"Personal" question(s) to John Jarrold

[Commonmind]

I'm no John, but I believe the three chapter submission is more an insight into the strength and style of your writing. You don't need to introduce your entire cast and outline the entirety of your plot in the first few chapters of your book, and you shouldn't try to rearrange your novel with this mentality either. After a publisher is hooked by your writing and the beginnings of your story, they'll request the entire manuscript and make a decision to publish based on that.

[Culhwch]

Just an aside, if your book is not structured in what traditionally would be called 'chapters', what then would you send? An extract the length of three standard chapters? And what would make a standard chapter? I'd argue there is no such thing, but imagine that it'd be two to four thousand words, meaning an extract of six to twelve thousand words...

[Teresa Edgerton]

Culhwch, my guess is that you would need to send in something in the vicinity of 50 manuscript pages -- depending, of course, on whether or not approximately 50 pages leaves you in the middle of an extended scene.

Commonmind, I think your answer is spot-on. Although agents and editors usually ask for a brief synopsis with the sample chapters, and that's where they can get an idea of the overall story.

As for the prologue question, this is what I've done in the past (and the editor never complained): If it's chapter length, I treat it as a chapter; if it would only come to two or three pages in the book, I treat it as an epigraph at the beginning of Chapter One.

[John Jarrold]

Yes, absolutely right. No editor or agent expects to see your entire cast in the first three chapters. If you have a prologue, include it. Grabbing the reader with action is certainly a good way to start. The writing will come across in your chapters, and if someone is interested they'll ask to see the rest.

I did that with a new US fantasy writer, Robert Redick, last month - and last week I sold World Rights in three novels by him to Gollancz in the UK for a very good deal.

[Leisha]

Hi,
I hope you don't mind me adding another question to this thread (I'm new here, so please forgive me if it's wrong!). Anyway:

If a novel sent in to an agent had that "something special" (and I understand that 99.999% do not), but the author had put odd commas in the wrong places, would that put the agent off? I know that every agent will probably feel different, but I just wondered if there was some sort of cut-off point with errors on each page/the first chapter?

Also, on an unrelated issue, I'm confused about POV. If you wanted to write a novel with multiple character POVs and have each person go into some depth regarding their feelings and views, could that still be called third person limited, or is that "omniscent" territory? You see, in my second book I want to add more POVs (since my first book only has one), yet I'm not too sure which POV that would be classed as. Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks in advance! ^_^

Sarah

[Teresa Edgerton]

The way that commas are used is in a state of flux at the moment, so no one is going to fault you on the occasional misplaced comma. Wretched grammar, punctuation, and spelling throughout is another matter. That doesn't seem to be a problem for you (going by what you've posted), so I think you're safe in that regard.

John, of course, will correct me if I'm wrong.

[Leisha]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

The way that commas are used is in a state of flux at the moment, so no one is going to fault you on the occasional misplaced comma. Wretched grammar, punctuation, and spelling throughout is another matter. That doesn't seem to be a problem for you (going by what you've posted), so I think you're safe in that regard.

John, of course, will correct me if I'm wrong.

Thank you! I've read so many books, websites, etc, and it all comes across very confusing. I've had to just send my novel off regardless and hope for the best!

[John Jarrold]

Absolutely agree with Teresa. I was recently discussing commas with an old friend who was also a senior editor in London publishing for many years - we agreed that usage varies and every editor has their own ideas! But yes, grammar, etc, must be right...

[Leisha]

Thank you! You've both made it clear. I least now I won't worry so much whilst waiting for the agents' responses (well, not as much...).

John, keep up the great work! Your advice is invaluable to us unpublished, aspiring authors.

[John Jarrold]

Thanks so much!

[Daniel Ionson]

Hello, John.



I have two questions for you:

1) Is there a down-side to sending out one's novel to as many publishers/agents as possible? Of course, some are preferable to others, but should an author not try a 'buckshot' tactic rather than a blow dart?



2) How does an author know if he he getting a fair deal or not? I hate to ask for $ numbers, but how is a first-time author to know if he's getting short-changed?



Thanks much,
Daniel

[John Jarrold]

The buckshot thing depends both on the individual author - some prefer to target single editors - and on the publishers - some won't accept multiple submissions from unagented authors.

On advances, you need to be happy with the advance, but try to talk to recently published authors to get a sense of the market. I paid first novelists (agented and unagented) less than £5000 a book more often than I paid above that, up to and including the year 2002...the publisher is there to pay what they think the book is worth, in terms of the first printrun, not what the author needs to live.

[Daniel Ionson]

I see.

On the payment issue, after the advance what is a reasonable range for a percentage (for first-timers)? If an author is not offered a percentage after the advance, is he probably being taken advantage of?

Thanks again,
Daniel

[Teresa Edgerton]

The advance is an advance against estimated royalties. So a percentage should definitely be stipulated in the contract, but if sales never reach the point where the royalties add up to the total of the advance, then no more money is due the author. On the other hand, if the book doesn't "earn out" the author still gets to keep the full advance.

More often than not, and particularly with first time authors, the book doesn't earn out, and the advance is all the writer ever sees.

For first time authors, royalties are usually 6% for mass market paperback, 10% for hardcover. They'll usually stipulate the royalties for all formats, even if they only plan to publish in mass market. The percentage may go up after a certain number of copies have sold.

[John Jarrold]

In the UK, standard paperback royalties are 7.5% of cover price in the home market, and 10% of the price received in export - because of huge discounts overseas. If a book is published in hardback, royalties begin at 10% at home and 10% of price received in export...as Teresa says, royalties are always part of an initial contract with a major publisher, and often don't come into play because of unearned advances.