One of the things that I took to heart when I first decided to self-publish was that by going down that path I’d never be able to get an agent. This was the messaging out there to authors at that time in 2013 when I started researching this. It was “if you self-publish you are dead to trad pub unless you are E.L James or some other huge magical successful unicorn.” So I went into self-publishing committed to that path. I’ve talked in other videos about WHY I decided after 12 books to go the trad route for Heifer/ Genisse.
So when I queried this book I put in the query letter that I was already self-published. I wasn’t going to try to hide that. That said, my self-publishing sales were fine. They weren’t spectacular. My non-fiction sales eclipsed by fiction sales. Mainly because I have this channel that aligns with the topic of my non-fiction books and it was easier to promote the non-fiction. My non-fiction books solve a problem, they answer questions. So it is easier for my to get sales there and lean in there.
I was very nervous for prospective agents to find out about my self-published fiction sales. Because I wasn’t puting up Colleen Hoover numbers. Right?
So I had several full requests. I had a call with the person who would become my agent. We actually had two calls. The first call was an hour and a half. I had more questions, but we had to stop – we both had other things to do. So my agent offered on that first call. We set a time to speak again to go over my additional questions.
On that second call I did ask about if she would also consider getting translation deals for my self-published back catalog. She said her focus was on the current manuscript. Get that sold and then of course look for opportunities to sell the back list. And then, she asked me how those books were selling.
AFTER she offered me representation. Because her focus was on the future.
So how many sales did I need to get an agent. None. I do think, having the history of self-publishing and working on my craft and being a member of ALLi did show to some extent that I was taking my career seriously. I was working as if my writing was a business. Not a hobby.
As for getting a deal:
The French translation deal with Heifer, no one asked about my self-publishing sales. This was a new pen name which had no history of sales AND I am based in the US, my audience is in the US, and all my prior works were in English. So it wouldn’t have been an apples to apples comparison, I don’t think my experience self-publishing had any impact on getting that deal. I wasn’t asked to post about it. In fact, i think they’d prefer I didn’t because my French is very very elementary.
Getting the deal for Fake Out Make Out with InkRoad. Again new pen name. I know my agent put my subscriber count in the pitch. Maybe. So showing I had some built in audience. But again, new pen name. New genre. (I promise these are my three pen names and I’m not adding any more.) So I don’t think my sales under M.K. Williams had any bearing here.
So, all of this is to say:
If you are an indie author and you are indeed CRUSHING it, you may not have this magical unicorn moment where the best agent approaches you with a deal in hand. You may still need to go and pitch a new book to an agent. Some are scouting based on top sellers, but not all are.
Even if you had moderate success as an indie, you can still query. You can still get an agent. It needs to be a new book though. One question I do see a lot on my channel is ‘well i self published book 1 in my series and now i really think I want an agent for book 2.” Nah. Unless these are very very loosely connected, practically stand alone books, nah.
Also, this is all my personal experience. Other authors who were self-pub then trad pub may have had a different experience. I think that should go to show there aren’t any hard and fast rules or thresholds you need to worry about.
And now it is time.. You guessed it… for me to remind you that Fake Out Make Out, my debut new adult romance under my Kate Williams pen name is coming out this summer. It is both a sports romance and a spy romance and the reviews so far have been stellar. So you should check it out.
What other questions do you have for me about self-publishing. Traditional publishing. Getting an agent. Working my with agent. Ask away, your questions are literally the fuel I use to create new videos.
MK Williams 