Skip to main content

Agent Protocol & Questions When You Get an Offer

Agent Protocol - What is the standard protocol when dealing with agents?

Should you respond to a "no" from an agent with a polite thank you?
Although we want to be courteous to agents who take the time to look over our submission materials, you have to remember than they get a ton of emails a day and if everyone who got a no responded with a thank you or anything else then they would get inundated with more emails.

Can you respond by asking why or for more in depth feedback?
Agents aren't here to make us feel good or give us feedback-plain and simple. If feedback is what you are looking for then find a good beta reader or critique group, enter a contest or a Twitter pitch party. If you enter a Twitter pitch party and an agent favorites your pitch sometimes if they reject you, they will give you a little feedback. 

When should you nudge?
If an agent hasn't responded to your query and it is two weeks past their normal response time then I would say nudge. However if they say something like this on their website, "we only respond to those queries we are interested in," then it is safe to assume that no response is a response. When in doubt air on the professional side and respect their times and rules.

Agent Questions - What do you ask if you get lucky enough to get an offer?

  1. How many clients do you currently have?
  2. How do you balance working with existing clients and new clients?
  3. How long does it take you to respond to client? What is your preferred method of communication? 
  4. When was your last deal made? And with what publisher?
  5. What is your biggest deal - in figures in publishing terms? (nice, very nice, good, significant, major - all deal terms have a price range attached.*)
  6. How long have you been with your current agency?
  7. Do you have specialists at your agency that specialize in film, foreign, and audio rights? (Or do you specialize in any of these areas?)
  8. What happens if you don't sell this book?
  9. What kind of editing do you foresee for this book? Do you think it needs heavy or light changes? (Most likely they will skim over what they think needs editing because if they told you outright then you could say no to offer and go and fix your book.
  10. How close do you think book is ready for submission?
  11. What is your vision for book?
  12. What's your editorial style?
  13. Do you have publishers in mind?
  14. Is this offer for one book or open ended for other books I might write or have written already?
  15. Are you opposed to me working with another agent for different genre or other books?
  16. Also ask for two client references so that you can actually speak to someone they represent.




 After your initial phone call slow your heart down and sideline your excitement in order to ask yourself how you felt about the agent. 

 Did they seem honest and genuine? 

 When they talked about your book did they seem excited about it? 

 What vibe did you get from them? 

 Did they ask interesting questions to get to know you and your writing style and habits? 

 Did they know the publishing business well when you asked about business related questions?

 Dig deep to evaluate the answers they gave to your questions and balance them with how you felt about the agent in order to make the best decision for you.

 Good luck!


*From Publishers Marketplace - “Deals”:
“nice deal” $1 - $49,000
“very nice deal” $50,000 - $99,000
“good deal” $100,000 - $ 250,000
“significant deal” $251,000 - $499,000
“major deal” $500,000 and up

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Advice for Writers

The Best advice I can give to writers can be summed up in five tips and is partly what I've read, heard or learned on my writing journey.    First  – Keep writing and be ready. Write as many novels (and short story, poems, essays, etc.) as you can. Learn how to write a synopsis and query if you plan on submitting to agents and publishers. Learn the mechanics of writing and structuring a story. Take classes, enter contests, find mentors, work with beta readers, critique partners and editors - all with the goal of improving your skills and making your novels better. Second  – The road to getting published is not for the faint of heart. If you can’t learn to live with constant rejection then you might not want to publish your work.   Writers must grow thick skin. We are going to be judged by our work constantly and must remember why we write in order to overcome haters, trolls or simply people who don't like our work/style. Not everyone is go...
2 comments
Read more

What's Up with Diversity in Color in the Publishing Industry

In the last few years, there has been a big push for diversity that seems to have gone hand in hand with the Black Lives Matter movement. According to a  2019 survey , 76 percent of the people who acquire and edit books are white.  When agents who are the gatekeepers within the publishing industry — in most cases the Big 4 publishers and their subsidiaries won’t consider novels without agents attached — are white, finding diverse voices they connect can be a problem.   Human nature dictates we are all ruled by our biases, morals, and experiences. How can someone who hasn’t faced similar life circumstances because of their color or “otherness” judge our books and the messages within them? via GIPHY Zora Neale Hurston  wrote an article in 1950  called, “What White Publishers Won’t Print” (over 72 years ago, people!)—let’s pause to take in this fact. This thing that happened for this exceptional black woman author so long ago that is still relevant today. via ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Query Wins for Me

I am getting ready to query again after about a six-month hiatus and looked back through my records of responses and was quite pleased.  In the past, I’ve had many close calls. I’ve had full requests from publishers and agents alike for a few different books I queried. I could have given up with the mounting rejections but the rejections I’ve gotten over the last year and a half have MOSTLY been inspiring. This might not make sense to anyone who hasn’t been through the querying trenches but there is such a thing as a good rejection. A good “no” per se. In posting this I want to say that if you are a writer seeking publication, you need to keep writing, revising and editing…but especially keep submitting. Here are a few of my rejections: “I loved the concept and was riveted by the world you have created, but ultimately I just didn’t fall in love with the voice. It’s not for me, but I wish you the best of luck in your search for representation.” ‘There was so muc...
Post a Comment
Read more