Time between signing with an agent and going on submission

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Is this hypothetical?

It really depends on the agent and her workload. And if this question is NOT hypothetical, you'd probably be wise to ask the your agent directly.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

My agent sent mine out almost as soon as he got the last set of revisions. But there are factors which might cause some delay.

The agent might be still compiling the list of who to submit it to.
The agent might be out of town/the country for a while doing various agenty things. (Like book fairs.)
The agent might have to negotiate on an offer for another client.

There are plenty of variables that might make your (potential) experience different than mine. (Even if we had the same agent.) If more than a few months went past and the book wasn't out on submission, I would politely ask why because that might indicate a problem. But this business is also painfully slow (for us impatient types) a lot of the time for perfectly normal reasons.

I think if you and your agent are in agreement that the ms is the strongest it can be (no more adjustments required), four months is too long. Time to have a chat!

It's not too long if your agent has other clients also out on submission (she wouldn't want to make editors focus on too many books at once), or if she's preparing for a book fair, or if there's a particular editor she wants to approach who is on maternity leave, etc.

You need to talk to her about this. She's the only person who can explain to you why she's holding back. We're only guessing.

I don't know if this is still true but at one time in the publishing field there were certain months when things just didn't happen. Forget December, forget August. Other than that, I would expect the agent to send it out pretty fast.

Now in my case there was a gap of a few months between getting editorial feedback from the agent, making some changes, sending it back to make sure I hadn't wrecked any of the good stuff. She got it back in late November, sent me an email saying probably nothing would happen until January, and sold it in January.

Rhymes with Clue said:

I don't know if this is still true but at one time in the publishing field there were certain months when things just didn't happen. Forget December, forget August. Other than that, I would expect the agent to send it out pretty fast.

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The Bologna Book Fair is about to begin and the London Book Fair is just around the corner (8th, 9th, 10th of April) so if this agent attends she might be busy with fair prep.

New Leaf Literary Agency just blogged about some of the stuff keeping them busy at fair time.

It can be months if I'm working editorially on something-- but that's mostly becuase the writer is busy revising, not becuase I'm holding anything up.

I signed someone last week after doing a revise/resubmit and am putting her book on submissions today. (There was only a couple tiny lingering things I asked her to adjust--the big edits she did as part of the R&R were fantastic).

I agree with others that on occasion timing is wonky-- rights fairs or holidays--but for the most part I would anticipate that most agents get the book out within a few weeks, and a good agent should communicate to you if for any reason it would be longer than that.

As a matter of course I try to manage client expectations as far as timing goes on all steps-- when they send me a new MS to read I say whether it'll be this week, next, or some time later. I also let them know about when I'll get it out on subs.

Once the novel is actually ready, it should be immediate. How long it takes to get the novel ready is really out of the agent's control.

Old Hack said:

It's not too long if your agent has other clients also out on submission (she wouldn't want to make editors focus on too many books at once).

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There are reasons for delay, but this is not one of them. If an agent doesn't give an editor a chance to buy my book because that editor is already looking at a book by a different client, that's an agent I'd run from in a hurry.

If an agent fears my book will somehow interfere with books by other clients, she shouldn't take me on, but no good agent will without a good book because an editor is already looking at others.

Editors are always looking at a hundred books, and holding back books from one client in order to not put too many on an agent's desk at once is a good way to lose clients.

Either don't take that client on, or submit his books at the earliest opportunity, but don't play a numbers game with any client.

Jamesaritchie said:

There are reasons for delay, but this is not one of them. If an agent doesn't give an editor a chance to buy my book because that editor is already looking at a book by a different client, that's an agent I'd run from in a hurry.

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Well, no, it's best not to send multiple submissions to the same editor. There are times I do because that editor has something and then a client turns something in to me an it's ready for sub and is PERFECT for that editor, but i do my best to ensure that I'm spreading things out. You dont do yourself favors by sending 2-3 things to the same editors all the time-- it gives them the impression you're tossing anything at them, not books that are truly an amazingly correct fit. In the long run my success as an agent is improved by the editors feeling like I'm hand-picking them specifically for the project.

MandyHubbard said:

Well, no, it's best not to send multiple submissions to the same editor. . . .You don't do yourself favors by sending 2-3 things to the same editors all the time-- it gives them the impression you're tossing anything at them, not books that are truly an amazingly correct fit. In the long run my success as an agent is improved by the editors feeling like I'm hand-picking them specifically for the project.

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Absolutely agree. I try to not send multiple things to the same editor at the same time unless, as Mandy said, it CAN'T be helped. (Or unless they are so different that it is not even a competition - like, one is a young picture book, the other gritty YA).

First of all because I don't want to overwhelm the editor - or make them feel like I'm spaghetti-ing them - but also because I don't want my own authors to be fighting for the same slot. If somebody can only take on one new thriller YA this season, for example -- I'd rather not let one of my authors get the fuzzy end of the lollipop -- better to spread the wealth and let another editor take a crack at it.

Luckily . . . I know a lot of editors. So this wouldn't be cause for DELAY, just perhaps a re-jiggering of my submission list.

Regarding the original post, here are a couple of things: when you signed, did you talk about timelines? My agent said that, based on her thoughts on my manuscript, we should be able to go out on sub the first third of the year, and we're still on target. If she tells me we're good to go, then doesn't do anything for 4 months, I'm not going to be at all pleased, unless she's got ME doing something else to get ready for submissions, or unless the 4 month wait is part of a plan that she's told me about and I agreed to (though I probably would not agree to that kind of plan).

If you haven't done it yet, talk to your agent, find out what's going on.

My agent asked for no revs and had subbed within the week.

With revs, it's got to take as long as the revs do at least, but after that I'd hope for submission action within a month.

Could be I'm hoping too high? Another thing that will probably depend on the individual agent, her subbing style and her obligations.

If there were a delay, I'd ask why. Better to ask than to stew.

The agent may be waiting for a bigger block of time than a tweet's worth to write you something thoughtful.

How long has it been since you emailed? And is it normal for the agent to take some time getting back to you? A few days or so wouldn't concern me. More than a couple of weeks would.

People with super-busy inboxes often tackle their mail in chunks, so they'll set aside an hour or two to get through a load of e-mails at once. That might be this agent's system, so give them time.

(Also, it's a lot easier to dash off a tweet than it is to read and the answer e-mails. E-mails are super draining compared to social media.)

Social media can be scheduled (and maybe handled by an assistant)... but I'd be a little irritated if I'd emailed my agent over a week ago and she hadn't replied... Even if it's to say something like she's still getting her list together. Mine doesn't email me unless she has something to report, but when I email her, she usually gets back to me within 24 hours (often late at night...so what Quickbread said about agents waiting for a block of time to focus on emails is true, at least for me). I think the most I've ever gone without touching base with her while on sub was around 2 weeks. I'm too impatient to go longer than that. Luckily, mine understands my co-dependent needs.

brs18041 said:

More than a week.

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I'd email again to check in. Or give them a call.

If it's a week'ish or so, I wouldn't be concerned, especially since there are conferences going on.

If another couple weeks go by and the agent still hasn't responded, you could email another short, polite inquiry regarding the submission status.

Have you had any back and forth communication with your agent in the months since you signed?

brs18041 said:

I don't like being a pest, so I try to avoid emailing.

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I totally feel you here. I think it's normal to want to email all the time. And I think it's a normal reaction to think you're being ignored when a reply doesn't come back within minutes. But the reality is agents have more than one client and are crazy busy working on several things at once (and so are the editors who are reading the manuscripts).

If I emailed mine every time I got the urge to, it'd be borderline stalkerish. I take comfort knowing I'm not the only writer out there who battles the urge constantly.

However, if you're feeling neglected and have no idea what's going on, there's nothing wrong with requesting a meeting. Set up a time to talk over the phone to discuss the plan of attack. After all, this is a business arrangement, and conference calls happen all the time. The key is knowing the difference between normal fretting most writers feel from time-to-time and genuine concerns. If it's the former...you have to suck it up and resist the stalkerish tendencies.