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- Mar 16, 2005
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Julie,
I don't know. When I was querying, if agents asked for an exclusive and I refused (which I always did after one bad experience - ie keeping my proposal 12 weeks, and when I called, saying how sorry they were but the "interns" were behind on sending out rejections), it was pretty typical for them to request that I at least notify them if I had an offer and give them time to consider my ms before making a decision. I always agreed as long as the time period was "reasonable." (I don't recall ever having a specific period stipulated, like a week, but that does seem reasonable to me.)
I think what agents want to avoid is putting in the time to read a chpt or two of a partial, loving it and wanting to finish the partial, only to be told "sorry - just signed with another agent." I didn't have a problem with that. They were investing their time, I felt I could give them the curtesy of a brief wait if I got another offer.
Full disclosure: I'm rep'd by Mollie Glick who is also at Jean V. Naggar. Mollie, in fact, asked for an exclusive but when I told her I could not give one, as it was already out to other agents, was fine with my promising to let her know if I got another offer before I accepted it.
I don't know. When I was querying, if agents asked for an exclusive and I refused (which I always did after one bad experience - ie keeping my proposal 12 weeks, and when I called, saying how sorry they were but the "interns" were behind on sending out rejections), it was pretty typical for them to request that I at least notify them if I had an offer and give them time to consider my ms before making a decision. I always agreed as long as the time period was "reasonable." (I don't recall ever having a specific period stipulated, like a week, but that does seem reasonable to me.)
I think what agents want to avoid is putting in the time to read a chpt or two of a partial, loving it and wanting to finish the partial, only to be told "sorry - just signed with another agent." I didn't have a problem with that. They were investing their time, I felt I could give them the curtesy of a brief wait if I got another offer.
Full disclosure: I'm rep'd by Mollie Glick who is also at Jean V. Naggar. Mollie, in fact, asked for an exclusive but when I told her I could not give one, as it was already out to other agents, was fine with my promising to let her know if I got another offer before I accepted it.