Exclusive Revision

MartinaMay

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I have an agent interested in doing an exclusive revision with me for one of my MSs. From what I understand so far, she'd read through, make suggestions for changes, I'd make the changes (assuming I agreed with them), and send it back. She'd essentially have first refusal of the MS before I subbed others. I'd also withdraw any submissions to other agents during the exclusive revision period.

From what I've found online, if she likes how I execute the suggested changes, she'd offer rep., or offer to rep the MS (although, this agent is more a career agent than a by-the-book agent).

Has anyone heard of or had experience with exclusive revisions (not an exclusive submission)? Any advice?
 

Quickbread

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I have an agent interested in doing an exclusive revision with me for one of my MSs. From what I understand so far, she'd read through, make suggestions for changes, I'd make the changes (assuming I agreed with them), and send it back. She'd essentially have first refusal of the MS before I subbed others. I'd also withdraw any submissions to other agents during the exclusive revision period.

From what I've found online, if she likes how I execute the suggested changes, she'd offer rep., or offer to rep the MS (although, this agent is more a career agent than a by-the-book agent).

Has anyone heard of or had experience with exclusive revisions (not an exclusive submission)? Any advice?

Hmm. I have mixed feelings about this situation. On the one hand, I understand why some agents may want to work on an exclusive revision with an author. On the other hand, I think it benefits the agent far more than the writer.

My agent initially requested to work with me on a contingent basis in the manner you describe but she never asked for an exclusive during that time, nor did she ask me to pull back the other full she knew I had out there.

I feel like the better route would be for the agent to write up some basic R&R notes and wish the writer luck and express openness to reading again after the revision. That way, the author doesn't close down her/his options in the process. Who knows? Another agent may find the manuscript satisfactory as is.

So I guess some more info would help here, too. What do you think of this agent, the revision comments, and your own desires for the manuscript? Would there be a time limit on the exclusive? It's quite a leap of faith for the author to give their right to sub away while the agent loses nothing but a few hours of their time.
 

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I have an agent interested in doing an exclusive revision with me for one of my MSs. From what I understand so far, she'd read through, make suggestions for changes, I'd make the changes (assuming I agreed with them), and send it back. She'd essentially have first refusal of the MS before I subbed others. I'd also withdraw any submissions to other agents during the exclusive revision period.

From what I've found online, if she likes how I execute the suggested changes, she'd offer rep., or offer to rep the MS (although, this agent is more a career agent than a by-the-book agent).

Has anyone heard of or had experience with exclusive revisions (not an exclusive submission)? Any advice?

Personally, I would be reluctant to do an exclusive revision. Especially if it meant pulling the MS from other agents who had already asked for it before she gave you any idea of what changes she wants made.

Obviously, you're never compelled to make changes, but if you have to pull a MS before you get an idea of what she's wanting, you might be in a bad position if it turns out her vision is drastically different than yours.

Other concerns would be how long you're expected to wait while she reviews the revised MS. (Assuming you did agree to the exclusive revision and made the changes she suggested.) Because it's not just an exclusive revision, but an exclusive submission at that point - she's the only one with the MS.

Is this agent so absolutely wonderful that you would be willing to make these concessions?
 

Osulagh

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Never heard of this. I've heard of revisions before representation, but not exclusive revisions that the author has to stop querying other agents and withdraw queries when they are not being represented.

I'm kind of conflicted by this.
In one hand, you're stopping the querying process, and working on revisions without any offer of rep on the table. You're not making progress.
In the other, you might have a great agent on your hands, and the revisions made could greatly improve your story (of course, if you agree with the suggestions) and even if the agent passes you can query the revision if you choose to--querying during the revision process might make the current version the worse version if you choose the revised version is better.

If you have the utmost confidence in this agent with their abilities as an agent as a right fit for you and their suggests in revision, and you can afford to take this time to work with them, is you wish to do so, do so. I'll agree with Quickbread: This sounds one-sided. Perhaps a time limit for the two of you would be good. After given suggestions, you set a date to when you can return the revision, and request their comments or offer of rep to be returned within a certain time period (like 15 days or something) before you're free to query. This is so you're not wasting months waiting for a reply. Also, I wouldn't withdraw queries (if that's possible) as that's burning bridges; I would stop, but not withdraw.

And all of this is a friendly agreement. They do not have first refusal rights if there is no contract stating so. You both would agree on a simple agreement that's not legally binding.
 
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Siri Kirpal

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I wouldn't pull the MSs you've got out. And you'd need really clear deadlines for this to work. Not sure I'd do it, even for a stellar agent.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

MartinaMay

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Thank you, everyone, for your comments. I knew I'd get great advice here.

The agent is fairly new, but with a good agency.

The MS is my first (I've written two since), and there are no outstanding queries, so there's nothing to pull. I'd considered trunking the MS, so there isn't much to lose in that regard.

She said she'd send me her revision comments within 4 weeks, so beyond her initial notes (tone down the MC's snark and tweak a few secondary characters to improve pacing), I'm unsure what she plans to suggest for revisions. Maybe this is a more formal R&R? She indicated she'd want first refusal after the revisions were complete.

If I agree to do this with her, I'd put a time frame (say three months), after which the exclusive revision would expire. And you're all right, I could end up with an MS that's better after the process, even if I was still unagented.

Just to muddy the waters: She's indicated she's only interested in repping NA/Adult, and I've written two YA MSs since that time. I have 3 fulls on my second MS out still, and plan to start querying my newest MS this weekend. I'm not sure what that would mean to agents interested in my YA novels if I have an exclusive revision on a prior MS. Is is possible to have more than one agent?

Getting an agent sure is complicated, isn't it?
 

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It makes sense for the agent to ask for an exclusive on the revised novel. She's working specifically with you on it, so it'd kinda suck if you took the one you revised for her and offered the revised version to someone else before she had a chance to read it. But IMO, she can't ask you to withdraw the fulls you have with other agents on the original. If I were you, I wouldn't do more queries with the original, because you don't know how you'll feel about the new version, and if you love it, you may feel like you wasted chances querying the old one. But I would not withdraw fulls or even queries that you already have out there.

An R&R is not a guarantee of an offer, and even if you do everything she asks, she may not like the execution. You may prefer your earlier version in the end, and now you've pulled that version from multiple agents who were interested in it.

And I think it is important that this agent doesn't want some of your novels. An agent is never meant to be for a single book, but instead for a career. You can get another agent if you have different markets that the first doesn't represent, but wouldn't it be better to have just one agent?
 

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It's unusual to have more than one agent for fiction. (Some folks do have one agent for fiction and one for non-fiction, but rarely agents just for different categories.) However, sometimes an agent will just work with someone else within their agency to sell work that is outside their preferred categories.

That being said, if you are more focused on YA now and she doesn't rep that, I would be concerned about the future. Even if she were relying on another agent to help her out, it seems like her heart wouldn't be in it.

If you're interested in doing the revision for her, it doesn't change anything with the agents who are looking at your other books unless and until she offers rep. (Because you are discussing a completely different MS with her.) But again, what will you do with those two YA MS if she's not going to rep them because she doesn't take on those categories?

If it were me, I would ask her about how she would handle work that is outside her preferred categories or genres if you were signed as a client. Be polite, but point out that you don't always write NA/A and you're concerned that she won't be interested in all of your books.

Aggy, doesn't always write in the same genre/category either
 

Jamesaritchie

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It's not at all uncommon, and of course the agent wants an exclusive. She's putting in a lot of time and effort on your manuscript, and should get an exclusive. Really, do you have anyone offering a better deal?

The real question is whether this is the agent you really want? I don't think it's ever a good idea to query an agent you wouldn't say yes to immediately, but I'm not you, so is this an agent you would be very happy to have represent you?

If it is, do exactly as she asks. This is no time to be worrying about other agents, it's a great chance to land a good agent of your own.

Too many writers think there's something wrong with an exclusive, and that's nuts. When yu get a chance to land a good agent, one you'd love t have represent you, put in earplugs and stop listening to those who only give reasons to avoid the agent. Do whatever it takes to land her, or chances are you'll be asking us about a different agent a year from now.
 

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I agree with Sage and Aggy about the genre limitation with this agent. If she doesn't rep what you're writing now, why bother?

Generally (but not always) when a writer signs a contract with an agent, it's for all works, not just specific areas within one genre, like Aggy mentioned. What if the agent wanted you to turn your YA novels into NA just because it's what she reps? What I would be asking myself is why she wants this MS if she knows your next two will be YA. Or perhaps she doesn't know?

And to add onto what Aggy said, I think it may not serve you well if you do end up with two different agents representing you in such close categories. Think about what might happen if this agent sends the manuscript in question on submission to a round of 12 editors. Meanwhile, your YA agent wants to pitch your YA MS to many of those same 12 or at least the same houses because a lot of them publish YA and NA. But the YA agent would be hamstrung until the NA/adult novel submissions played out. Plus, it might be strange and uncomfortable for the same editors to be pitched the same author for similar work from two different agents who are not at the same agency. That could potentially be an undesirable position for an agent to take on. They have their reputation to think about and all their other authors, too. So they're rightfully cautious about stepping on toes.

Whatever you do is of course your choice, and only you know the full situation, but you really should be thinking of your whole career, not just one book. What do you write now and where are you going as a writer? Aim there. The best idea would be to find one agent who can rep everything you want to write, whether it's on their own or with the help of others at the agency.

I know it's very exciting to have an agent interested in your work, but this is really just an R&R with limitations that don't benefit you. I can understand offering her first right of refusal, but that's a different story than an exclusive.

[And four weeks, in my mind, is a long time for a new agent (who presumably is not overly swamped with clients) to take for revisions when you're on this sort of exclusive. That doesn't even account for the additional weeks or months you'll need to execute the edits.]

Sorry to sound like a downer. Just trying to help you see the potential consequences of how things could play out. Perhaps I'm completely wrong. :)
 
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MartinaMay

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Thank you, everyone for giving me so much to think about. I wanted to make an informed decision and the advice here has made that possible.
 

MartinaMay

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I wanted to bring this thread back for a couple of reasons.

One, to thank everyone for their excellent advice.

And two, to update the thread for anyone else who's offered something similar. There's next to no information about exclusive revisions online.

I opted to revise with the agent, and it went surprisingly fast.

A week ago, we had a chat. She was pleased with what we'd done with the MS and offered me rep. She's excited to rep whatever I choose to write.

I have an agent!