Once "Self Published" can you still send Query Letters?

[Robert E. Parkin]

I self published my sci fi book series this past October. I'm quite certain I can no longer use this book in my query letter submissions as it has been "published" but I was looking to perhaps get a solid answer.

Anyone?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Do you mean can you still query that novel? If so, yes you can but sales need to be pretty decent for it to have any chance. (Jenny Bent did a blog and I think she mentioned sales in the region of 5000 to stand out.)

Do you mean can you mention it in query letters for future books? Yes, and I think you probably should - if an agent is interested in you they'll google you for sure.

 

[Hex]

I've read remarks by other agents who've essentially said that they're not very interested in hearing about self-published work unless it has sold well (so over 1000 or so). I think as with so many things, it may be a personal taste thing with specific agents -- it's always worth researching them individually to see if they have preferences (some of them have strong feelings about typefaces, for example...)

 

[tinkerdan]

I published through Xlibris and part of the whole contract with them is that they help to whatever degree you can afford to pay them, but you have rights to all your work so that if you get an offer from a publisher you can negotiate a contract and Xlibris releases all rights, but until that point they make available any copies you have paid for unless they decide to terminate the contract early for any number of reasons.

With that in mind it seems that the field is open since you still own rights to your material.[I'm assuming]

I just read your sample and found two word errors--not too bad: but there might be some questionable style choices similar to ones I made with my first book--all in all it is not enough to turn me aside from continuing to read. I can't promise that of other people.

 

[Juliana]

What I've read on many agent's profiles is that they're happy to hear from self-pubbed authors as long as for new, unpublished work and not the novel that's already self-published.

 

[Robert E. Parkin]

This has been very informative. I thank everyone for their responses. I will do some more digging on my end, but from what I can tell so far, as I own the rights to my work, I should still be able to use it and try to get a publisher. Thanks again. Joining this community has turned out to be a very good decision.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

What I've read on many agent's profiles is that they're happy to hear from self-pubbed authors as long as for new, unpublished work and not the novel that's already self-published.

Not quite true - it depends on the sales. But for the average self-pubbed novel this holds true.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

As far as your rights go, yes, you can query the book. As far as whether an agent or publisher will be interested, only if you've managed to sell at least a few thousand copies on your own. At which point they may decide one of two things:

a) If the book is good enough that you sold that many copies on your own, they should be able to sell even more with their resources.

b) The book has just about maxed-out on its sales potential. There won't be enough sales after this to make it worth their while to publish it.

If the book is doing very, very well indeed and sales are steadily growing you have a chance at a). But even if the answer is b), if you've sold a few thousand copies they may be very interested in seeing your next project based on the success of this one.

If the book isn't selling, and you eventually write something else and the time comes to send it to agents, you are far better off not mentioning the self-published book.

 

[Robert E. Parkin]

Looks like I need to sell more copies... ^^;
(always knew this would be the hard route)

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Looks like I need to sell more copies... ^^;
(always knew this would be the hard route)

Believe me, the other route is just as hard. There are no easy ways to do this.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

There can still be some advantages to mentioning to an agent that you have self pubbed even if said books haven't sold well. Some agents are looking for track records of writing, and you have at least shown that you are not a one book author. Also remember sales for indies depend on any number of factors and some of those factors may be things that an agent can spot immediately and think will be an easy fix. Some indies are actively seeking agents and there have been stories about some of them being picked up by agents because they have a back list which agents think they can recover and promote etc.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Robert E. Parkin]

I do still plan to mention my book. Its been a little while since my last letter I sent out, so I think I need to brush up on it. Thanks for all the input.