On Writing : Pitch Your Book! by D.E. White

Hi D.E.

I'm a former law enforcement officer and wrote the critically acclaimed book "So You Want To Be A Cop" I recently wrote a fiction book which is receiving good reviews on Amazon and the general feedback is asking if I will turn it into a series. Is it ok to reach out to a literary agent to see if they would have interest in repping the series even though I self published the first book? Or is that considered a no no. I've had Hollywood agents for my other endeavors and I have learned there are a lot of things you don't do so I am just curious if I should approach Literary agents for this or not. Thanks for your time.

Hi Jeff, I would say you could totally approach an agent, but you would need to have another, brand new, manuscript to approach them with. This could be book 2 in your series (if you have loads of sales and great reviews), or a standalone/book 1 in another series, and you can mention you launched your previous book as self pub. Generally, I think agents and publishers would want new material, but if you are successful that wouldn't stop them publishing your backlist.

Ps. Joffe publish a lot of previously self-pub'd books, and for the genre, I would check out Charlie Gallager and Steve Parker (also both ex cops and both pub'd by Joffe). Charlie was self pub before he was approached by Joffe, so always worth asking that question, especially as you have crossover experience in screenwriting etc.

Hi D.E. Thank you for your response. I'll look into Joffe and check out the writers you mentioned. I've had a ton of stuff optioned in Hollywood but it's always difficult with a bunch of people who have their own ideas or when development peeps switch out and the new team isn't as excited about the project cause they didn't discover it etc. So I am trying to make the transition to author so its not live or die by committee. I realize they are both hard paths maybe this will be less stressful. Ahhh who am I kidding. lol Thank you .

@joffeBooks Thanks for posting D.E. White! I self published a young adult fantasy adventure book on amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Its-Blood-M-F-Glass/dp/0692307796/ref=sr_1_1?crid...

Great cover, Maria Restivo Glassner

Julia Warren Thanks Julia!