like to have a better handle on things before you ink a deal?
Reader Comments (6)
Ooo, interesting. I knew the part about 3 chapters + proposal, but I hadn't considered the benefits to writing more anyway. Thanks for sharing that perspective/practice!
I didn't know there was any other way to present a manuscript to a publisher other than having it complete. At least, that's what I did with all my MSS, even those that were rejected out of hand (and there were many!) I managed to get seven titles published by the way.
I wrote my entire first book STOP GETTING DUMPED (nonfiction) before submitting it. My second book, FIFTEEN MINUTES OF SHAME was a novel, and I wrote 9 chapters and sold it to the same publisher (Plume/Penguin) who'd bought STOP GETTING DUMPED. Chapter 9 was a good place to leave 'em hanging.
FIFTEEN MINUTES OF SHAME is about a TV relationships guru, who finds out that her husband is cheating on her during an interview on the TODAY show with Matt Lauer. I left off right when she finds out that her marriage has just kit the skids -- it seemed like a pretty decent cliffhanger. (Also, one of the funnier chapters. It's always good if you can leave readers laughing AND in suspense at the same time. :-)
For my third book, HOW TO DATE LIKE A GROWN-UP I went back to nonfiction. I sold it on 3 chapters and an outline to a new publisher, Sourcebooks. In hindsight, I wish I'd written more of it. Why? It ended up being different from what I'd originally envisioned, and I ended up making more compromises than I might have if I'd written 75- 100 pages instead of 30.
I'm really proud of the book -- I just still feel like I haven't done the book I wanted to do when I originally pitched GROWN-UP.
Next two projects are novels -- 75 pages and an outline.
Lisa
Thanks for the insight!
You're welcome :-)
Great topic, Allison!
I've only sold one novel so far, and it was a bit unorthodox. I basically pitched it, the way I would pitch a TV show or movie idea (my usual formats). To back up the pitch, I had ten chapters of a similar-but-different book -- a version of the same concept that I wrote many years ago for an older audience -- plus an outline of all the major ways those ten chapters would change in the Y/A version of the book.
There was good and bad to this approach. The good was that the book sold, and I tend to work much more effectively when I've been officially "hired" for a project and am working on deadline.
The bad was that the book was a much harder sell. I could pitch until blue in the face about what I'd do, but it took an editor with a lot of vision to read and hear what I had, and imagine the very different story into which it would eventually morph.
In theory, I agree with Allison that it's far better to have more of the book on paper when you go to sell it. Yet for me, the reality is that it's much easier to carve out time for a project once it's sold and has a concrete deadline, and because of that I'll likely try to sell my next book on just a few chapters as well.