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Yep, I've got a few of these stories I could tell from the ranks of the authors I know, but I'd best keep them to myselves. One's a real humdinger too.
;)
It happens, but, yanno, agents are human just like the rest of us.
:o)
I think the moral of the story is to just keep going. Keep writing, learning, polishing, and submitting. If you stop, you certainly won't ever be published. But, if you keep going, you just might.

I have a related, personal story: My first novel (now with BookEnds) was read by another agent a few months before. He called to say he loved it, requested changes, and as I was in the middle of making them he wrote back to say he was leaving for another agency and wouldn't be able to represent me. I was completely bummed, but sent the manuscript out again to other agents, including BookEnds.

When the book was published, this agent read my PW review and wrote to congratulate me, and say he remembered the book and how sorry he'd been to eventually reject it. I think having gotten so close before, and then hearing I was out on the street again, was the most depressing time of my life. But hearing from this agent, knowing he remembered my book and had kept my e-mail address and taken the time to write to me--it just had an amazing, full-circle feel to me. One of those times you wish you could pat your past-self on the back, and tell her everything will be okay...

I want that experience with an agent. Someone who really gets my work, and is not just throwing their hat after something "maybe publishable," or who wants me because a couple of other agents already do.

You make your list of possible agents based on what you know about them. You never know whether they really enjoy your writing, or for that matter even read the whole manuscript until after you are working with them.

Dena

Confession is good for the soul. Thanks for that. :-)

Kudos to that erotic writer for not having the typical knee-jerk reaction of bitching and moaning over rejection; they kept their cool and read enough between the lines to sense Jessica's hesitation.

Lessons for us all.

I think timing is one of the most important things. You simply have to have faith.

When I spoke with Jessica during our talks about representation, I told her about an agent who'd wined and dined me at RWA, only to send me a scathing rejection letter once we got home (and she'd pursued me). This agent's exact comment in her rejection letter was "this will never sell". I'd sent the same proposal to my editor, who called to buy it two weeks later and then offered me a continuity book. Those were my sales 3 & 4, and I was once-bitten, twice-shy for 14 total books before Jessica & I began working together. I told her I didn't want someone who'd take me on just because I could do it on my own. I also wanted someone who'd tell it to me straight.

That's always my advice, to trust your gut and instinct in directing your career. Don't just grab anyone, and always maintain the high road and don't go bashing those who may reject you now.

This story surprised and puzzled me for several reasons:

First, I wondered why you didn't tell the writer you were hesitant to take on more erotic romance because of the narrow market--especially since that was your main concern.

Second, "I don't think I'm as passionate about this as an agent should be . . ." sounds like, "I liked it but didn't love it enough." If I'd received a response like this, I wouldn't want to risk annoying an agent by saying, "Since you think I'm talented, why not take another look?" (Or, since this author was already published and had a second contract offer, does that reduce the potential annoyance factor?)

Third, since we keep hearing how important it is for our agent to love our work--I would think twice about working with an agent who wasn't passionate enough to offer representation the first time around. Or does "passionate" also relate to your ability to market a project?

Jessica,

Thanks for posting this. I think we all need to know and be reminded that agents, as well as editors, are people, too. And as always, it goes back to the subjectivity of the business.
I know I attempt to read a lot of books that don't intrigue me, but they intrigued the heck out of a lot of people. One person's opinion, even an experienced opinion, can be wrong, or maybe it's only one person's outlook and not that of the majority. Also there are times when a book won't appeal to me, but later when my situation changes, the book suddenly has my interest.
Thanks for the post.

CC

Re: "Well, this incredibly wise woman read into my hesitation and emailed me back to suggest that if I was really on the fence maybe I should give it a second look..."

I have to admit, I would have never thought to ask for a second look. It kind of reminds me a bit of having a not-so-great first date with someone – and then having the nerve to call them up and say, "can we give it another go?"

I think it takes more than wisdom, I think it takes A) self-confidence, loads and loads of self-confidence, B) interest, you have to be really interested to ask again anyway, after being told no! and C) Friends and/or loved ones to cheer you on.

Hey, wait a minute...I've got A, B, and C...well, most of the time! I'm sure plenty of us here posting comments do too. So thanks again for another window into the world of agenting...now, I've got to belatedly post something about "holiday lit"...

Another great post, Jessica!

Of course, you realize, that no matter how loudly the author make squeal to you over the phone, it's nothing compared to the racket we make when we're sharing the news with our friends. LOL.

Faye

Wow, I'm exhausted already. Good reason why we need an agent.

I'm a daily reader, but not a poster very often. I just wanted to say that this series you've been running lately has been extremely illuminating -- this last post in particular. Great insights into the agent's role in the whole publication process!

Chris

It's great to know you can get as excited as an author over a deal - just goes to show the passion you have for your work and the way you truly care about your clients. Great post, Jessica!

I love knowing that agents squeal to!

So you said if the book is with multiple houses, you'll call and tell them you have an offer -- but you won't tell them WHO you have the offer with...

Why? Does that mystery lead to more offers? Better offers?

Jessica,
it has been so informative to read all the processes authors and agents go through from submission to contract. Thank you for enlightening us about the inside of the business.

Anne-Marie

Thanks for a printing-out-worthy post!

Anonymous:

All houses have a bit of reputation for how much they pay, what their contracts are like, etc. Letting someone know who the offer is with can sometimes tip your hand a little too much. My goal is to reveal as little information as possible when negotiating. I only tell editors what I think they need to know. And I certainly don't want to tell them what house the offer is with if that's a house that offers typically low advances. It wouldn't give anyone else much incentive to offer me a lot of money.

jhf

I'm a lurker here too, but do have to chime in and offer thanks for the insights you've provided. Never realized what 'poker' players agents needed to be!

Now I'm sad. My agent is a low-key person. Plus I'm not very happy with him right now. I know he will sell my novel. I also know that I won't get the squeal.

Darn. I wanted the squeal.

Informative. Definitely backs my original opinion that having an agent is a good idea.

Question: is there a certain strategy for going to multiple editors, one editor at a time, or auction? Does it depend on the book? How do you know which one is the right thing to do?

I've had friends frustrated because their agents sent to only editor at a time. I had another friend devistated because her agent auctioned her novel and nobody bid. Now her book is basically dead.

My own agent hasn't sent my novel out yet (still in pre-editing condition) and he's undecided whether he'll go single editor or many at once. I guess it depends on how well we edit the novel? I sometimes think he holds this over my head in order to make me edit better and take more of his editing suggestions.

Your thoughts?

You gals are definitely worth the 15%! It's nice to know that agents squeal, too.

This is great advice, Jessica. Thank you so much. But I have a variation on the theme. What if you have a novel (YA in my case) ready for query to lit agents and you are approached by a producer who is interested in the property as a TV series?

Most of the lit agents I have researched have the ability (or contacts) to make those deals, but will having a TV offer on the table impress them? Should it be handled the same way? How should it be mentioned?

Thanks for this. I always wondered if the Publishing house would get annoyed if I suddenly ran for an agent on their acceptance.
Do publishers prefer working with an agent over directly working with the new writer? Or do they think they'll get the writer "cheaper" if they deal directly with a novice?

Hi Jessica,

This is not a message for you, since I've worked with your agency and know how honorable and by-the-books you are. This is more for writers who haven't been in this particular position and don't know this angle of the issue. Thanks in advance for letting me kvetch.

I'll vouch that we editors are perfectly happy to have unagented clients seek out agents to negotiate deals and "finer points of contracts," like you mentioned. Honestly many authors who are great writers and smart people are less equipped to handle the process alone--it's a business, like any business, and it's hard to be thrown into an entirely new industry without the years of experience an agent would be able to offer.

However, I also have to admit that every time I make an offer to an unagented author and hear them say "I think I'm going to take this opportunity to find an agent," my heart sinks. I would like to go back to the note you made about taking the offer and shopping it around to other companies--this is the rub. An editor's take:

An author is of course entitled to get the best offer on their own project they possibly can. But there is intellectual capital to be lost here, too, and any agent (except the extremely self-serving kind who doesn't care about burning bridges--and unfortunately, there are quite a lot of this particular kind of agent) should look into the situation and pump the author for the history of the deal. If this project is, say, a novel the author wrote and one publisher has offered $2000 for it, it is fair enough for that agent to shop that project to her little heart's content. But if this was a concept developed by the publishing house and the editor, who probably put long hours into refining it and seeking out a particular author who would be best for the project, the agent MUST be sensitive to the fact that the editor already views this project as hers.

And, from my position, I would like to say fair enough. Although I have never lost a project I specifically developed, I have had an agent who was belatedly brought in threaten to shop what was a very specific and carefully developed idea of MINE. (Oo boy did that one make me mad.) And I have had two very good editor friends who have seen their intellectual capital literally stolen and sold elsewhere. This is sheer heartbreak. Not to mention permanent dissolution of professional relationships--neither I nor any of my friends will ever work with those agents again. Also, people like me work to aggressively spread the word of who to avoid.

So this is a long response to a tiny point in your post, but I wanted to back you up on the fact that editors are very, very happy to have agents brought in after the fact, since it really does smooth the negotiation and delivery processes over with industry accountability. There is the caveat, though--so a plea on behalf of my kind. Authors, be honest with your agents; agents, be honest with your editors. We're all meant to work together, we really, really are.

I'm going to link to you on my blog, if you don't mind.

The first publisher I contacted sent me a contract for my first novel. I thought an agent might help me negotiate, but I was advised by a writing teacher that no agent would be interested in a first-time novelist and a no-advance contract. So I signed.

Now the publisher has been "acquired" by another firm and are divesting their fiction arm separately (I don't think they have a buyer though) so I may have my novel handed back to me.

Questions: a) Should I have tried to get an agent initially?
b) Will the fact that it's already been accepted once (but not printed) be a selling point in my getting an agent now?

Thank you in advance for your guidance.
~ Storm Grant
[email protected]

Great post.

I to wondered with such a small list of publishers that work with unagented writers if you'd be making waves if you were lucky enough to get an offer from said publisher but put the brakes on by contacting an agent.

Good information.

This type of post is extremely helpful...I'm hoping I'll need it someday!

On a related note, is there ever a time when it seems like you're being ignored, but maybe something else is going on? For instance, I have a friend who's queried you three times now (one initial e-query, an e-status check after 8 weeks had passed, and a snail SQ after another 12 weeks had passed) with no response. Any suggestions on what she can do (other than give up, of course)?

Not long ago, I attended a conference where an editor from a major house admitted quite frankly that unagented authors with great submissions might actually have a slight edge because they are cheaper, and that the house gets annoyed if the author suddenly runs off and gets an agent. It's not necessarily a deal breaker, but it can cost the author some good will with the editor.

That's one incredibly honest editor's position, of course, and not all will agree. But I thought it was worth mentioning here.

I may be getting close to this situation, as I had a publisher requested the full of my manuscript. I know it's not a done deal until I get an offer, but I hate feeling unprepared. Jessica and several other agents have fulls of the book, and I'm hoping that if an offer is going to happen, that one of them will make an offer of representation first so I won't have to run around in a panic, LOL. But this post has helped calmed me down somewhat, so thanks!

So many great comments on this post. Some I will answer here and others I'll expand on in later posts--some might even get both treatment.

From the top down...

Optioning your book for TV can help interest agents and editors, but in the end TV interest is very different than writing a good book. It can't hurt, let's put it that way.

As for whether publishers prefer working with an agent that really depends on individual editors and maybe moonrat will pop back in. Having been an editor though I always did prefer working with agents. It made negotiations much smoother and gave that buffer that is sometimes needed to help maintain the author/editor relationship. Negotiations can be very tough and no matter how much an editor loves a writer and her work her job is to get the best deal for the publishing house. That can be very difficult for an author to take if negotiating directly.

Storm: I can't tell you whether or not you should have gotten an agent, although it might have been easier. Whether or not that interest from a small publisher will grab an agent's attention really depends on the reputation of the publisher.

2readernot: I have no idea why your friend hasn't heard from me. I respond to equeries within 2 weeks time and am caught up on snail mail I believe through April. Is it possible she's not including an SASE or not using the correct contact info? I will tell you right now if you aren't hearing from me it's likely I didn't get it. I do respond to every equery I receive and every snail mail that includes an SASE.

Scott: I suppose that with some editors that might be true. But it's also your career first and an agent is your first line of defense when building a career.

Happy Friday everyone!

jhf

What is the best way to contact the agents when you have an offer? Do you call them, or is e-mail preferred?