My Agent is Quitting and I'm on Submission

Pyekett said:

Better to have a public blowup and bad feelings now than later, and it looks like you were heading towards having it later, when both you and your book would have suffered more.

I don't think there was a "good" end to this, Daisy. Not an end where everyone felt warm and fuzzy and generous to each other. I think this was going to be messy, and you got it over more quickly and with less fallout for you this way.

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While this is true, I want to add another voice to the chorus telling you that you didn't blow this up - she did. She is essentially leaving you at the most important moment and trying to make your career harder. I know it's scary - really scary - jumping back into the query trenches, my instinct tells me it's worth it, simply due to how deliberately vague (if not downright disingenuous), she's been.

Just joining in to say you didn't do anything wrong: your question to the Sharkly One was as anonymous as you could have made it, and it was polite and even kindly-worded. That's all commendable at the best of times, so considering the emotional upheaval and confusion you must have been in at the time, you get even more brownie points for your professionalism under duress, far as I'm concerned!

It's not your fault how others may or may have not chimed in with their opinions on Twitter, and it's not their fault how Ms. Agent reacted to the whole thing. It's not like she or her agency was ever singled out by name or any other identifiers. She's probably stressed out and confused by the whole thing (i.e., being pushed into a career change), too, so I do get how she might have been more likely to lash out. But all in all, as much as this is upsetting and hurtful, I agree with everyone else: it's probably for the best. At least in your new queries you can add a sentence about 'having recently parted ways with your agent.' Maybe I'm being naive (or optimistic), but I'd imagine a book that has already attracted an agent's attention will be more likely to get requests?

Either way, best of luck!

Daisy, I'll say again, you've been entirely professional under real duress. While I'm sure it's stressful for the agent facing a career change, I find her response far less professional than yours.

I'm with Pyekett. This is one of those "rip off the band-aid" situations. I strongly suspect you'll come out the better for it. Hang in there.

I'm so sorry this happened to you. Hopefully you will be laughing about this someday, when you're a bestseller.

You did not go about this the wrong way. You did not release your agent's name, and seeking advice from an impartial professional is the RIGHT thing to do. If you had not asked for advice, you might be stuck in a much worse situation than querying (such as not being able to interest another agent).

Good luck to you! Hang in there.