How important is that "debut status" for trad pub?
Will self-publishing a cozy fantasy now hurt my chances of trad publishing a gothic speculative fiction later under a new pseudonym? Will losing "debut author" status work against me?
I've been querying my cozy fantasy novel for a few months and have gotten about 4 full request from agents, three which have already resulted in rejections, and 2 full request from mid-size publishing companies (waiting on those). Given the number of queries I've sent and the amount of interest I've received, I'm getting the sinking feeling trad won't work out for this book.
I decided to then pay for a lit agent to evaluate my query letter. The lit agent told me what I suspected: there's nothing wrong with the query itself, the premise is just difficult to market. This is a book I created for my audience, which is large, but niche, and I really want to get this book out there for them. I made the cover and illustrations myself.
The next book I'm planning to write is in a darker and more mainstream. It's just a completely different vibe. I plan on using a pseudonym because it will need a completely different audience from the cozy fantasy I wrote. My confusion is, if I self-publish this cozy fantasy, will it be harder to get an agent later for my gothic spec novel because I'll no longer be a debut author and will then have a sales history? The genres are different, but on Query Tracker agents always ask if you've published before anyway, and I have this sinking feeling it's to weed people out. Should I wait and query this gothic novel, see if I get an agent, to only then publish my cozy fantasy? I hate to think that self-publishing this cozy novel will hurt my future querying. Every decision in the publishing space feels so loaded 😔