:)

Hi Michelle,

First of all, if you had interest from a large publisher, it means you've got something there. I think the agent probably knows that. I'm not an agent, but I'm thinking they are probably talking about options in dealing with your book. Give them another month or so, then give them a nudge. Agents are extremely busy people. If you don't hear back, go on to the next agent, or several agents, on your list. Someone will bite.

I am concerned. Why would an agent ask if you'd thought about having the book translated? Are you sure that's what he meant? Might he have been asking what your thoughts were about a Chinese edition?

I ask because it's an agent's job to sell their author-clients' foreign and subsidiary rights, including translation deals: the purchasing publisher then translates the book. Authors do not fund or arrange the translation, and it seems odd to me for this agent to be suggesting that you do so.

This is the kind of question you have to ask the agent. Only the agent knows for sure what he means, so simply ask him. "What do you mean by that?"

Are you, by any chance, trying to find an agent for the WIP in your sig line that links to the memoir posted on Wattpad, or is it for another, unpublished work?

One more question, Michelle: your sig line also calls the manuscript a WIP. Is it actually finished?

I can think of a couple of things here:

One, if you're still writing or revising, it's premature to be approaching any agents with it. And if that's the case, the agent in question may have sensed that the work isn't ready yet.**

Two, it looks like the entire manuscript, or a significant portion of it, is online there at Wattpad. If that's true, a lot of agents consider that a form of self-publishing, which can really hurt your chances of getting them interested in representing you for English first print rights. Obviously that's not true across the board, but it's usually not considered a good idea to have your work posted online like that when you're querying -- or before then either. Agents are interested in selling those first print rights, and if you've published it already, well, those are gone.

**Correction, I recall now that you're querying nonfiction. I take back what I said about the manuscript needing to be finished. Sorry, I'm short on sleep today.