First Rights & Traditional Publishing

[MakaylaSophia]

Hi there! I'm looking for information or experience posting rough drafts of books on Tapas with the goal of querying those books for representation in the future.

Does anyone know how agents / publishers feel Tapas impacts first rights (specifically stories that are available for free)? I wonder how agents / publishers feel about tipping and ad revenue. More specifically, stories that are free and have been significantly revised offline prior to querying.

Does anyone know of authors who posted on Tapas first and then received representation after querying? I've seen a number of traditionally published authors have their books available for premium, but I'm focusing on authors who posted to Tapas first and then successfully queried. Not necessarily getting a publishing deal because of Tapas, but simply having work on Tapas before they successfully gained representation.

This is more focused on the novel aspect of the site. Also focused on traditional publishing, including indie publishing through small pubs, rather than self publishing.

My goal is to traditionally publish. I want to make sure I've got myself covered before I continue posting here! I only ever post first drafts online and would query a heavily polished version, but I'm still curious!

[spicy_sweets]

Gonna be watching this thread for reference c:

[Azeddy]

I haven't heard of someone getting a deal through or because of Tapas, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. Wattpad authors have become fairly famous because of the attention their work generated on there. I'm personally planning on capitalizing on the attention my novel Object and Objective got after the Tapas staff shared it on New & Noteworthy (which basically made my whole year). It's absolutely a query-letter-worthy detail, even though I don't plan on taking that particular novel to traditional publishers.

I also found some relevant links about usage rights on the Tapas guidelines:

The Tapas self-publishing and traditional publishing statements: https://help.tapas.io/hc/en-us/articles/115005476687-How-do-I-publish-on-Tapas-

The Tapas Terms of Service (you'll want to scroll down to "Your Content and Conduct" and "Licensing"): https://help.tapas.io/hc/en-us/articles/115005545248-Terms-of-Service

The most direct answer to your question, I think, can be found right under "Licensing" in the above link:

"Tapas Media does not claim ownership rights of your Content. Your Content belongs to you and Tapas Media does not restrict you from using your Content for any purpose unless stated in additional terms for other programs or offerings Tapas Media may provide."

Basically, we're free to pitch elsewhere, if I'm reading this correctly. Whether or not the new publisher will request you remove your work from Tapas is up to their new contract with you.

Best of luck pitching professionally! I plan to do this as well, but I am a slow starter.

[echoeotto]

I've also wondered/worried about this. I've seen arguments both ways (don't do it vs. it's fine), although no answer has felt definitive enough. I think it varies between publishers.

I'm going to submit the question to Janet Reid (a literary agent who answers questions on her blog). It may be a while, but I'll post back here if she answers.

[spicy_sweets]

Oh! Actually, I've asked beau van about this. They said:

For the first one it depends on the agent/publisher, some dislike it, others are fine since it isn't 'officially' published and can be deleted. If you have anything up as an ebook or self-published book though it's usually harder to sell to a publisher so they might be less inclined to take interest to it (this is from what I've heard, I have not tried querying a published book). In terms of telling them about your online platforms, it never hurts to mention your platforms so that they see you can market yourself if they were to work with you, but I would personally make the number of followers the main focus only if it would be more than enough people to pay back the 10k average given to writers as an advance. What is typically said in query bios include your experience, any prizes you've won, your platforms (if they are interested they will probably look you up and see the numbers anyway), and whatever you deem fit. For this particular case though I would omit mentioning tipping because if they don't know about Tapas it might be confusing to them; unless you know that they use/know about the platform. Some agents skip straight to the first chapters and read the query after though, and if the story is something that catches their eye I believe they will be more interested to see the next chapters over the number of people that have already read your works. Once again though, every agent/publisher is different, so if you feel like it would be good to mention this in a particular query then nothing says you can't. There are also pitch events on Twitter and pitch wars/other mentor programs you can submit to over the years, so the important thing is to not give up and keep writing/querying! There are bunch of resources online regarding querying as well on both Youtube and just simple Google searches, I definitely learned a lot from reading those and recommend them! Good luck and I hope it works out well!!

[echoeotto]

Yep, that seems accurate based on the literary blogs/channels that I follow.

In other words, posting your first draft may hurt your chances of publishing, but it may not. However, having an online platform is almost always talked about as good.

By the way, @spicy_sweets, that same agent I mentioned above (Janet Reid) has a second blog dedicated to critiquing queries and it's amazing. Anybody who wants to know more about querying should definitely read Query Shark.

[echoeotto]

Hey, so, I'm kind of surprised, but that literary agent actually got back to me on those questions. She says she'll address this topic on her blog tomorrow I'll post the link once it's up!

[spicy_sweets]

:oo That sounds interestinggg

[echoeotto]

@MakaylaSophia @spicy_sweets
Got a response! Her answers are here.

[Croik]

Tapas novel platform, particularly the community side, doesn't pull the kind of engagement numbers to be of interest to a traditional publisher, I imagine. A few hundred followers will often only result in a few dozen people who regularly like or comment. A publisher that isn't already familiar with Tapas might not look at 40 likes per chapter and realize that they're looking at one of the site's more successful community novels.

So if you're serious about going to a major publisher, I'd say go full Old School and keep the manuscript to yourself until then. If you're rejected, you can also come back to Tapas and have the same chance of making it here you always did, but if you post to Tapas first, you might miss out on an opportunity your First Rights would have won you.

[MakaylaSophia]

Thank you!

My question was more about agents / pubs opinions on Tapas (not discoverability), and this answered it. It always depends on the agent!

[echoeotto]

No problem I've been wondering about that as well.

It always depends on the agent!

True! This may be why answers were hard to find. It's good to know that it's not a dealbreaker for everybody.