I got this question posted to my Challenge:
One question I had was when trying to get published what is the best approach, take one finished novel in or make a bunch of short stories or both? Or perhaps an entire book series would be best?
I thought I’d answer it here as the answer’d be kind of long for a comment thread.
First off, let me once again say that this is just my own opinion. And we all know that saying about opinions…at any rate, if you troll around on the web, you’re sure to find more opinions on this.
Personally, based on my own experiences and from what I’ve gleaned from agents and editors, it’s best for first timers to start out with a completed (polished as much as possible) manuscript that stands on its own, even if it is part of a projected series.
Why? Well, as a first timer, they have no idea whether or not your book is going to sell. So they don’t necessarily want to commit to an entire series. I’ve even heard that you shouldn’t even mention that your book is the first in a series, even if it is is, in your query. I totally broke that rule in mine, though I kept the mention brief and stressed that the book stood alone (if anyone wants me to post my query up, just ask). When my publisher did decide to take a chance on me, they included an option in the contract for follow up books, but bought the book as a standalone. I understand that is pretty common (though we’ve all heard about the exceptions).
So, what about short stories? I’ve definitely heard of a lot of people breaking in through the short story market and it is an excellent way to hone your skills (good short stories are TOUGH). But…the short story market is shrinking all the time. Magazines and websites close up every day it seems (iz sad) and the pay for short stories is really, really tiny. I’ve made as little as $10 on a short story before (and yes, that was in a print magazine). Anthologies of short stories don’t tend to sell that well (from what I understand) unless there are some big name headliners on it. So, in short, not an easy way to break in.
Personally, I’ve also found that the time spent on short stories and marketing them is better spent for me on a longer book. But your mileage may vary.
So…next I probably ought to blog about my thoughts on what’s best to follow up with, eh? I’m working on that now. 
My vote is…you should start out with what ever you’re best at. If you really shine at short stories, but can’t seem to stretch a plot past 30,000 words, a novel probably isn’t the best. Likewise if you’ve got 500,000 words on your first novel, perhaps breaking it up and trying to sell one piece of it would be better than killing prospective agents with the sheer mass of it.
That definitely makes sense — play to your strong suit.
For me, that’s definitely novels. Whenever I write a short story, I muck around with it for eons and am still never happy.
Great question and I love your answer. I kind of broke the rule about not querying an agent for your entire series too. But, I learned there’s a trick to doing that. Tell them your book is a complete novel that can stand on it’s own, however you have written a sequel (or sequels). That gives them the option of taking on just the one book but let’s them know you’re someone who can knock out more than one book. I signed with my agent for the first book only, however he is now pretty excited about the two books that follow it and he’s submitting the series to editors. Whether or not they’ll pick up all three is yet to be seen
Hopefully they do!
Sounds like a single novel is easiest to sell, but you shouldn’t push yourself into trying to make a shorter story into a full novel. Likewise, you shouldn’t try to fit all the adventures you have planned into a single novel if there’s a lot.
I was wondering if you could post your query up? I’m having some difficulty writing mine (I wont be sending it for another year or so after I’ve gone through a lot of revision and everything, but I’d like to make a first draft while the idea of the story if still fresh in my mind – I finished it just a few days ago).
Thanks,
Alissa
Definitely. And for YA, if you’re pushing a 100,000 words, you need to take a look. Not that there aren’t any. But…
I did post up my query. Actually two examples, if you check the next blog post.
Once again you have really helped Kimberly, thank you very very much! The answers seem to be what I was expecting but it makes the process of focusing that much easier feeling like I am doing the right thing to get going. Thank you very very very much! All very exciting stuff hehehe
No problem