Afternoon, I have an Agents who have expressed interesting in ready my Crime Novel. I am doing some final polishing on it before I send it to them. Before he expressed any interest I wrote a small novella that was a companion to the Novel they are interested in. The novell was always planned on being released on iTunes for cheap as a way of getting my name out there. Using friends and family to help me get it noticed to the public. (I know it would be a small market.) It is set before the Crime Novel and uses the same characters solving a different case, they is no links to the books other than being in the same city and same characters. Would it be bad to self publish the novella on iTunes while they are looking at the other one. Personally I can't see the harm as if the iTunes one sells well they know people would want it. When I was planning on doing this I hadn't thought of an agent wanting to read the Novel. Thanks and hope it all makes sense.
One consideration: if this could be an ongoing series with the same characters, then a publisher could prefer to have first rights on anything that is part of the series. If you have a novella out there with the same characters, then that will preclude them from doing that. Also, if a publisher takes on this book you may be able to sell them the novella (probably after expanding on it). Maybe you should run this by the agent and see what she says. If the agent takes you on, they are supposed to be your 'expert' in the industry that is looking out for your interests.
Another thought. What do you think the benefit of the publication on iTunes will be? Chances are it will be very small. So is it worth possibly alienating a future publisher for whatever return you get out of the iTunes publication? And if an agent is already expressing interest and you put the novella out there without telling the agent, the agent may well take the view that you are not dealing honestly. Lots of potential downsides. They may not come to pass, but I'm not seeing much of an upside.
Don't do it. Unless publishing this novella on iTunes is more important to you than getting your novel published, don't do it. No, it's not guaranteed that it will ruin your chances, but it's not that unlikely either.
