Does having pre-published work effect your getting an agent?

Pushingfordream said:

Does having pre-published work effect your getting an agent?

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*affect*

Agents will be interested in writers with a publication history--so long as the sales are good.

I am currently thinking about publishing some of my work in the form of an E-book. I was also thinking about posting some of my work on my blog.

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Ah. You're talking about self-publishing your work and then querying it, and not about having other works already published.

Note that the format of e-book vs. print isn't the issue here: it's the self-publishing that's significant.

If you sell loads of copies of your self-published book (I'm talking tens of thousands of paid-for copies here: the average sales for self publishers are in the low double digits) and build up a huge following on your blog, that might make an agent sit up and take notice. If, however, you don't sell anything and have very few followers, it might well work against you. Publishers tend to prefer new, unpublished works, and might take that lack of sales as an indication that your work has no commercial potential.

I was wondering weather professional editors/agents dislike or steer away from self-published authors.

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*whether*

No, they don't. Agents, editors and publishers are interested in good books with strong commercial potential, written by people who behave in a competent, professional manner.

If those books have already been self-published there might be a few problems: for example, publishers will want to edit the book and might not be happy about an unedited, self-published version floating around; and having the book already out there makes it difficult for the publisher to market the book as new, which reduces the publicity options open to both writer and publisher.

In general, self-publishing is not the route to take if you're aiming for a trade deal. Agents and publishers still sign up most new writers from their slush piles: finding a publisher as a result of your self-published success is still a rare thing.

A final note: agents, editors and publishers are put off by books which have lots of clumsy errors in them, like the two homophone substitutions I've highlighted in your post. Such errors suggest that a book is going to require a lot more editing, and the author might find it difficult to participate fully in the editing process.

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Pushing, what Old Hack is telling you is that you'll need to improve your spelling and grammar if an agent is going to take you on.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Do NOT under ANY circumstances call yourself PRE-PUBLISHED.

If you've got work for sale, or on display, then you are published. Period. No "pre" about it.

You can be self-published. You can be published by independent press. You can be published by a non-paying journal. You can be commercially published. You can be published in the newspaper.

You cannot be "pre-published" once something has been published. Call yourself what you are, but shy away from the trigger-phrases that scream "NOOB" in flashing red letters atop your forehead.

If you publish anything to your blog, make sure it's only a TINY sample, if it's part of the MS you want to seek representation for.

Pre-published work is work that hasn't been published. Although a few agents are beginning to look at successful self-published stuff, most are interested only in 'pre-published' work.

Furthermore, people who use that word about themselves do so as a euphemism for 'I haven't been published yet but I will be'. Which A) one doesn't know for sure until one is offered a contract and B) makes one sound pretentious. Using 'pre-published' to refer to oneself or one's work will not impress agents at all.

See the danger is using terms that mean something other than what you think they mean?

I have dyslexic tendencies too, Pushingfordream. It's no excuse if you intend to be a writer.

I do my best to ensure that everything I write--everything--no matter where it appears is spelled correctly, punctuated appropriately, and conforms to the rules of grammar.

Not only do I prefer to present myself as literate and capable, writing in any other way makes me feel physically uncomfortable.

As writers, our writing represents us. If you're happy to be represented by slapdash, confusing communications, that's up to you.

Generally speaking, you'll have a hard time trying to persuade a publisher to compete with an identical book that's already on the market.

Yes, there are exceptions. But every agent I know, tells me they regularly receive queries on books that were self-pub'd last week with no sales record. It's a waste of everyone's time.

Pushingfordream said:

Thanks everyone. Also my spelling and grammar is pretty bad on the forums. I don't take time to edit it. Most of my work is editing considering I'm extremely dyslexic.

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There's an edit button. Use it. If you don't care about your writing, why should your readers?

I screw up all the time; I reckon I've edited half my posts for typos.

Are you guys seriously schooling someone who admits to being dyslexic becuase s/he mispelled whether?

MandyHubbard said:

Are you guys seriously schooling someone who admits to being dyslexic becuase s/he mispelled whether?

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As harsh as it seems, we are. Not because we somehow hate all new writers and want to act like divas. Many of us are at newer stages in our careers. And insecurity never really goes away.

It's because agents and editors are not likely to use 'oh, this author has dyslexia' as a reason to continue reading at the second typo. Especially when those are combined with markers of publishing inexperience (i.e. 'pre-published'). Unless the rest of the query and sample prose is magnificent, it's just another reason for slush-pile readers to say no.

These posts stay up forever unless we edit or delete them. Many of these forums are read by agents and editors. This really is a case of being on your best game until it is habit.

Count me in as someone who has to edit her posts more often than not because of dyslexia and eyesight. Nor have I ever put those disclaimers into my agent queries or emails to editors. I'm not ashamed of these slight disabilities. I simply don't want my work (or professional reaction to my work) to be defined by them.

ETA: back on topic, now?

Filigree said:

It's because agents and editors are not likely to use 'oh, this author has dyslexia' as a reason to continue reading at the second typo. Especially when those are combined with markers of publishing inexperience (i.e. 'pre-published'). Unless the rest of the query and sample prose is magnificent, it's just another reason for slush-pile readers to say no.

These posts stay up forever unless we edit or delete them. Many of these forums are read by agents and editors. This really is a case of being on your best game until it is habit.

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You're assuming that her manuscript and query are not polished, yet the person said clearly that they spend a lot of time editing.

An agent or editor isn't going to search out forum posts/online presence unless they've already read the material and deemed it worthy, and they're researching the author.

As an agent if I loved the manuscript, then read some typos and an admission of dyslexia, it wouldn't deter me from offering.

Blantantly rude or condescending is a different story.

I basically don't care if the manuscript is not full of typos. And then, sometimes guys, if the person is a fantastic storyteller we will help them fix the other stuff.

MandyHubbard said:

Blantantly rude or condescending is a different story.

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If you think that's the case, there's a report button. Much better than arguing in the threads.

MandyHubbard said:

Are you guys seriously schooling someone who admits to being dyslexic becuase s/he mispelled whether?

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People aren't dyslexic. They have dyslexia. The former defines them by their condition; the latter does not.

The OP only mentioned her dyslexia after I pointed out the spelling mistakes in her first post.

When I was commissioning books, I did reject submissions because they were full of errors. I can't remember a single submission which shone brightly enough to obscure such problems. The extra time it takes to edit such work is very difficult to justify.

And if you consider a post objectionable, use the "report post" button.

Old Hack said:

People aren't dyslexic. They have dyslexia. The former defines them by their condition; the latter does not.

The OP only mentioned her dyslexia after I pointed out the spelling mistakes in her first post.

When I was commissioning books, I did reject submissions because they were full of errors. I can't remember a single submission which shone brightly enough to obscure such problems. The extra time it takes to edit such work is very difficult to justify.

And if you consider a post objectionable, use the "report post" button.

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1) The poster said "I"m extremely dyslexic," not "I have extreme dyslexia," so I don't think I'm defining the person any more than they did on their own.

2) I'm not familiar with the way the boards are managed, but it's reasonable for a person to think, "Hey, if I 'report' the post of the moderator herself, me thinks nothing will come of that." And frankly I didn't think your post was so bad as to need to be reported, I just thought maybe pushingforadream might like someone in their corner instead of more people handing out advice s/he didn't ask for.


Also, I just noticed i misspelled blatantly. I hope no one cancels my book deals!

MandyHubbard said:

1) The poster said "I"m extremely dyslexic," not "I have extreme dyslexia," so I don't think I'm defining the person any more than they did on their own.

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"She started it!" has never been a good strategy in a debate.

2) I'm not familiar with the way the boards are managed, but it's reasonable for a person to think, "Hey, if I 'report' the post of the moderator herself, me thinks nothing will come of that."

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What you're suggesting is that I, as a moderator, would ignore, dismiss or somehow mishandle a reported post if it concerned a post I'd made.

That's a pretty ugly accusation for you to make.

And frankly I didn't think your post was so bad as to need to be reported, I just thought maybe pushingforadream might like someone in their corner instead of more people handing out advice s/he didn't ask for.

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If you find a post worrying enough to call it out in the way that you did, you should report it instead. What happens when you don't is that threads get derailed, just as this one now has.

Also, I just noticed i misspelled blatantly. I hope no one cancels my book deals!

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Fingers crossed, eh?

Mandy, I apologize to you and Pushingforadream, because I certainly did not want to come across as rude or condescending. Like Old Hack, I only wanted to point out the obstacles we newer writers already face before we're a known quantity with agent and editor relationships. Minor errors that would be overlooked in the latter instance often seem magnified in the first.

The agents and editors I've known tend to be very harsh when it comes to slush-piles.

Obviously opinions will vary, but I didn't take the comments the way you did, Mandy.

The poster specifically mentioned self-publishing, and I thought that's what prompted the original warning about being careful. The second post notes the dyslexia and, as you mention, that the original poster spends a lot of time editing.

The way I read Old Hack's response was more with a tone of helpful advice. I see a lot of people, various places about the Internet, excuse their bad grammar and punctuation by saying they don't pay attention when posting on forums or don't check over what they're writing when they quickly post someplace.

I thought the point of the response was that the more attention you pay to everything you write, the more dedicated you become to using correct grammar, making sure things are spelled and punctuated correctly in every instance, the more natural it will become. Everyone makes errors; I'm sure you could comb through my posts here and find plenty. However, I'm also fairly sure you'd have to look decently closely to find them. It's like a tic; I'll post something and think, 'wait, was there a comma splice?' If there was, I'll edit it, because it'd irk the hell out of me to leave it. I don't write one way when being careful and another when not; I write the way I write.

The more ingrained it is to write correctly, the easier it is. That's what I thought Old Hack (along with Med and Filigree) was trying to tell the OP. As above, you may disagree, just sayin'.

MandyHubbard said:

2) I'm not familiar with the way the boards are managed, but it's reasonable for a person to think, "Hey, if I 'report' the post of the moderator herself, me thinks nothing will come of that." And frankly I didn't think your post was so bad as to need to be reported, I just thought maybe pushingforadream might like someone in their corner instead of more people handing out advice s/he didn't ask for.

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Mandy you're welcome to PM MacAllister, who owns the boards.

But here's something else to think about:

1. I'm dyslexic.
2. I'm legally blind.
3. I screw up all the time.
4. I edit my posts. Other people rep me to let me know I need to edit.
5. If I can manage, if Delany can manage, if Old Hack can manage, so can the OP.
6. I resent the implication that dyslexic/dyscalculia/dysgraphia = "can't."
7. English orthography is so bizarre that people who don't struggle with dyslexia have to edit their posts all the time.

Look, I'm not trying to argue with you. I just wanted pushingfordream to know she can focus on the editing that matters and not get caught up in spending all her time worrying over typos in a forum.

It's called ask the agent. I'm giving my agently opinion that typos in this forum aren't going to deter me if her actual work is polished.

*shrugs*. It didn't have to get all heated.

Filigree said:

It's because agents and editors are not likely to use 'oh, this author has dyslexia' as a reason to continue reading at the second typo.

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Yup.