could this lower your chances with an agent?

Annmarie09 · Dec 4, 2009

Ok, a lot of agents say in their submission guidelines that you shoud 'mention any other agents you have sent your work to'. I was just wondering, but could it actually make an agent less likely to give you a chance if you told them that you were currently querying other agents as well and had a full request or two?
I can sort of understand the reasoning. Agents may not want to bother reading a full manuscript if they think it's going to be snapped up soon by another agency anyway.
Should I wait to continue querying new agencies?

ChaosTitan · Dec 5, 2009

Interesting.

The only time I've come across agents saying "mention any other agents you have sent your work to" is in responses requesting partial or full manuscripts. If you're still at the querying stage, there's no need to say who's reading or not reading.

Kathleen42 · Dec 5, 2009

ChaosTitan said:
Interesting.

The only time I've come across agents saying "mention any other agents you have sent your work to" is in responses requesting partial or full manuscripts. If you're still at the querying stage, there's no need to say who's reading or not reading.

I've come across two agencies who ask you to mention it in your query.

I don't think it's common, though.

IceCreamEmpress · Dec 5, 2009

Annmarie09 said:
could it actually make an agent less likely to give you a chance if you told them that you were currently querying other agents as well and had a full request or two?

Multiple submissions are the norm, in the US at least.

Annmarie09 · Dec 5, 2009

Ah, I see. That would be the reason for the varying responses. I'm querying in the UK at the moment, and they ask you to send a partial straight away with your query letter. This would be why some of the agents ask if you're also querying other agents at the same time.

scope · Dec 5, 2009

Although it's not something I'd suggest you mention to an agent, it's fair to say they expect that writers are soliciting several agents at the same time. And, with some very rare exceptions, I believe that's what they should do. Also, I wouldn't mention anything about another agency requesting your full.

Danthia · Dec 9, 2009

If you're unsure about it, you can always say "other agents have been queried about this project" and leave it at that. You told them, but didn't name names or numbers.

could this lower your chances with an agent?

Annmarie09

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scope

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