I'm currently tossed up in my querying process as to whether or not to mention my self-epublished first novel as a credit in a current query. Some query-sources say no, some say maybe, some say yes with large restrictions.
Some say "Self-published" is a dirty word that should be entirely hidden, disavowed, and renounced lest it tarnish what may be a potential career.
Now, I wouldn't consider it under most circumstances, but the book has received over 15,000 downloads from various sources (Amazon, Smashwords), and I don't even have figures from places like iBooks. A large amount of these have been free, so obviously that doesn't mean actual sales figures or even necessarily a 10% readership on those numbers.
As it sits, my query letter has the simple phrase "My first novel, xxxxx, has garnered more than 15,000 downloads on the ebook market," which is an entirely true statement and the only professional credit besides a mention of editorial and journalistic work. (I haven't sent it out with the quoted phrase included as of yet). The statement does omit the "free" and "self-published" bits, but I remain tossed up as to whether or not that makes a difference.
It initially looks good; to me, that looks like a nice number. A brief curiosity would reveal both the self-pubbed and free (at various stages) status, which could potentially sour my image, as being not completely forthright, to the prospective agent. This would be bad.
On the other hand, I almost doubt that many agents would spend some of their query-blitzing time following up on such matters. Even in following up, that gets the one agent to spend those extra milliseconds considering my query. Or, on the other other hand, maybe such a thing takes them away from the query and my proposed work, focusing only upon what an obvious opportunistic, arrogant little indy pubber I am. This would also be bad.
So I remain mildly conflicted. There are a lot of angles to consider.
Some say "Self-published" is a dirty word that should be entirely hidden, disavowed, and renounced lest it tarnish what may be a potential career.
Now, I wouldn't consider it under most circumstances, but the book has received over 15,000 downloads from various sources (Amazon, Smashwords), and I don't even have figures from places like iBooks. A large amount of these have been free, so obviously that doesn't mean actual sales figures or even necessarily a 10% readership on those numbers.
As it sits, my query letter has the simple phrase "My first novel, xxxxx, has garnered more than 15,000 downloads on the ebook market," which is an entirely true statement and the only professional credit besides a mention of editorial and journalistic work. (I haven't sent it out with the quoted phrase included as of yet). The statement does omit the "free" and "self-published" bits, but I remain tossed up as to whether or not that makes a difference.
It initially looks good; to me, that looks like a nice number. A brief curiosity would reveal both the self-pubbed and free (at various stages) status, which could potentially sour my image, as being not completely forthright, to the prospective agent. This would be bad.
On the other hand, I almost doubt that many agents would spend some of their query-blitzing time following up on such matters. Even in following up, that gets the one agent to spend those extra milliseconds considering my query. Or, on the other other hand, maybe such a thing takes them away from the query and my proposed work, focusing only upon what an obvious opportunistic, arrogant little indy pubber I am. This would also be bad.
So I remain mildly conflicted. There are a lot of angles to consider.
