Request for a full, hmm, worry...

Good luck, Scott!
I'm beginning to wonder if agents and editors are shying away from vampire books...because I'm not having much luck either.

Aim high.

If you can get a legitimate agent with a solid history of sales, take that route every time. You say that you've heard writers can get agents easier if they have a publisher; the problem with that is you're ruining your chances (for now) with a big publisher with this book even if you do get an agent. Second, you don't know if an agent is going to recognize the small publisher. Sometimes landing with a small publisher means very little in the larger world of publishing.

Once you've exhausted the agent route, then you can explore this small pub.

Good luck to you.

Jack_Roberts said:

How so?

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Because the book will have already been placed at the smaller publisher.

You might be able to get an agent, but the agent will be working on the assumption that s/he will sell future books.

There's nothing wrong with smaller publishers, of course. Some of them do very good work for what they are. But if you want mass distribution, then the agent route is really the only viable way to go. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't even think about the smaller pub until you had queried at least 35/40 and heard back from them.

Blowing your chance

It's also my understanding that if you sub to a publishing house, then sign with an agent, that agent cannot approach that house again with the same property. So say you got your foot in the door somewhere, but got rejected, then your agent can't submit you to that same house once they're on board. Also, you might have trouble finding an agent if you've already submitted (and been rejected by) numerous publishing houses. It's a tricky balance.

Montage said:

It's also my understanding that if you sub to a publishing house, then sign with an agent, that agent cannot approach that house again with the same property. So say you got your foot in the door somewhere, but got rejected, then your agent can't submit you to that same house once they're on board. Also, you might have trouble finding an agent if you've already submitted (and been rejected by) numerous publishing houses. It's a tricky balance.

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Hmm. I have no experience with how it works in fiction, but in non-fiction, my agent was willing try to auction my book off to get a better deal, even though the publisher had already offered me a contract. In the end, I just had my agent negotiate with the publisher. I did find, however, that sending queries indicating I had a deal on the table and needed an agent to negotiate it for me got really quick positive responses from the agents I contacted.