If one's first book is one genre, will publishers be less likely to accept books of a different genre by the same author?
I currently have two books, both roughly the same length and at the same point in the editing/rewriting process, and while I would like to eventually publish them both, they are from two completely different genres. Book one is a middle-grade fantasy (with a somewhat similar feel to Diana Wynne Jones' work), while the other is more a work of literary fiction (no fantasy, normal world, for older/adult readers, about a disaster and the people impacted by it). And that's where the problem lies.
Although I would like both of them to be published, as an unpublished author I imagine it wouldn't be very realistic to try to get them both published at the same time, so I want to start with just one. However, assuming whichever one I go with is eventually published and does reasonably well, because the genres are so different will it make it more difficult to publish the second book?
If a book of one genre does well, will this make publishers less likely to accept something of a different genre by the same (new) author?
PS. I know that assuming that either of them would even get published, let alone do well, isn't exactly realistic, but this is more of a hypothetic worry than a real one at the moment.
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1 answer
This is why you get an agent; she knows lots of publishers and knows how to pitch different genres to the same publisher.
If she represented you for your first book and sold it, then she will almost certainly read your next book (and give you an honest assessment), and if it is good leave it to her to deal with the publisher(s), and which editors to contact within the publisher, and she will leverage your existing relationship with them as much as possible.
You can also publish under a pseudonym for the different genre; most agents and publishers want your name to become a brand within a genre, but if you can write two books a year in different genres they may be willing to publish them both under different names. (They will know your real name, though.)
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