At the end of 2009, I set up a poll at the Tenners about the journey to publication for some of this year’s debut novelists.  Here are the questions and answers:

1.  What came first, agent or publisher offer?

• Agent: 82%
• Publisher: 18%

2.  How did you find your agent?

• Slush pile query: 58%
• Met at a conference: 14%
• Referral: 11%
• Query, with publishing offer in hand: 6%
• I don’t have an agent: 6%
• Professional connections: 3%
• Other: 2%

3. How many agents did you query before getting an offer:

• 1-10: 54%
• 11-20: 15%
• 21-30: 10%
• 31-40: 4%
• 41+: 17%

4. Did you have multiple agent offers:

• No: 58%
• Yes, 1-3: 38%
• Yes, 4+: 4%

5. From the time you/your agent began submission, how long did it take your book to sell?

• Less than a month: 47%
• 1-6 months: 36%
• 6-12 months: 11%
• Over 1 year: 6%

6. Did you have multiple publishing offers?

• No: 51%
• Yes, 1-3: 35%
• Yes, 4+: 14%

7. Is yours a multi-book deal?

• No: 47%
• Yes, 2 books: 42%
• Yes, 3+ books: 11%

8. How many books did you write (now stuffed in a drawer somewhere) before the one that sold?

• None, this is my first: 18%
• 1: 31%
• 2: 26%
• 3: 7%
• 4: 11%
• 5+: 7%

9. How many writing conferences did you attend prior to selling your book?

• None: 29%
• 1-5: 44%
• 6-10: 24%
• 11+: 3%

10. How long, including pre-sale edits, did it take you to write your debut novel?

• Less than 1 year: 39%
• 1-2 years: 24%
• 2-3 years: 9%
• 3-4 years: 13%
• 4-5 years: 2%
• 5+ years: 13%

11. Have you met your editor and/or agent?

• I have met both of them: 31%
• I’ve met my agent, but not editor: 13%
• I’ve met my editor, but not agent: 11%
• I’ve never met either of them: 45%

12. How old are you?

• Under 20: 0%
• 20-30: 25%
• 31-40: 51%
• 41-50: 22%
• 51+: 2%

13. What is your work status (post-book sale)?

• I write full-time, no other job: 29%
• I have a part-time job: 15%
• I have a full-time job: 25%
• I am a stay-at-home parent: 31%

14. Which best describes your debut novel?

• YA Contemporary: 35%
• YA Paranormal: 22%
• MG Contemporary: 15%
• YA Fantasy: 11%
• MG Fantasy: 7%
• YA Historical: 3%
• MG Historical: 3%
• YA Sci-Fi: 3%
• MG Sci-Fi: 0%
• MG Paranormal: 0%

15. Prior to selling your debut novel, had you been published?

• No: 47%
• Yes, short fiction: 17%
• Yes, “other” (only include work for which you were paid): 17%
• Yes, non-fiction articles: 14%
• Yes, non-fiction book: 5%
• Yes, adult novel: 0%

16.  How long have you wanted to be a writer?

• Less than 1 year: 2%
• 1-5 years: 4%
• 6-10 years: 7%
• 10+ years: 16%
• Or, my whole life and I’m so incredibly amazed and thankful that this is actually really, truly happening: 71%

For some of my thoughts and take-aways, visit the Tenners. 

Disclaimer: I am a writer, not a professional pollster or statistician.  I stink at math.  The 55 respondents don’t include all Tenners and certainly not all debut novelists and not all 55 responded to every question.  Most did, but the 3 without agents didn’t answer the agent questions, obvz.  You could probably draw a lot of conclusions from this info - some different than mine – including that this is a very small sample size and self-selecting since we’re all kids’ writers who joined the same online community.  I just thought this was interesting.  I’m kind of a geek like that.