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Is it uncommon for an agent to call or send a follow-up email two to three days after they request you, if you haven't yet sent the manuscript to them?
Thanks.
Thanks.
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Question About Requests (when an agent gets back to you quickly)
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I never waited that long to send the manuscript, so I can't say for sure, but this sounds unusual to me. Anyone else?
It probably does imply a good amount of interest, and it's not very professional to keep them waiting so long with no explanation, so that they'd have to call you to see what's going on. I'd respond to them immediately!
Or maybe the agent is leaving town and wants to get to the material before s/he takes off?
There's no way to know unless you ask the agent. So quit posting and send the material.
Who know? Sounds like genuine interest, but it could just as well be a very efficient assistant. Take it as genuine interest and get it out yesterday!!
You're right Libbie! If I were on the agent's shoe, I'll lost my interest on the particular job offering. I'll probably seek for another with fast confirmation. It's hard to wait for nothing. I'll just get disappointed.
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It's extremely uncommon...so take it as a good thing. But 2-3 days seems ridiculous (on the agent's front). Usually they're so busy and have so many requests, it's not like they're sitting at their desks twiddling their thumbs, waiting for any request in particular.
However, if you're querying, your ms should be good to go. So get that sucker out there...sounds like you've got an eager audience!
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Well, this is kind of infuriating to me, because I asked elsewhere on here and people generally thought submitting at any time within ten days would be fine!
I mean, what if you didn't check your email for whatever reason and only got their request on Sunday or Monday? If you sent the manuscript within an hour of their follow-up, with an apology for not getting it to them before the weekend, how could this be a dealbreaker?
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This is what I assumed. I didn't think it could possibly pose an actual problem for the agent! From all that I've seen, it can take months for an agent to get around to reading a manuscript.
It can, but it's still unprofessional on the submitter's part to let it go so long that an agent needs to call and see what's holding it up, or whether you received their request. At the very least, respond to your emails as soon as you get them so they know you've received the message and are working on putting the full or partial together according to their format preferences.
I don't think the agent has likely lost interest per se, but you do want to make a good impression on them. Remember you're trying to arrange a business deal with this person. A punctual response is never going to hurt you.
Not in such a short amount of time it isn't. Life happens. I had two requests last year from agents--I was away on holiday without internet connection for two weeks. When I got back I emailed fulls to both agents with apologies for not getting back to them sooner. It is not unprofessional to take holidays. That's a bit far fetched. The submitter can submit now with apologies or without apologies. If they had waited a month before getting back to the agent, then maybe I would allow for that to be unprofessional. The agent's second request seems unreasonable...but maybe also a good sign that they are very interested and want to make sure they get the read before another agent does.
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No, it isn't common, but I wouldn't read anything into it. Reply, send the material, and move on.
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