1. Cernex

    Cernex New Member

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    Simple literary agents question

    Discussion in 'Traditional Publishing' started by Cernex, Mar 10, 2010.

    So I sent a couple of queries... 20, to be mor exact. However, because I just realized I made a crucial and lethal mistake by just typing 44,000 words and decided to call it a day, 2 things:

    1) I have decided to write another 44 K words (not big deal: since its a series, its just the sequel, :p )

    2) I have decided to stop quering for the time being.

    But the thing is... how much time to you guys think I should wait in order to query the agents I already sent mails to with the old word count again?

    Thanks in advance.
    El Cernex
     
  2. FrankB

    FrankB New Member

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    If you're basically writing a second novella to piggy-back on the first, I'd have to say never would be about right amount of time to re-query. Or to query anywhere at all.

    Try starting over and writing a complete novel.
     
  3. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    sounds about right t'me!

    however, if they're for the YA market, then that word count is ok... for each... but you can't sell a sequel, or a series, without first selling the first book... if and when it sells like hotcakes, then agent/publisher may want to consider taking on more of the same...

    till then, you can only query for one stand-alone book at a time...
     
  4. Cernex

    Cernex New Member

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    Yeah, but the thing is the story really has some heavy material... bloodshed, torture, violence, big body-count... I don't think it really fits in the YA market, :/

    I could put the hook over here, if you think that would make matters easier.

    Like I said before, writing more events (the events planned for the follow-up, that is) is not that big of a deal. The second one was suppposed the start just when the first one ended, so they would blend perfectly anyway, :)

    El Cernex
     
  5. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    if it's for the adult market, then you've only half a novel!... needs to be 80-100k for agents/publishers to even want to look at it...

    or are you saying you're going to add your 'sequel' 44k to the first 44k, to make one stand-alone 88k novel out of it?

    in any case, since you included the word count in all those queries, they'd probably have been tossed unread... but you should not be querying anyone till you have a completed and edited/polished to a faretheewell ms to offer... and that will take a while, so wait and see how much time has passed, before making a decision on re-querying... and let that be a good lesson in not jumping the gun...
     
  6. Cernex

    Cernex New Member

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    Yeah, I hear ya'. I thought I could pull it off with 44 K ... now I see I was horribly, horribly mistaken. I won't make any escuses.
     

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