Q & A edition: on volatility in publishing (and candles)

Thanks for another round of excellent publishing questions--on memoirs, sequels, querying etiquette, and pretty smells.

Behold your questions! Thanks as always for asking such good ones.

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I have an email etiquette question. My first novel received lovely feedback but no offers from agents. One said they’d like to read my next book if I didn’t get repped.

When I query my second novel, should I reply to that email with the new query or go through the usual submission guidelines? The same question applies for agents who provided personalized feedback but ultimately passed.

If this is too much in the minutiae of querying, then: How should I handle correspondence with agents who liked, but didn’t love, my last book?

—A

First, I’ll give you my actual answer:

Yes, send a direct email to that one agent. Don’t worry about her usual submission guidelines—not unless she replies otherwise.

Forward your past correspondence with your new query letter at the top and new manuscript attached. Of course, make sure to change the subject line of your email from “Fwd: blahblahblah” so it doesn’t look like you’re sending her a chain letter from 1998.

For the others—the people who offered nice, detailed feedback but didn’t say “please come a-knockin’ the next time you’re rockin’”—I’d assemble query the same way: as a forward, with your previous correspondence in the chain. However, I wouldn’t email these agents directly. Rather, I’d submit to whatever address they specify for submissions. Remember: your first go-round was proof positive that they do read their slush pile.

Perhaps whatever program these agents use for submissions doesn’t allow email forwards. If that’s the case, just mention your previous correspondence toward the end of your query letter. (“You offered such excellent feedback on my previous query for Title that it would be a dream to work with you on this one.”)

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Now for an unsolicited homily on the big picture:

Whether you’re on your first or second or eightieth round of querying, worry about this rather than minutiae: You’re a professional in possession of valuable IP. You’re in search of a business partner with valuable (and necessary) expertise and contacts. Neither of you can reach your goals without the other. Act accordingly.

This business partnership will ideally last a long time—many books, perhaps your entire career. Oh, and: as business partnerships go, this one’s going to be unusually close and vulnerable, dealing as it does in dreams and personal exposure. Act accordingly.

A partnership like this—not intimate, exactly, but close—works best with a great deal of mutual respect, emotional maturity, and healthy interdependence. Neither of you is ever going to be perfect, but things will generally work well if both of you feel heard, seen, and trusted as the authorities and human beings you are. Act accordingly.

Your best chance at finding an agent-author relationship that works like this is by acting as an ideal partner would from the get-go: empathic, curious, self-possessed. Take agents at their word; demonstrate active listening (and reading, in the case of submissions guidelines); refrain from projections and assumptions. In the end, be willing to be disappointed and to let go…and be open to unexpected happiness, the kind that doesn’t arrive the way you thought you wanted.

Honor the people you wish to work with as authorities and as people—and accept no less than likewise from anyone who wants to work with you.

Good luck.

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My question is around getting a book deal that contractually has a timeline for another book involved. I have been working on a novel for 10 years and have a plan for a sequel, but my fear is that I will get what I’ve always wanted (a book deal) and it’ll have an obligation to churn out the sequel in too little time, i.e. a year.

In addition to having a day job, I’m a dad, and there’s a whole lot I love and need to do alongside my love of writing. I can’t imagine being able to, nor wanting to, churn out a satisfying sequel in a year.

My question is: how do I go into a book deal negotiation knowing what cards I am holding to set the terms of the deal? Is there an inevitable financial sacrifice for not having a deadline set for the next and/ or if it’s not as fast as they want? Anything else that would be helpful here to know?

—J

Fear not: chances are close to nil that you’ll find yourself stuck in an untenable life-or-death deadline situation with book #2. Frankly, the opposite is far likelier: that disappointing sales on book #1 will leave your publisher with no interest in a sequel at all. There, I gave you something new to worry about!

Let me back up a second and explain how these things work.