Compilation Book - Submissions from People (question)

[acousticgroupie]

Hi all,
I'm working on my second book. I want it to contain quotes and entries from different people. I have posted submission information on the net and have recruited a few friends who would make good subjects.

Is it okay to approach agents with this? A few are interested. I have NO book yet, however. With my first book I had everything ready to go. I suppose I can still create a proposal, but I'm waiting for submissions to come in.

And---do you have each person sign a release, or only send it to them upon publication? Are there any generics out there so I can view the legalese wording?

Thanks for any input:)
Kristen

[SnowOwl]

I'm no expert on this, but I have contributed essays to a non-fiction book before.

We didn't sign releases. We were just given a small check ($25 each) and a free copy of the book. From what I understand, a lot of times contributing essayists only receive free copies of the book.

Is your book going to be a compilation of other people's submissions or are the essays just going to supplement your text?

I'm impressed you already know a few agents who are interested! If it were me, I would write a sample proposal now, especially if the bulk of the work is going to be written by you and snippets of other people's opinions are just supplementary. If the entire work is dependent upon the essays of your contributors, I'd wait to contact the agents until you have some samples for them. Otherwise, the agents don't have enough to work with to even really do anything...and can't really make a decision about whether they want to sponsor your work.

Good luck! Mind telling us what the book is about? :)

[acousticgroupie]

it's a book about people self-employed, in creative careers.

i'm not looking for whole essays, just quotes. i have to post in the reader forum to try and get some AW people to contribute.

thanks, yes, i am getting submissions so i need to crank out a prop and sample chapter, ASAP!!