Here's the situation. A small press (let's call them "Obscure Publishers") published my first novel a few years ago. I have a good relationship with them and particularly with their founder/editor. I finished my second novel this year and have been sending it out. I would prefer to have it published by a different press than Obscure Publishers. Nothing against Obscure, I like them and they like me, but they have no marketing muscle and I'm not sure if their finances are solid enough. However, the founder of Obscure has indicated that he's willing to give priority consideration to my new novel. This is not yet a firm offer of publication, but it will probably turn into one. In other words, it's a form of insurance: at least Obscure Publishers will be there for me if others turn it down. So, with that in mind: Does it make sense to write to other publishers I've submitted it to, tell them I have an offer, and ask if they are interested in publishing the book instead? I know that it's accepted practice to do this with agents, but is it the same with publishers?
If it's not an actual offer, to me, it would be unethical to suggest otherwise. If it were a genuine offer, it really would depend on who "Obscure Publishers" actually is. If it's some borderline author mill type of place, they're just going to laugh and say good luck with that, or ignore you.
Obscure Publishers is a small press that publishes 5-6 books a year. It's kind of a chummy little outfit, in that the founder tends to retain strong ties to the authors he publishes. For this reason, I don't think he would ignore me or laugh.
No, I mean the publishers who you're submitting to where you're saying you've got another offer on the table. You're going to have to tell them who is presenting you with this offer, and what they think of Obscure Publishers is going to be kind of important. These other publishers will want to know about your previous publishing history (I have to imagine you're mentioning the first book in your query letters), and they're going to want to know about your sales numbers, if they're interested in your query. For me, I suppose it would come down to whether I have real leverage, or fake leverage. It's sounding like this might be the latter scenario, and so I don't think I would have any helpful advice for you here.
It's not an acceptable practice to lie to publisher or agents, telling them you have an offer on the table when you don't. It really doesn't matter if your old publisher likes you and tells you he'll give your MS priority consideration. That's not an offer. And if you really want to know if there is any interest in your novel from other publishers, you should just wait and see what they think. Your method here (lying about having an offer) could just piss people off and burn bridges. When I got an agent I let the other agents know. I was asked who made the offer. One agent asked me to let her know when my book came out because she wanted to read it. Another agent told me to get in touch with her if things didn't work out with my agent or if I had other projects in the future I wanted her to consider. There were no other offers and it didn't make anyone want to work with me more because another agent had made me an offer. But I wasn't looking for that. I submitted to agents I wanted to work with. I didn't use the offer for any kind of leverage, and I wasn't lying about anything. Even if you do get an offer from this small press you've worked with in the past, it's really unlikely that it would make other publishers like your work any more than they would anyway or act any quicker. Most likely they will say good luck and wish you well. And your whole plan could just piss off your old publisher if he makes reading your novel a priority and you're only using him. Writers should ONLY submit to publishers and agents they actually want to work with. What you are thinking about doing is very unprofessional.
two things occur 1) publishers receive thousands of submissions, telling them you've got an offer won't make it more likely that yours will move out of the slush pile. If you had another offer on the table there could be some leverage in saying XYZ is interested as well, but even then they might just say 'publish with them then'... unless you're James Patterson or something you need them much more than they need you so you have very little in the way of leverage. 2) even assuming you got out of the slush pile to actual consideration, and found a publisher willing to compete for your work, publishers know and talk to each other, so whats going to happen when publisher 2 rings up obscure publisher and says "I hear E64 has an offer from you?" and obscure publisher says 'no he doesn't'... at that point you're well and truly screwed because not only will you not get a deal from publisher 2 but obscure publisher isn't likely to touch you either...and they'll both be telling their friends about the walter mitty who though he could lie his way to a deal and laughing.
Is it worth nudging the other publishers first, without mentioning my communications with Obscure Publishers? Has anyone ever had success from nudging?
First off, listen to what others have said about the way you are representing things. If you are wedded to the idea of trying to get some leverage, real or perceived. Then don't claim to have an offer you don't have. Say instead, that you have another publisher interested in the work. As for the idea of leverage, that is something you will earn after having several books in a row hit the NY Times best seller list, and have a well established fan base. Until then any leverage you think you have is an illusion.
Saying another publisher is interested basically implies the same thing as saying you have an offer. Just because the OP has a publisher willing to read their work does not mean the publisher in interested in their work. This publisher hasn't even read their novel yet. The OP is assuming the publisher will be interested, but where things stand now this is still a lie. And big-time authors have agents to handle these sort of things. I think it might make a difference if an agent is saying these things vs. an author making such claims. An agent isn't going to try and strike up a bidding war based on a lie if they are professional and care about their reputation, and a writer should care about those thing as well.
If the publisher doesn't know who you are already, there's nothing to leverage. Can't leverage without rep.
A very valid point. An agent knows the industry well, or atleast they should, and knows the unspoken rules by which they must abide. We on the outside of those relationships can only guess at what those rules are, making us much more likely to make costly errors.
