Agents & Queries & Publishing Question

[Aubrey]

I had a thought this morning. The book that I finished last summer is the 1st in a trilogy. When I've sent it out to agents, I choose a snippet, write a summary, send it off. Then they (occasionally) want the whole thing. After reading it, they politely decline. Very politely.

 

But I keep thinking...the first book doesn't tell the whole story. There are huge plot twists, etc., & the 1st book alone? Well, I think it gives the wrong impression.

 

So my question is, how do you think one is supposed to go about marketing such a thing? I'm thinking about squashing all 3 books together, calling it one, sending the whole massive thing, & then letting them tell me they really like it but they think it would work better as 3 books.

 

And I'm thinking it can't hurt to try. Each book is under 300pp, so altogether, it would still be shorter than an HP. What do you think?

[Robin M]

From what I've been learning from different agents and publishers online, it's a good idea to have a couple books written before querying. Perhaps would be a good idea to write the other two, then start querying.

 

Have you checked out literary agents Rachel Gardener or Nathan Bransford. They both have excellent blogs with great suggestions and insight. There is also sites where you can practice your queries and they tell whether its good or bad and what can been done to improve it in order to get noticed and picked from the slush pile. Check out querytracker.net and the ladies who blog on it.

 

hth

[Aubrey]

The other 2 *are* written. I say so in my query, but...I wonder if I'm going about it the wrong way *for a trilogy*, you know?