A small literary press has expressed interest in my novel, after I submitted the opening couple of chapters and a synopsis and bio about 2 months ago. Normally, I would expect them to ask for the remainder of the MS and then wait until I heard back from them. But strangely, they want another smallish portion of the MS (not the whole thing), plus a more detailed bio and synopsis than I already gave them. This feels a bit off. They promise to get back to me in 7 business days. I'm thinking of contacting one or two of their published authors to ask about their experiences. Is it considered acceptable to do so?
That sounds like a tepid second date to me. Like they maybe want to jump in bed on date three but think a better option might reveal itself in the interim. Just my opinion. As for contacting the other authors, that could blow either way. What if they report back to the publisher that you were expressing concerns? Might be a big deal or it might not be. I guess I'd ask what information you're hoping to glean from them.
" I guess I'd ask what information you're hoping to glean from them." Really, just to ask if they had a similar experience, because my own experience strikes me as unusual. If they say yes, then I'll know this is a usual procedure for them.
Ive had a query require the first 10 pages. Then the agent expressed interest and asked for 20pages after a few months. That ultimately resulted in a "great premise, not right for me at this time" rejection. I dont see it as suspicious. Just them being thorough. Maybe they didnt get what they needed from your first sample and want more of the story to really make a decision
That would make sense. As for contacting their other authors, I got that idea from another writers' forum. Some of the people on there do contact a publisher's author(s) if they get some interest from the publisher. I haven't heard of any negative repercussions from doing so.
Just my opinion here, but asking other authors about their experience working with the publisher, is little more than due diligence. I would keep it very general.
I don't think you should contact this publisher's authors to ask anything about the submission process. When you could (more appropriately) contact the publisher's authors is when you get a book deal. You do not have an offer, right? If you have questions about the pubmission process, those should be directed to the publisher. Sorry, but if I was one of these authors and got contacted by someone with a partial requester from my publisher, it would piss me off. And I definitely never would contact an author if I hadn't read their books. Even if an author comes your way, I think you should really think what the point of your questions will be. I don't think this is common. You should have faith in and have already done your homework on this publisher before you submit your work. And that does not include contacting other authors in such an early stage of the process. I wish you luck, and I hope this works out for you.
