"Personal" question(s) to John Jarrold

[I, Brian]

Originally Posted by Devil's Advocate

Why would they all be flooded right now?

Simple answer? Everybody is expected to work harder for less money in this recession.

[anthorn]

Okay. So how does an Agent get paid? Does the publisher give him money for bringing an author to the fold. Or does he get part of the authors royalty check?

[The Judge]

Er... is this meant to be a trick question?

An agent works on behalf of the writer, so he/she is paid by the writer. The mechanics are the agent receives the money -- the advance or royalties -- from the publisher and then deducts the agreed fee of whatever % before forwarding the balance on.

[anthorn]

Ah right. I just wasn't sure.

[anthorn]

I'm curious.
Now that we have computers.
When submitting work to an agent. Something I plan to do later this year. (hopefully)
They ask for the first three chapters. So do I say send you a query letter online with the 3chapters and if you want to see the rest I then send the manuscript by normal post (including first 3 chapters) Or just submit electronically.

I would like to send them to Jarrold some time down the line, though I can't find his address on his site.

[The Judge]

It depends what they ask for. Most agents will say in their submission guidelines how they want the work sent, whether by post or email. You do what they want. I think, from memory, John accepts submissions electronically, but have another read around his site when you're preparing to send out.

If you can't see it mentioned in an agent's guidelines, then write and ask if he/she has a preference. If the agent wants to see the whole thing, he/she will probably make it clear how to send it, but again, if in doubt, ask at the time.

[Ian Whates]

Precisely, Judge.

John prefers submissions electronically, anthorn, but other agents will have different requirements.

[anthorn]

Okay thanks

[Ronempress]

I submitted a query to Mr. Jarrold on January 11th and I sent a status query on April 12th. I have never heard from him. Everything I've read on Mr. Jarrold says he responds fast to status queries. Should I try and use a different email to see if he ever received anything from me?

[thaddeus6th]

Others will probably have more advice, but from personal experience a query I sent to Mr. Jarrold went unanswered. However, he was very prompt in getting back to me when I sent him a submission.

He may well be snowed under. As I said, others here will have more useful advice, but personally I'd hold off sending another e-mail so soon after the 12th. Best of luck

[Ronempress]

Thanks, Thaddeus6th. I will try to be patient. I have fears of finding out a year later that he had some rule set up in his email that blocked my submission, ya know? I'm paranoid. It's a useful trait when it makes you think in terms of what if, but it's annoying, too. LOL

[Paradox 99]

Hi John,

I've been fortunate enough to get an offer from an independent publisher.
Having looked through the contract I'm happy with what I've seen, but their planned launch date is July 2012. I expected it to be at least a year, but over 2 years seems quite a while. In your experience, is this unusual?

Thanks!

[Ian Whates]

Paradox, I know John is extremely busy and doesn't get onto the Chrons as often as he'd like these days.

With that in mind, I'll answer in his stead, if that's okay.

This is a little unusual but not unprecedented by any means. With a major publisher, you can expect a gap of anything from one to three years from a book's acceptance to appearance.

Smaller publishers are normally a little quicker than that but by no means always. It depends on how small they are and how much they already have in the pipeline. For example, Pete Crowther's PS Publishing, which is a veritable giant among small presses, typically has a lag of a couple of years simply because of the amount of titles they're considering and accepting. Others may only publish two or three titles a year and already have several in the queue. For my own NewCon Press, I have two short novels which have been sitting in files for six months and I haven't even had a chance to consider them yet (but then I did warn both authors it would be this summer before I could).

I'm afraid that when it comes to getting your work published, you sometimes just have to be patient. It's your call whether you accept the delay or choose to look elsewhere.

Having said all that, congratulations on getting an offer in the first place!

[Stephen Palmer]

I waited a year between sending Tim Holman the first three chapters of Memory Seed and hearing from him, and in the meantime had done a completely new version. His letter arrived a week before I moved house. That was lucky...

[Paradox 99]

Thanks Ian (and Stephen),
That all makes sense. They told me today it's a standard lead time anyway.

Originally Posted by Ian Whates

I'm afraid that when it comes to getting your work published, you sometimes just have to be patient. It's your call whether you accept the delay or choose to look elsewhere.

Having said all that, congratulations on getting an offer in the first place!

Absolutely, if it's one thing you learn in this game, it's patience! So the wait is no problem to me, I'm just so happy to get the deal.