Supplemental chapters. . .leave in or take out?

[jomariem]

A while back, I sent some stuff off to a publisher and to my delight, they're interested enough in it to ask me to send the entire manuscript! Now I have a new question. This story is a young adult novel about a killer whale, and I've also written some supplemental chapters to it about orcas (basis facts, history of orcas in captivity, and a segment about whether or not captive orcas should be released). I'm finally finished with editing the novel itself (which took ages), but now I'm wondering if I should bother with the supplemental chapters. They're taking forever to edit and frustrating the living daylights out of me, and I'm eager to get this book sent off and on its way. Should I just: a) edit it all and send it off together; b). Send just the novel, but indicate that I also have supplemental chapters, and the editor can request those if interested? or c.) just forget about the extra stuff and just send the story?

Advice please? Thanks.

[joshuachrisstoff]

CONGRATULATIONS!

I couldn't be more pleased for you!
I am in the process of having my first one published, if all continues to go well. I did some more business three hours ago. We are negotiating about the marketing process, what, where, when, how, etc. I suspect this won't be finished overnight. He said the book description will be done by their pro copy writers, so my synopsis, 1k words, my mini 300 word back page synopsis, actually 323 words, is not desired, they said they will write them themselves.

ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS NOT CURRENTLY FORMALLY INCORPORATED INTO the work are here but still mid edit.
[LET ME KNOW WHERE YOU WANT TO PUT THEM, PROLOGUE, APPENDIX, SUPPLEMENT ETC]

Chapter 47

That is how I would approach it. I am no expert, don't listen to me, I have no idea about publisher etiquette but that is what I would do.

Reasoning:
1] Give them what they asked for, whole MS
2] be cheeky, add it the balance they don't know about. It may impress them and they may want to include them. At least you don't have to sell them again. Put them in their hands when they are not looking and they will look at them. IF you finish the eidt b4 they talk again, send in the revised MS including the additional material.

3] If you ask, they may decline or refuse. If you don't ask, honest error, sorry. Feel free to ignore them and just pub the story.
BTW is it fiction or NF?
I only know about fiction and not much at that.

GENERAL
IF someone gives you exact parameters [send chap 1, middle, end] then adhere religiously to their instructions or they should drop you as an idiot.
OK, they asked for 3 chaps, now, second ask is for whole MS or all chapters.
They do not know about your additional, you claim to just being hopeful and helpful.
If they DON'T WANT THEM, simple, delete them.

BUT, you might just SEAL the deal with the extas. Clearly you thort they were important to write or collate so you believe they are part of the whole, plus you want to giv the reader scientific info to help them understand what you know and maybe a little of the why of understanding the story.

It is like me and my deal. I got hold of them, said I had a Fiction, M/T/S - Act/Adv, it is stand alone. 'Oh, BTW, did you know that I have 21 complete in a series all completed?'

"Really?" He said. "We have one author who has published 15 with us, you will be the best, the biggest." He is telling me that b4 he has recieved book 1 yet.
Maybe the +21 extras sold him, or sealed the deal. He now knows if the public like it and it sells well, he has 20 more bankable products complete and ready for final edit.

Early in life I did do some professional sales. I know a little about professional selling, anything. I have a certificate somewhere.
I wasn't in high pressure sales negotiations with this guy but I just tossed out the bait that there was 21 more already in the bag and he could have them anytime he liked.
IF ANYTHING, he lost the sale, when he got excited i stopped selling, I kinda feel I have him on the hook. All I have to do is pull him in when I like.

Jomariem, you have the exact same thing. Not only could the additional chapters add to your wonderful deal, they maybe a second publishing job, maybe even as a promo for the main book, a throw away or such to tantalise your potential market. Now, they may have only be 50/50 on the whole MS deal, you adding the tech chaps may just turn the original into a 90% deal, maybe they need to know you have a technical, sort of, back ground as a basis for your book.

I DON'T KNOW!
Which way you turn is your call, but I am sure that sending them in with the MS, will not auto cause you fail. If you don't, they may never know. If they judge on 50/50, they may drop it. With the additional info in hand, I am certain will not cause it to fall over BUT it may help it succeed.

Always your call.
Get as many public and private opinions as you can. The use of good knowledge is POWER.
ULTIMATELY, if I were you, I think if you fail to show them or mention all you have while they are holding the door open would be a grave error!

Let me know how you go!
Congratulations again. Ain't it just such a fantastic feeling to maybe this close to be published, AND, getting paid, something, anything as well! <GRIN>

[jomariem]

Thanks for the info. I actually decided to leave them out, since I was getting frustrated with editing them and it had already been over a month since I got the manuscript request -- I didn't want to take any longer with editing than I had to. So I just sent the story instead. (BTW, this is a YA novel, a story about an orca whale, and the additional stuff I was planning to add was info about orcas in captivity, basic facts about the animals, etc). It probably would have been some very interesting reading, and I still may try to see if I can add them at some point, but considering that it was an extra 30+ pages of stuff, I lost patience with editing it and was eager to send my story on its way.

[joshuachrisstoff]

Jomariem, it seems to me that the publishers door is still open to you.

Also, it seems that this decision, altho made at this time, is not the absolute end of the possibility. Perhaps you might like to 'talk' to the publishers. Tell them what you have, what it is all about, that it helped you to understand and then put your story about Orca together. They may say to 'just send' the additional pages so they may look at them and evaluate them for possible inclusion. Even if you can't effectively edit them right now, you may be able to next month. Every day is a new day, we start fresh every day.

Hey, they may even have their in house editor hack the 'facts' about and then include them. It maybe a key to the book be8ing ultra successful. ALWAYS remember that you needed/wanted those fact sheets to help you get this story together. Maybe your audience needs/wants them as well, who can tell.

Ecery morning you wake up, you remake every decision you ever made, to put on pants and not a dress, I am kidding, to walk to, to bike to, to bus to... you are locked into nothing you decided yesterday, except contracts but I figure you get what I mean.

Nothing succeeds like success.
The facts you now have at your fingertips may be the key to a great deal over just a deal. Do you see where I am coming from?

Keep smiling!