Questions about agenting

Belle_91 · Dec 23, 2009

When you get an agent what do they expect. I mean I know that you have to have gone over your manuscript at least a dozen times but does the agent expect perfection or are they going to help you further along the editing process? Do they want everything to be spic and span or do they know that we are all humans and will make some mistakes?

AryaT92 · Dec 23, 2009

Even some very famous published works have minor mistakes, if your agent is also an editor they could shape it up before they sell it but for the most part it should be in good shape.

After they sell it the publisher will have an editor go over it with you.

Are you writing fiction, non-fiction, what?

kellion92 · Dec 23, 2009

Of course an agent won't expect perfection. Almost all will want revisions, and a few are excellent editors who enjoy shaping manuscripts -- to a point. What you give them has to be awfully good to stand out from the hundreds (thousands) or queries they receive. It's not merely a matter of eliminating typos -- it's story and craft.

Belle_91 · Dec 23, 2009

ok thanks and yes I am writing a fictional story

ChaosTitan · Dec 24, 2009

Every agent works a little differently. Some agents will work with you on a manuscript they love, but feels needs work. Other agents don't do any sort of editing; they accept only polished manuscripts and submit as-is. Which type of agent works for you depends on what you need out of the relationship.

My agent does editorial work with me. We did a pretty good-sized revision on Three Days to Dead before we submitted it, and all of his suggestions made the book stronger. I like that I have that extra set of professional eyes on my work before it goes to my editor. Not every writer needs it.

Jamesaritchie · Dec 24, 2009

It depends on the agent and teh writer. The one thing I have never allowed, and never will allow, is an agent doing anythhing to a manuscript. The agent is someone I hire to sell a manuscript, not someone I hire to tell me how to write it.

Toothpaste · Dec 24, 2009

And see my very first beta reader is my agent. When I send her my MS I am hoping she has some editorial suggestions because she is brilliant (she also used to be a book buyer for Borders so she really knows the market).

I think the very important thing to keep in mind is that you should never submit anything to a prospective agent with the thought, "Well it'll need to be edited anyway, so I can fix some of the stuff later." What you send a prospective agent is the best possible version of your story. You should think it's the bee's knees.

Once you have an agent, things change (like I said, my agent is my beta reader), but getting that agent . . . make sure your story is as good as it possibly can be. You only get one shot at a first impression.

Hedgetrimmer · Dec 24, 2009

Jamesaritchie said:
It depends on the agent and teh writer. The one thing I have never allowed, and never will allow, is an agent doing anythhing to a manuscript. The agent is someone I hire to sell a manuscript, not someone I hire to tell me how to write it.

I like this a lot. An agent I'm trying to land recently sent me a revision list of things she had a problem with and hoped I would change and resubmit. What I liked about her letter was that she didn't try to do my job for me. There was no "maybe your character can do this or do that. How about including blah blah blah." She basically pointed out the plot flaws in a general way and trusted I'd come up with a creative solution.

I'm sure some writers don't mind an agent suggesting very specific elements, but I know once I get something in my mind it's hard for me to move past that idea and let my own creative muse do her thing.

Wayne K · Dec 24, 2009

Jason remarked about how error free my ms was (I have 5 good beta readers) and he made suggestions. He cleared every edit with me. He's very professional.

He asked me to add things and showed me comma poblems. I learned a lot, added 20 something pages to the first half of the story, and did it pretty quick. I learned a lot.

ETA: Actually, the comma thing was house style, but perfectly acceptable, so it really wasn't a problem.

In my beta's defense.

DeadlyAccurate · Dec 24, 2009

Mine occasionally suggests specific elements*, but mostly she describes what doesn't work for her. Whether I change them or not is entirely up to me. (In an early draft, she thought a character should've been removed entirely, because he wasn't in enough to really flesh the story out. I added him in even more, because I felt he was necessary for my heroine).

*She did that just this week, in fact. She asked what I thought about changing the spelling of a character's name. Since I'd referred to that character in casual chat with that spelling, the only reason I didn't do it before was because I thought it would be wrong in an editor's eyes (it's a hacker spelling of a hacker's handle, and it's completely appropriate for that character and my genre).

AryaT92 · Dec 24, 2009

Usually gives me suggestions and ideas but tells me in the end it is my choice as the writer, very nice about the critique.

Jamesaritchie · Dec 25, 2009

One thing about perfection. In thrioty years, and having read a God-Almighty lot of manuscripts before and after the editing stage, I've never seen a perfect manuscript.

The least edited manuscript I've ever seen still needed thrity-nine corrections. Many need chopped to pieces and reassembled bit by bit before they're publishable.

Do the absolute best job you can. Try to find every weak spot in plot and story, every clunky sentence, ever grammar mistake and typo. Try hard. But understand that perfection is an unobtainable goal, and the enemy of Good Enough.

Hedgetrimmer · Dec 26, 2009

On striving for perfection: It sounds a little crazy on the surface, but I've heard a few agents say they are always a bit wary when they receive a manuscript that appears perfect. Their reasoning is that humans by nature are flawed creatures, and so they expect the writing to have a few hiccups, whether they be sheer typos, awkward sentence structure, subject/verb disagreement, whatever. Basically, they want to feel like the person behind the book is a "human" rather than some obsessive/compulsive neurotic who labors over every word and piece of punctuation. Of course that's still no license to be mediocre.

Exir · Dec 26, 2009

Hedgetrimmer said:
On striving for perfection: It sounds a little crazy on the surface, but I've heard a few agents say they are always a bit wary when they receive a manuscript that appears perfect. Their reasoning is that humans by nature are flawed creatures, and so they expect the writing to have a few hiccups, whether they be sheer typos, awkward sentence structure, subject/verb disagreement, whatever. Basically, they want to feel like the person behind the book is a "human" rather than some obsessive/compulsive neurotic who labors over every word and piece of punctuation. Of course that's still no license to be mediocre.

I think they don't mean "appears perfect" in a literal way... I think it's more of a metaphorical way of talking about the style of writing -- not that they are wary of technically sound manuscripts. I think they're referring to those cases where the writer follows "writing rules" so closely that they lose all voice.

YAwriter72 · Dec 26, 2009

I trust my agent to tell me what works and what doesn't becasue he is the one who is selling it. He gave me suggestions on my first MS and we went over them and I changed a bunch of stuff and fought to keep one major plot. In the end (After 4 rounds of revisions) it was much better. Second MS the entire second half didn't work for him, and you know what, after careful consideration, I realized he was right. I like that he guides my writing without telling me what to do specifically. (I chose him based on his hands on editing style)

Hedgetrimmer · Dec 26, 2009

YAwriter72 said:
Second MS the entire second half didn't work for him, and you know what, after careful consideration, I realized he was right. I like that he guides my writing without telling me what to do specifically. (I chose him based on his hands on editing style)

Yeah, I feel you on that. The agent who recently sent me a revision list asked me to rewrite the second half of the book, basically saying one of the subplots wasn't jiving for her and seemed to come out of nowhere. And she's right. Everything she has a problem with are things I wrote into the book after receiving feedback from an agent two years ago. I'm now returning the book to its original focus, and I know it will much stronger.

Wonderlander · Dec 27, 2009

My agent doesn't suggest corrections so much as raise questions that occurred to her as a reader, and also places when the tautness might have sagged or I contradicted myself. It's made plain it's up to me to change it or not.

Of course I do tend to change it, because she's not in opposition to what I'm writing, just trying to bring out what I am writing more clearly, if that makes sense.

suzyq · Dec 27, 2009

question about agent communication

I was thrilled to have signed with a reputable agency in September, but now am wondering if I made a mistake. I've tried emailing her a couple of times to check on the status of my project, but she has not returned my mails. A couple of weeks ago, I called her office and left a message. She hasn't returned my call yet. I don't want to be a pest, but would appreciate a brief status report every six weeks, or so. I'm starting to wonder if she's giving me the brush off. Does anyone have any advice for me? How often do other writers hear from their agents? Any input would be appreciated.

Amarie · Dec 27, 2009

suzyq said:
I was thrilled to have signed with a reputable agency in September, but now am wondering if I made a mistake. I've tried emailing her a couple of times to check on the status of my project, but she has not returned my mails. A couple of weeks ago, I called her office and left a message. She hasn't returned my call yet. I don't want to be a pest, but would appreciate a brief status report every six weeks, or so. I'm starting to wonder if she's giving me the brush off. Does anyone have any advice for me? How often do other writers hear from their agents? Any input would be appreciated.

You are not being a pest. This is not normal. My agent responds to all my emails usually within a day, unless it's a weekend or holiday, and then I hear from her very quickly on the first business day after that. My first thought on reading this was to wonder if your emails were getting caught in your agent's spam filter, but I'm surprised she hasn't returned a call. When you signed with her, did you get a rough timeline of how she wanted to proceed? Is she going to make suggestions for revisions?

AryaT92 · Dec 27, 2009

I've been through two agents. The first I could count on responding whenever I emailed / called / texted. We talked quite often and she answered any questions that needed answering.

My second however is a top agent and in return takes a bit longer to respond. However, this is still within the day if not the day after.

That is very intriguing as to why he / she hasn't responded if it has been so long.. Of course, she might be on vacation / holiday?

Wonderlander · Dec 27, 2009

I get a reply within a day or two usually, excluding weekends.

However, I do have other agented friends in both UK and US agencies. Some get the same response times I do, but others can sometimes have longer waits for updates, depending on who is representing them and how efficient they are, how big or busy the agency is, how much help that agent has in the office (some have none), how long the client list is, and how senior the agent is in the agency. The other thing is that agents have different styles and habits, and they are all hopelessly oversubscribed. Some are worse handholders than others, but still selling things. There probably is a complex algorithm that can be applied to all these factors, but I don't know what it is.

Your experience sounds a bit dispiriting, though. At least you should get a response promising you a response sometime. Is the book on submission at present? Are you waiting for her to comment on changes?

suzyq said:
I was thrilled to have signed with a reputable agency in September, but now am wondering if I made a mistake. I've tried emailing her a couple of times to check on the status of my project, but she has not returned my mails. A couple of weeks ago, I called her office and left a message. She hasn't returned my call yet. I don't want to be a pest, but would appreciate a brief status report every six weeks, or so. I'm starting to wonder if she's giving me the brush off. Does anyone have any advice for me? How often do other writers hear from their agents? Any input would be appreciated.

suzyq · Dec 27, 2009

agent question

Thanks for the input. It sounds like I need to some how get ahold of her and define some guidelines for feedback. As for now, I feel a little lost. I know my manuscript is in the submission process, but I have no idea if I've had any declines, feedback, etc. Of course, it could all be a cyberspace glich, but my gut feel is that she's avoiding me. It sounds like I need to make another phone call and be a little more direct.

The kicker is that I had two other agent offers but I chose this agency because of their great track record.

What a great forum this is-- I appreciate being able to tap into so much experience!

Wordwrestler · Dec 28, 2009

suzyq said:
I was thrilled to have signed with a reputable agency in September, but now am wondering if I made a mistake. I've tried emailing her a couple of times to check on the status of my project, but she has not returned my mails. A couple of weeks ago, I called her office and left a message. She hasn't returned my call yet. I don't want to be a pest, but would appreciate a brief status report every six weeks, or so. I'm starting to wonder if she's giving me the brush off. Does anyone have any advice for me? How often do other writers hear from their agents? Any input would be appreciated.

My agent will often go for many weeks without contacting me, but if I e-mail her and ask a question, I get an answer the same day--usually within the hour.

If your book is on submission, you need to have a discussion about how your agent handles updates. I was given a list of which houses my manuscript went to, and she forwards me the responses as they come. Some agents wait and send responses in batches and others only notify the author when an offer is in progress. In my opinion, every author deserves to know who is considering her work.

My advice is to send a polite e-mail asking a few specific questions, such as whether your work has gone out, who it's out to, how long it's been out, and whether there have been any responses yet.

You might wait until after the New Year, though. Maybe the office is closed?

Belle_91 · Dec 29, 2009

thank you for all the advice. I feel much better now and not so stressed, and definatly more informed

Questions about agenting

Belle_91

With her nose stuck in a book

AryaT92

kellion92

A cat may not look at a king

Belle_91

With her nose stuck in a book

ChaosTitan

Around

Jamesaritchie

Toothpaste

THE RECKLESS RESCUE is out now!

Hedgetrimmer

What happened, just there?

Wayne K

DeadlyAccurate

Absolutely Fazed

AryaT92

Jamesaritchie

Hedgetrimmer

What happened, just there?

Exir

Out of the cradle endlessly rocking

YAwriter72

someone let me off this crazy ride

Hedgetrimmer

What happened, just there?

Wonderlander

Bird In Flight

suzyq

Amarie

carpe libri

AryaT92

Wonderlander

Bird In Flight

suzyq

Wordwrestler

Belle_91

With her nose stuck in a book