Q&A Thursday

From A to Z Edition

My friends!

Have you yelled at your reps today? I did! Now, let’s answer some questions.

A asks: I really enjoy your newsletter, and have found some of the Q&A questions particularly helpful. I am an as-yet-unpublished writer, and I am working on two novels. One is a middle grade novel, and one is an adult dark fantasy. I enjoy writing for children and I do want to pursue publication of the MG book I'm working on. However, overall, I consider myself primarily a writer for adults, and while I would certainly consider myself lucky to be published in either category, in an ideal world, I'd like to be known more for my adult work. My MG novel is quite a bit closer to being a finished product than my adult novel is, so my question is this: If I query the MG novel first (simply since it will be done first) and I were lucky enough to be offered representation and to be published, would that in some way pigeonhole me into being seen as a children's author, thus making my adult book harder to sell? Or is it more like, once your foot is in the door in either category, it'll be easier to branch out? Or is it none of the above? Basically I want to know if there's any reason I might want to wait until my adult novel is finished to query that, and put the MG novel on the back burner, since ultimately I'd like to be seen as primarily an adult author, or if I should query whichever is query-ready first and not worry about that?

I was looking for a link to where I’d said this before but it’s actually in my book TK so I’ll give you a little (not verbatim) preview here. You can do any kind of book you