Quick Response to Full

Hopefully others with more experience will chime in!

Just my opinion - if the interested agent isn't someone you're over the moon about, I would send queries to my top choice agents. Then, I'd talk to the interested agent. If she offers rep, I'd ask for a week or two and send "offer of rep" nudges to everyone with a partial AND to those you queried that are your absolute top choices. There's a chance it might encourage them to take a quick look (though clearly no guarantee!).

The risk, it seems to me, is that those agents might not like a nudge on a query and so you effectively lost your shot with them. So, I think the real question is - do you want the interested agent to rep you? If not, then you might have to risk walking away from an offer to take the chance with your preferred agents. Eek.

That said, you are obviously generating a lot of interest! So congrats whatever you decide!

Congrats on the interest! That's fantastic.

If it were me, I would continue to query my agent list until I had an offer on the table. Then, I would ask for at least two weeks to notify other agents. (Personally, I would probably ask for three, but whatever you ask for, set a firm timeline so the offering agent knows you're not just jerking him/her around.) Since you just started querying, an agent making an offer shouldn't be surprised or offended that you need a little time to contact your other queries.

Then, you contact those you've queried or sent material to and let them know you have an offer and you'll need a response from them by X date.

Just because it's only been a couple of weeks, don't feel hesitant to ask for an answer (once you have an offer on the table). Any time an agent asks for material they know that someone else could make you an offer at any point - whether you've been querying for a day or a year.

Personally, I wouldn't nudge them until I had an offer (not just a meeting to discuss things further) just because you never know what will happen at the meeting.

Good luck. Fingers crossed that this does turn into an offer (or three) for you.

As someone who's been in this position:

- If you're almost sure you're going to receive an other but you still have other agents you're excited about, definitely send a query to them ASAP. It's generally considered bad etiquette to reach out to people after you receive an offer.

- Do not mention to these new agents that you already have potential interest. Just send a regular query. Also don't nudge anyone before you have the offer on the table.

- Once you get the offer (fingers crossed for you!), ask for one week to ten days to make your decision. Two weeks is possible, but definitely on the longer side. One week is standard.

- I've seen many agents specifically ask to be kept informed of offers even if they've only received queries so far, so don't worry about that part. Nudge queries, partials, fulls.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

Corinne Duyvis said:

- I've seen many agents specifically ask to be kept informed of offers even if they've only received queries so far, so don't worry about that part. Nudge queries, partials, fulls.

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I had thought it was standard to just inform agents who have requested fulls/partials if you have an offer--not the ones you've queried and not heard back from. Am I wrong?

I'd tell everyone I queried if I got an offer. It's good manners to let them know there's interest: it gives them a chance to catch up, if that's what they want to do; or to delete your query unread, if they prefer not to spend time chasing an agent who is already ahead of them.

Old Hack said:

I'd tell everyone I queried if I got an offer. It's good manners to let them know there's interest: it gives them a chance to catch up, if that's what they want to do; or to delete your query unread, if they prefer not to spend time chasing an agent who is already ahead of them.

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Even if your query was months earlier and you'd never heard anything?

Not that I'm in a similar situation as the OP, but if I was ...

To clarify: if you get an offer of representation, tell all other agents who you've queried that you've got an offer, and you have a week (or whatever period you've negotiated) to decide what to do about it.

Project Deadlight said:

Corrine - Thanks for this, precisely what I was looking for. So is 1 week truly standard? It seems so quick that I might be making a decision barely a month after starting the query process, something I set aside 6 months for! But I'm not complaining, of course.

Old Hack - Thanks again for your thoughts. Is it the offer that's important in your opinion, or the interest? I would count the meeting (and the reaction to the novel) as "interest", but does interest in this context mean "firm offer".

So exciting, but scary! Thanks all.

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I think the offer is the important one. When I was querying, two agents asked to meet with me. I didn't let any of the other agents who had my MS know until after the meetings, and it was lucky that I waited until AFTER, because when I met with the first agent, I wasn't sure if she had given me an R&R or an offer. I wandered about the streets of London all deflated, until my meeting with the second agent. The second agent gave me an offer then and there, and on the way home from London, I received an email from the first agent, clarifying that she was in fact giving me an offer. So all's well that ends well, but imagine if I'd told all the other agents that I had received "interest", only to find out that the agents were giving me an R&R!

And I agree with Old Hack about letting the agents you've queried know, not just the ones who have requested partials or fulls. I did that and quite a few of them ended up requesting the MS within the day.

I agree with the others. You can still query until you technically get an offer! Good luck!

THAT IS AMAZE!!!! Congrats! ALL THE CONGRATS!!!!

Your query must be flipin' amazing!!!

Please if you can follow up & let us know what happens!!! *HUGS*

Project Deadlight said:

Hey all, thanks for all your help here. I've been offered rep, so now sending out polite nudges. A couple of additional questions:

1) What to do about nudging an agent you subbed to using the generic agency sub email they suggested on the site, but since you subbed said agent has left agency?

2) What do you do if you aren't as keen on some of the agents that still have partials as you are on the one offering you rep? Is a sub withdraw acceptable for a partial, especially if they've had it a short while?

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Congrats on the offer of rep! That's fantastic.

I'm not sure about 1). Is there an info email for the agency that you might be able to use to contact them asking how to reach the agent in question? Or, do you know where that agent went and perhaps can contact that agency and ask how to best get in touch with him/her?

As far as 2) goes, I would just nudge same as with any of the others. I'm sure that the offer of rep comes from someone fantastic and that things will go swimmingly for you, but it's never a good idea to sever connections without very good reason. If something were to happen down the road and you were looking for a new agent, you wouldn't want to have folks remembering that you had pulled work from them before. Even if they do want to see the full and make an offer, you still will pick whomever you feel best about and every agent knows that so it's not misleading in any way to give them the chance to read and make an offer if they so choose.

At least, that's how I would do it. Bottom line is you have to do what you are comfortable with. (I have seen stories of folks who got multiple offers and wound up with someone they had been less certain of prior to the phone conversation because something clicked for them that they didn't expect.)

Echoing congratulations!

Also echoing everything else Aggy B. said. I withdrew from an agent who had my full before, but that was because I knew that I would never accept rep from her no matter what (re: research I should've done beforehand) and didn't want to waste her time.

If the agent in 1) has left the agency, have they left agenting altogether? If so, but there are still people at that agency you would want to work with, I'd nudge them with OFFER OF REP in the subject line. If s/he's moved to another agency, then I'd nudge her there.

Project Deadlight said:

Hi Guys,

I've only had my latest novel on sub for 2 weeks and have already had 2 full ms requests, and from that already have a meeting set up with an agent who liked it.

Obviously I'm delighted, and looking forward to the meeting, but I haven't even sent out my ms to all the targets on my list of agents. AND it feels too soon to nudge those already with partials yet I know it's something I need to do as things have moved quickly.

Should I nudge those with partials (even those that only got them at the end of last week)? Should I send out partials to the remaining agents on my list saying I already have interest or is this just rude? Should I nudge the agent with my other full ms? I guess the question I'm asking is what is the etiquette for nudging once you have initial agent interest?

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I wouldn't send any materials to agents that haven't asked for them. That's likely to get your work pushed to the bottom of the pile. I don't know that I'd nudge anyone until you have a firm offer of representation in hand from one of the agents you're talking to. Then you could let other agents who have your work know you're considering representation with someone else. Sometimes that will make them review your work more quickly and then you could possibly find yourself in the enviable position of being able to pick which agent to move forward with.

Good luck!

I had a similar problem when waiting for agents after I received my offer. Basically, I set a deadline and stuck to it--those agents who didn't get back to me after ten days, I wrote off.

When I talked to my agent about the process, she said that this situation (where an offer's on the table, and other agents are playing catch-up) is expected by agents, i.e. They know that they might be missing out on a great novel, and if they miss the deadline to get back to the author, that's their bad. They won't hold it over you in the future, and there won't be any bad feelings.

However, the bad feelings might occur for the agent who offered if you keep pushing back the response deadline to see if any other agents will bite.

Think of it this way: you're the hot commodity now, and if they don't get back to you with a tempting counter-offer then it's their loss.

I hope that helps, and good luck with the whole process.

Project Deadlight said:

Thanks for this MommyGoth, but you're slightly behind on this thread. I do need help regarding my last post here though (which I'm now a bit worried will be overlooked) so if you have any thoughts they'd be really appreciated. Thank you!

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I think you'll have to "nicely" set a deadline, and stick to it. You can't keep an agent who wants to rep you waiting forever, and the other agents will understand that.

Keep in mind, until you have a signed contract you have no obligation to any specific agent. Personally, if you like and can work with the agent who has offered representation AND are confident of their ability to market your work, sign and let the other agents know that you have signed. If not, keep looking.

Jeff

Deadlight, please update when you have news and let us know what happens! I'm fascinated by the process of how this REALLY works.