Loose Change

Publishers usually make a choice (both equally valid choices, by the way) on whether they will accept books that have been published elsewhere.  If they don’t, usually an author has no choice.  If they do, the author needs to think about whether it’s wise to offer these books to that particular publisher.

Especially as e-publishers close, leaving an author with stories and, perhaps worse, half-done series, the need to find a new home for those books seems strong.  However, an author should consider:

1)     Are those stories a good fit for a new publisher?  Especially if the author wrote a story or series specifically for one publisher’s requirements, it may not work elsewhere.

2)     Should the stories be revised and rewritten before submission?  Sometimes updates can “fix” a story that seems to fit nowhere else or freshen it up for a market’s new tastes.  Sometimes it just can’t happen. Sometimes you can let the new publisher decide or suggest changes could be made.

3)     How quickly should the stories be submitted elsewhere?  This is usually a publisher’s decision but the author should also think about whether a story should “rest” before being re-submitted or whether a hot half-done series should go asap elsewhere.

4)     Does the author have to adjust expectations for story sales?  If the book has been sold widely elsewhere, the odds are good that the second time around sales won’t be as high…and that the publisher may be disappointed with sales as well.

5)      How hard will the author have to re-market and re-sell the story and the author’s name to a new market?  Readers overlap but often readers who buy from another publisher have no idea who an author is, even if the author has a reputation elsewhere.