How long did an agent have your work before offering representation?

My agent had my full ms about two months before offering representation. She sent me email after two weeks saying she had to pass it to the senior agent in the office, who was out of the country at the time. Then she phoned about six weeks after that.

I received an answer to my email query in a couple of hours. The agent requested a 6 week exclusive. At week eight she called to apologize for the delay and offerred representation.

I know there's at least one member here whose agent had the full for over six months before offering (if memory serves, which I'm pretty sure it does.)

Mine had it four days before offering. The full manuscript was passed along by another agent, and I'm forever grateful to her that she did.

I went from pitch to signing in ten days, though I did have an offer on the table already to speed that up. That first offer took about two to three weeks. I had a third offer that came about two months after submission. Sadly, that agent didn't get my e-mail about accepting another offer and she read the MS anyway. (I still feel bad about that).

I had one agent get back the next day after receiving the MS. I had another who took about a month. And the one I went with I think took about two weeks. In other words, it varies wildly.

My full has been out for four months. It's driving me nuts.

Yeah, yeah, be patient. I know. It still sucks.

The first agent who offered representation on my manuscript had the partial for a few weeks before requesting the full. I let her know that two other agents were considering the full, and she promised to read it as fast as she could. She actually called me 12-13 hours later (without having quite finished the book) to offer representation. VERY exciting and flattering to say the least! I then let the two other agents looking at fulls know, as well as the agent looking at the partial who was one of my very top choice agents. The other two agents with fulls rushed me to the top of their piles, although both ended up passing (one said she would have to ask for very extensive revisions and even then couldn't promise an offer--her revisions would have made it a completely different book which helped make my decision easier). The agent with the partial promptly congratulated me on the offer and asked for the full manuscript, along with three days to read the manuscript, which I was more than willing to grant.

Of course, as angst-filled as many of us writers tend to be, I had convinced myself that no way was she going to offer, too; but then I was lucky enough that she did! Also without quite finishing the manuscript, but she wanted to be sure to respond to me when she promised, and loved the manuscript so wanted to make the offer. After a couple of days of more angsting, and feeling guilty that I had to disappoint one of the two agents, I signed with the second for several reasons. I was honestly sad to say no to the first, though!

Which, I suppose, is a really long way for me to tell my story!

Quincy160 said:

Anyone ever hear that type of feedback and end up finding an agent? Is it that subjective or is bad execution, bad execution?

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If you heard it from just one person, it's hard to make a judgment call on that. So much of it subjective, so I'd wait to hear what the other agents have to say before you decide.

I had an interested agent who told me she thought the overall plot was good, but that my entire worldbuilding (I write urban fantasy) had to be torn down and restructured from scratch. Obviously, my now-agent and now-editor don't agree with the assessment.

My (now former) agent got back to me three months after requesting my full ms. She had some great suggestions for revisions, which I did. Less than a month after sending her the revised ms, she offered representation.

Quincy160 said:

Thanks for all of the stories. It's wonderful to read them. Just got a really rough rejection today on one of the fulls - the agent loved the concept but didn't think the execution was quite where it needs to be to be able to sell. Obviously that was tough to hear especially since all of the betas really enjoyed the book.

Anyone ever hear that type of feedback and end up finding an agent? Is it that subjective or is bad execution, bad execution? Also keep in mind that this is a pretty major agent and at a major agency, so this one really hurt.

There are another 4 agents with fulls and this has me worried...ugh, querying is depressing.

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I got a full rejection something like that (he had some issues with pacing), and a partial rejection too--then I queried my agent on a Monday and signed with him by noon on Wednesday.

It is totally subjective. Some agents will "get it", others won't, that's just the way the business works.

Everyone has their own opinion, so just because one felt one way doesn't mean everyone will feel the same way. If several people make the same comment, then you can stress But on the bright side, you'd at least know that you have a great concept and have good feedback on how to make it saleable.

Don't worry quite yet though When my book was out on submission, I got responses back in the same day where editor A said "I just loved X, Y and Z" and editor B said, I'm passing because I didn't like X, Y and Z."

My agent received my initial e-query on Oct 8th ... offered representation on Oct 12th. It went like lightning.

I've heard of agents who've taken 5 months to offer representation. And I'm sure there are some who've taken longer. Hang in there!

From initial query to representation, late January to late September of the same year. I think she had the full by mid February, and we went through a round of revisions between March and April.

There is no rhyme or reason. Anything can happen, and probably has.

From query, to full read, to acceptance was about 11 days. He gave me notice on Christmas Day, which I thought was pretty classy.

Tri

DecemberQuinn said:

I queried my agent on a Monday and signed with him by noon on Wednesday.

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My agent received my initial e-query on Oct 8th ... offered representation on Oct 12th. It went like lightning.

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Is it possible to get any more lucky? Just THREE TO FOUR DAYS!

About a month to respond to the query and request the proposal, then about 3 weeks to offer representation once she got the proposal.

It took about a month between my agent asking for the full and then offering representation. But several years ago I worked with an agent on revisions for 9 months and thought representaiton was a sure thing, but then she passed. Ugh. Talk about letting the wind out of my sales. The situation with the agent I have now was totally different. She signed me first, and then we went through a couple rounds of revisions that took about 6 weeks.

Yeah, Karen, that reminds me, too. I was signed before revisions, but those edits were pretty minor.

Tri

Agent #1 = 3 days
Agent #2 = 3 weeks (with a referral)
Agent #3 = A little over a month, maybe 5 weeks total.

Varies greatly. I wouldn't worry. Good luck!