Submitting Complete Manuscripts or Selling on Proposal?

By Samantha Hunter

Everyone dreams of selling their first novel, and it's an exciting time when you get that phone call. However, newly published authors, still flush with the excitement of that first sale may find themselves somewhat beleaguered about how to proceed once they are published. Perhaps they spent five years working on that one book that just sold, only to find that to keep up with the competitive demands of publishing mass market fiction and to make a living at it, they have to sell at least three books each year, and maybe more. Writers who can work quickly may also find themselves in a bind. While we may write new books quickly, the editorial process on the other side may still take months. For this reason, it's generally advised to "sell on proposal" – submitting only a synopsis or a partial and then waiting to see what happens. However, this isn't the best strategy for everyone.

When I wrote my first book, Virtually Perfect (Harlequin Blaze, July 2004), I didn't have any experience with submitting proposals or partials. I just wrote the entire book assuming that was what a new author was supposed to do. Things were simple then. While the book was sitting with the publisher, an eight month wait, I wrote another book and started yet another. Both of these ended up being full manuscripts that I sent to my editor almost immediately following my first sale, one of them resulting in my second sale (my March 2005 Harlequin Blaze release, About Last Night…). I was used to starting books, finishing them, and sending them off. However, once I started writing for a living, a casual cost/benefit analysis showed it's not worth sitting and finishing books that might not sell – or is it?

While there is the adage that it's not a waste of time to write any book, it's obviously better to use your time writing a book that will sell rather than one that won't. Still, there's no way to know. Having written several books and proposals in the year after that first sale, I was hesitant to finish partials that hadn't been contracted yet or start more new work. I could be hit with an avalanche of sales or rejections, and either could present problems if I had too much work out there. I was searching for a way to manage my projects under the auspices of this uncertainty. What do you do in the meanwhile? Sit on your hands? Get a part-time job? Finish proposed work or generate new ideas? Who better to ask than those who have trod this well-worn ground before? Luckily, I have several best-selling author friends who were willing to share their good advice.

Lori Foster recommends finishing proposed books, even if you haven't heard a response on them yet. This way, you have finished books ready to go, and this can give your career a big boost, allowing you to fill in empty slots in a publishing schedule and creating a solid reputation with editors for handing in full books practically on demand. For a newly published writer, this also shows you can finish books routinely. Lori says, "don't start a book you don't have to finish. If it's not compelling you to tell it, then don't go there. And no finished book is ever a waste. You learn a ton from each book you write, if it doesn't sell now it might sell later, and you show the editors and yourself something with each complete."

Julie Elizabeth Leto agrees: "pick a proposal and finish it," she advises, sharing her own experience of working on proposed books that were passed on by one editor, but then sold to another house. Julie also cautions about creating a "whiplash" schedule that can happen if you are trying to keep up with contractual commitments while working on proposed books at the same time. Given the proclivities of acceptances and rejections combined with the production work of revising and editing, a proposed book may not get written because an author becomes too inundated with work to get to it. Julie advises that finishing proposed work as soon as possible will keep you from becoming tangled up in an impossible work schedule.

Tanya Michaels, while agreeing with Lori and Julie's advice, added a new perspective: "Creatively speaking, I'm not sure any writing is a "waste of time," but most of us have tight schedules, so how much do we want to invest in something that might not find a home? What I would be even more concerned about, however, is plowing forward on the book while waiting to hear from your editor, then learning that they're buying the story provided you agree to make major changes. I have had to completely re-imagine books before, and it was a lot less painful to do so after only three chapters than if I'd been a couple of hundred pages along."

Tanya still sees the positive side of completing finished manuscripts, however. You have a finished product in hand to show editors, even if it needs revision, and it's possible you could secure a multi-book contract with work finished and ready to go.

Lori Wilde's take on the issue reflects the complexity of the problem, and she admits there isn't any specific answer. It really depends on the individual writer, their process, goals, and situation. Lori advises that if you are not depending on writing for your sole source of income, write your first five books (at least) as completes because even if they are rejected you can perhaps sell them later when you have built up some name value. However, she admits that with rejection being a possibility, even for published writers, selling on proposal is tempting if writing is your sole source of income. The time it takes to complete full manuscripts can be a luxury we can't afford if they aren't going to sell.

Lori W. also recommends writing complete manuscripts if you are trying to establish a relationship with a new publisher. She suggests that newly published writers work for at least two publishing houses. At a certain point it makes sense not to have all of your work in one place. Developing a relationship with other publishers can also provide you with more outlets should one of your proposals or completes be rejected. However, it also means you will have to provide them with complete manuscripts, at least at first, in order to establish yourself with new editors.

New romance author Diana Duncan shares a totally different viewpoint. She loves to sell on proposal and manages her annual writing schedule by selling her books via proposal the year ahead so she knows what writing she needs to do and what her deadlines will be for each year: "Sometimes it seems like it takes as much time and effort to write a coherent synopsis as it does just to write the whole darn book. BUT... it's really nice to know if an editor has problems with a plot point or something major before you actually write the entire book. I'd say it's a trade-off. I'd rather obsess over the deadline than obsess over whether the book will actually sell."

So, how to distill this good advice down and apply it concretely? I've taken this advice and broken it down into some basic principles:

• Determine pace. How fast or slow you write will be the most critical element in deciding how to proceed. Whether you "plot or pants" is irrelevant, but how quickly can you actually finish books? If you are able to easily complete between 3-5 books a year, then you might not worry if some new work comes in while you are completing other projects, but if you are only comfortable writing 1-2 books a year, you may not want to propose too many ideas at once. You should also consider how quickly you are able to revise in this process so that you don't end up having "writing whiplash."
• Determine your work habits. Do you like to work on one project exclusively at a time (and this can change, necessity being the mother of multi-tasking!). Are you better at plotting out a detailed synopsis before you write or visa-versa? How many hours do you like to work each day, and how can you allocate that time? Be realistic and honest with yourself. It's not about what you'd like to do, it's about what you can do.
• Determine probability of sales. Obviously, you are shooting in the dark to some extent, but are you pitching something out of the blue or is the work something you and your editor or agent have talked about and you know there is interest? If it's untested, you may want to let the proposal sit and see what comes back. If it's something they've expressed interest in already, you may want to finish that proposed book, or at least make some progress on it so you have something to show later.
• Determine your priorities and create a plan. Make decisions about how to best spend your time. Act, don't just react. You have to decide what is going to make you feel most in control of your career, what is most important to you, and what is going to make you feel most productive. Know which projects you will tackle first, last, and in between. Write it down, make a chart, a calendar, whatever works, and stick to it. This schedule may have to be adjusted as things change, but it will give you a frame of reference. Don't throw your schedule out the window the first time something new (a sale, revisions, etc) happen, but discuss your schedule with your editor or agent and work on making things fit.
• Determine Plan B – and maybe Plan C. What will you do with the books if the proposals or the finished books are rejected? Lay some groundwork, whether that means revisiting them and thinking about how you would revise, or talking to editors and agents about your work and finding other markets for it.

The year or so after your first sale will be a rich, wonderful time, and it will also be a time you'll learn so much you might find it hard to keep track. All of the information and decisions that need to be made can blindsight newly published writer. During that exciting and trying time, I've learned to get advice from the people you trust and then develop a working plan you will stick to. When there are no rules, learning from the experience of others and setting some guidelines for yourself are the best things you can do.

Unless otherwise noted, content on this site is Copyright © of Samantha Hunter. This site may not be reproduced without express permission from Samantha Hunter. Harlequin and Harlequin Blaze are trademarks of Harlequin Enterprises Limited.