Previously Self Published Story

If it's been published, it's been published. You have to tell anyone who might consider repping / publishing you this. No wiggle room.

What Cyia said.

Unless it's sold exceptionally well, you'll have a hard time getting this picked up. Write something new!

Adrianna Burch said:

I want to sell a picture book I previously self published. Would it be wise to tell a future agent/publisher of this previous self publishing? Mostly only family members bought it, but our local library bought one copy. I doubt anyone has checked it out.

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Unfortunately the first rights are used up - and the agent/publisher *will* be able to find out if it's been published before. In this day and age of Internet Google etc. you can't keep this secret.

It doesn't matter if it's sold 0 copies the fact is that it IS published according to the law - so you'd have to tell a prospective agent/publisher about it.

Sorry.

This goes to the heart of why we don't recommend someone self-publish a book if what they really want is a commercial contract.

As a matter of fact, the fact that you sold only a couple of copies to friends and family is, if anything, a negative factor rather than the positive factor you hoped. If you were to query it (and, of course, say up-front that it had been self-published), the agent/editor would likely check its sales figures, and seeing them so low would suggest that you've already tapped out any built-iin audience.

That said, if you still really want to try for a commecial deal, as long as you're upfront about the publishing history, there's no harm in querying. If the manuscript happens to land on the desk of someone who totally falls in love with it and believes they can make a success out of it, the self-publishing history won't matter.

You can add a comment that you only had local distribution or some such that might help explain your very low sales, or even suggest you originally planned it for family only but the library requested it.

You absolutely must mention that it's already been published. Give the people you're submitting it to the chance to decide for themselves if that's a problem for them.

Sheryl Nantus said:

Unfortunately the first rights are used up - and the agent/publisher *will* be able to find out if it's been published before.

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This is something I was/am curious about and brings in my questions:
1. Aren't differences in types of rights that can be sold?
2. If you publish a novel in hardcover only and you're only contracted for hardcover, isn't it reasonable to seek representation for trade or mass market paperback?
3. Are there agents that actually look for these types of situations?

rejectME said:

This is something I was/am curious about and brings in my questions:
1. Aren't differences in types of rights that can be sold?

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Yes. But what we are talking about here are "first rights" which means the first time a work has been published in any format. Most agents and publishers only want first rights unless the author can demonstrate that the work sold extremely well.

rejectME said:

2. If you publish a novel in hardcover only and you're only contracted for hardcover, isn't it reasonable to seek representation for trade or mass market paperback?

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Yes, you can. But again, we are talking "first rights" so it doesn't matter what format it was published in, whether it be hardcover, soft, mass, ebook, or if you just posted the entire thing on your blog. It's been published and the first rights have been used.

rejectME said:

3. Are there agents that actually look for these types of situations?

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I can't tell you what every agent will do, but it's very likely that you're going to have to sign a contract with your agent and/or publisher indicating you still have your "first rights," and you are selling them. If you sign the contract even though you don't have the first rights anymore, you can be sued for fraud and breach of contract.

rejectME said:

This is something I was/am curious about and brings in my questions:
1. Aren't differences in types of rights that can be sold?
2. If you publish a novel in hardcover only and you're only contracted for hardcover, isn't it reasonable to seek representation for trade or mass market paperback?
3. Are there agents that actually look for these types of situations?

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The above questions have already been answered - but as the agent part goes...

It really depends on the situation under which first rights were used up. Did you sign with a legitimate small publisher who went belly-up and returned the rights to you? Did you successfully self-pub and get a LOT of sales? There are publishers who don't have a problem doing reprints - depending on the circumstances under which the book was first published.

You HAVE to be honest with an agent. There is no way to successfully hide this sort of history and when it does come out it'll affect you and your reputation for the rest of your life.