Should You "Send Out" that First Novel? 9 Things to Consider First

That's one of the reasons that you're lucky to get a rejection letter at all these days (most agents only reply to queries that interest them.) If they do send something, it will be a carefully worded generic message about how they're sure your project will find a good home, but it is not right for them at this time.

I see lots of new writers trying to pick these apart to find some sort of critique in it. I guarantee it isn't there.

Even a book that's perfectly polished and ready to go will probably get tons of rejections. Catherine Ryan Hyde has some great examples in our book How to be a Writer in the E-Age. She talks about how her agent said her mega-hit Pay it Forward, "needs lots of work." Six months later another agent sold the book to Simon and Schuster and the film rights to Warner Brothers. Same book. Catherine didn't do a word of rewriting.

But if a book isn't ready—and if it's your first, it probably isn't—you're only wasting an agent's time by sending out unpolished work. They may remember you when you submit again, but not in a good way.

What you should be doing instead of sending out 25 queries a week is…write the next book!

Reviews will not tell you if a book is any good.

Yeah, yeah, I know—you just skimmed that stuff about rejections saying "I don't need no stinkin' agents. I'm going indie all the way!"

But if you've just finished your first novel, publishing immediately is even worse than "sending it out" to agents.

The advice you hear from a lot of self-publishing advocates to publish and "learn from reviews" is even worse than expecting to get an education from agents and publishers.

I have read posts by first-time indies who feel personally wounded when they get honest, unfavorable reviews. They say "these people should cut me some slack—it's my first book!"

No, they should not cut you any slack. They have taken the time to read a book for their own entertainment, not to be your private writing tutor.

And online customer reviews are notoriously unreliable. They often only tell you if the reviewer hates your genre, had trouble downloading, or is trying to built up his review numbers to get free stuff from Amazon merchants.

What a first-time novelist should do is collect beta readers or join a critique group to polish that book till it shines, plus work on building platform, network on social media…and write the next book.

Sales will not tell you if a book is any good

Sales tell you if you're good at business and marketing. See #6 below.

Yes, you should start learning about the business and this is a great time to work on building your platform...while you're writing the next book.  (Are you catching a theme here…?)

2) You need inventory to start a business. Self-Publishing a first novel "to see what happens" is usually a waste of time and money.

"What happens" if you're a new indie writer with only one title generally is: you don't get many sales. No matter how good your book is. That's because the tried and true ways of marketing indie books involve discounting or giving away one book in order to sell your others .

If you don't have others, you're not going to get any benefit from the discounts and freebies.

Bargain ebook newsletters are the hot sales tool these days. You temporarily discount your book (or make it free) and pay BookBub $1000 or so to advertise it for a day. (There are lots of good, cheaper alternatives, but BookBub is the gold standard.) And it works: but only if you have other books to sell.

If you pay $1000, and sell the book at $1.99, maybe you break even, and if it's in a series, now people will be hungry for more. In fact, that hunger will make the BookBub ad worthwhile even if you make the book free. As the founder of BookBub said on GigaOm, "One publisher who worked with BookBub gave away the first book in a series free; it was downloaded more than 100,000 times — and in that same month, more than 15,000 people bought the second book in the series at full price."

But you see how it's not going to work if you have only one book? All you'll have is 100,000 people who won't buy it because they got it free. And you're out $1000.

3) Authors often find their first book's genre isn't where they want to stay.

Last week comic-mystery author Melodie Campbell talked about how she genre-hops in short fiction, which is a great way to try out new genres and publish in several.

But if you publish a full-length novel in one genre, especially if you land a trad. contract, it's hard to jump to another.

I've known writers who started writing YA and jumped to erotica (luckily erotica writers usually use a pen name.) And I've also known several literary fiction writers who found their groove in YA mystery or fantasy.

If they'd published those first efforts in book form, they'd have a lot of backtracking to do. So give yourself some time to explore your own interests before you brand yourself as one type of writer.

Write more short stories and experiment with genres before you publish that first full-length book

Re-branding can take a lot more time than establishing a brand in the first place.

4) The book may work as a series or a trilogy.

If so, you'll want to pitch it as a package to agents, or if you self-publish, you'll want to "brand" the series with matching cover designs. Good covers are expensive. You don't want to have to pay for a second one for the same book a year later. 

Also, you may want to keep that character alive who dies in the battle at the end of that first novel, and you may want to leave room for the heroine to run off with Mr. Wrong at the last minute so she can continue to pursue Mr. Right in book #2.

5) Or the opposite may happen.

You may have envisioned a series, but when you get to book two, you realize you're done with those characters and you've said all you have to say. (I wonder if that's what happened to Harper Lee?)

6) Publishing is a business. If you don't know how it works, you're likely to be ripped off.

If you're like most new writers, you've been in your right-brain writing cave turning out deathless prose, not brushing up on your business skills.

You need to give yourself time to learn about the business before you dive in, book first.

There are sharks in those waters. Overpriced vanity publishers and outright scammers are lying in wait.

There are a lot more people are making money off writers these days than there are writers making money off books. You have to educate yourself, or you'll simply be offering yourself up as prey.

7) Professional writers have to know how to write fast these days. This takes practice.

Whether you self-pub or go trad, readers want you to turn those books out quickly. The only way to learn to do that is write more. Once you develop those writing muscles, your speed will pick up. Not so many dead ends, endless edits, etc.

So give yourself time to practice before you have readers and/or editors holding you to brain-frazzling deadlines and ordering you to write faster while you're also blog-touring and marketing 24/7.

8) Marketing takes a LOT of time.

No matter whether you're indie or trad, you're going to spend a lot of time marketing once you have a book out. Way more than you think.

Blogging and social media eat into every day. Giving interviews, going on blog tours, and getting guest blog gigs takes time and a lot of schmoozing. Personal appearances and conferences can take weeks to prepare for. Sometimes it feels as if the writing itself becomes an afterthought. 

Pre-publication is the time when you can experience your most rapid growth as an artist. It is the only time when you can devote yourself entirely to your muse.

Don't rob yourself of that freewheeling, exhilarating time!