I'm not facing this situation yet (because I don't have an agent) but I'm expecting to face it someday. What happens when a manuscript dies but gives birth to "offspring" manuscripts first?
About seven years ago, I was shopping around a manuscript for a nonfiction folklore collection that I was then calling Legends of the Shapeshifter. It was a travesty of a manuscript, and to make things worse, I was submitting it most frequently to children's publishers because I thought that it would be more difficult to get it published if I presented it as an adult work (which, I eventually realized, was exactly what it was).
Eventually, I also realized that, even though it was an adult book overall, it had some sections that would be perfect for juvenile readers, and it was also long enough to easily be two books. I did a massive overhaul on Legends of the Shapeshifter, which resulted in two "offspring" manuscripts that were derived from the original manuscript: one for adult readers, and another for juveniles. The juvenile work I called They Could Turn Into Animals and the adult work I called Half Human, Half Animal (I later went with a POD vanity outfit to "publish" the first half of the adult book, but I eventually came to my senses and got all my rights back, but that's a whole different story).
Anyway, both of the "offspring" manuscripts were much different from the "mother" manuscript that had spawned them, especially the juvenile work which had been redone quite extensively in order to make it suitable for that age group. The split occurred in 2002. I continued to shop around the adult work Half Human, Half Animal to publishers for a little while, but I quickly lost steam and stupidly went the vanity route (which I've only recently gotten out of). I did not send the juvenile work to any publishers, only to agents. That's where I'm sitting right now.
What I'm wondering is this: in an agent's eyes, how much have the "offspring" manuscripts been shopped to publishers? Is the juvenile work something that publishers have never seen, or do I count all the times that the "mother" manuscript was sent to publishers before the split? Has the adult work been sent to all the publishers that the "mother" manuscript was sent to (after all, it is more similar to the original than the juvenile work is) or do I just count the times it went out under the title Half Human, Half Animal?
I'm asking because I've read that agents are reluctant to take on projects that have already been rejected by more than about 5 publishers, and if I have to count the publishers that I sent the "mother" manuscript to, then I'm in trouble.
In addition, the "mother" manuscript got rejected from a bunch of children's publishers (or children's divisions of larger publishers) mostly because it was an adult work, a fact that I refused to believe for quite some time. I don't want these children's publishers to be off-limits for submissions of my new manuscript that actually is for juveniles, because that could limit the options for an agent. Plus, some of those publishers praised the "mother" manuscript even though it wasn't aimed at their market, so I think there's a good likelihood that they would be interested in a similar book derived from the "mother" manuscript that actually was for juveniles.
Also, it's been four years since any manuscript belonging to this "family" of manuscripts has been rejected by any publisher, with lots of revising and polishing in the intervening years. Does this possibly negate even some of the submissions made after the split?
About seven years ago, I was shopping around a manuscript for a nonfiction folklore collection that I was then calling Legends of the Shapeshifter. It was a travesty of a manuscript, and to make things worse, I was submitting it most frequently to children's publishers because I thought that it would be more difficult to get it published if I presented it as an adult work (which, I eventually realized, was exactly what it was).
Eventually, I also realized that, even though it was an adult book overall, it had some sections that would be perfect for juvenile readers, and it was also long enough to easily be two books. I did a massive overhaul on Legends of the Shapeshifter, which resulted in two "offspring" manuscripts that were derived from the original manuscript: one for adult readers, and another for juveniles. The juvenile work I called They Could Turn Into Animals and the adult work I called Half Human, Half Animal (I later went with a POD vanity outfit to "publish" the first half of the adult book, but I eventually came to my senses and got all my rights back, but that's a whole different story).
Anyway, both of the "offspring" manuscripts were much different from the "mother" manuscript that had spawned them, especially the juvenile work which had been redone quite extensively in order to make it suitable for that age group. The split occurred in 2002. I continued to shop around the adult work Half Human, Half Animal to publishers for a little while, but I quickly lost steam and stupidly went the vanity route (which I've only recently gotten out of). I did not send the juvenile work to any publishers, only to agents. That's where I'm sitting right now.
What I'm wondering is this: in an agent's eyes, how much have the "offspring" manuscripts been shopped to publishers? Is the juvenile work something that publishers have never seen, or do I count all the times that the "mother" manuscript was sent to publishers before the split? Has the adult work been sent to all the publishers that the "mother" manuscript was sent to (after all, it is more similar to the original than the juvenile work is) or do I just count the times it went out under the title Half Human, Half Animal?
I'm asking because I've read that agents are reluctant to take on projects that have already been rejected by more than about 5 publishers, and if I have to count the publishers that I sent the "mother" manuscript to, then I'm in trouble.
In addition, the "mother" manuscript got rejected from a bunch of children's publishers (or children's divisions of larger publishers) mostly because it was an adult work, a fact that I refused to believe for quite some time. I don't want these children's publishers to be off-limits for submissions of my new manuscript that actually is for juveniles, because that could limit the options for an agent. Plus, some of those publishers praised the "mother" manuscript even though it wasn't aimed at their market, so I think there's a good likelihood that they would be interested in a similar book derived from the "mother" manuscript that actually was for juveniles.
Also, it's been four years since any manuscript belonging to this "family" of manuscripts has been rejected by any publisher, with lots of revising and polishing in the intervening years. Does this possibly negate even some of the submissions made after the split?