Editor Etiquette

If Editor Two wants to see your manuscript then let her--unless you granted Editor One an exclusive on it. In which case you'll have to wait until that exclusive is over before you send it in.

akaria said:

I have a full MS with Editor One. She's only had it a month so there's many weeks to go before nudging. Editor Two saw a small portion of the same MS being critiqued and is interested in seeing more.

What's the protocol here? Oh to have these problems!

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As Old Hack said, we need more info to answer this question. Did Editor One ask for an exclusive? If yes, then the best you can do is write to her and say "Hey, Editor Two happened to see this in such and such a place and has expressed interest. I'm wondering if you have had a chance to read the MS?" (Except write it MUCH more professionally than that - sorry - it's Friday and my brain is fried.)

If there's no exclusive on the table, send away!

I'm confused.

I thought we submitted to either agents or publishers. Where do you find editors to submit to and what is thier roble in the acceptance/rejection process?

Hoping to learn something new.

Sometimes editors request material during pitch sessions at conferences, so a writer would submit directly to that editor at a particular publisher.

I'm sure there are other circumstances where you'd submit directly to a certain editor--if you won a contest that editor judged, for instance.

Karen,

Thank you so much! I felt a bit silly asking.

Susan Littlefield said:

I'm confused.

I thought we submitted to either agents or publishers. Where do you find editors to submit to and what is thier roble in the acceptance/rejection process?

Hoping to learn something new.

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There are also some publishers who accept unagented submissions, at least in specific genres like romance (Kensington, Sourcebooks, Medallion Press, Avon...).

And it can be a wonderful thing to update agents you're querying (or to query fresh) with an offer in hand. I know a few agent blogs have mentioned that "offer in hand" queries can pique agent interest. But you have to go to them BEFORE accepting the offer--once a contract is signed with a publisher, a prospective agent can't help you with that book.

Akaria--good luck!

Thank you, Aroyce and akaria. I've learned something new to add to my writers toolbox.

Nobody requires an agent in the process. Editors (publishers) can request manuscripts at any time, and you find them everywhere. The major issue is cold-querying an editor, as in an unsolicited, unagented work over the transom.

One tactic is to look for an agent after you already have an offer from a publisher, to get the agent to negotiate for you and finalize the contract terms. There are times I wished I'd done that.

Jeff

The problem with doing that, though, is that you then don't usually end up with a couple of offers to choose from. I'd go for an agent every time.

Yeah. A deal on the table will get agents to read your MS within days or even hours, and maybe give it more leeway than they normally would--as in, they're more likely to read on and see if your book picks up after a slow start--but having an agent involved in the process from the very start will get you a better deal.

If you get a deal, go for it (and squee your tiny little heart out!), but if you're aiming for one or the other, the latter is your best bet.

It never ceases to amuse me how some houses will ask for no simultaneous submissions and then sit on something for six months to a year. I am always thinking; 'what, these guys have that much trouble handling rejection if I found another publisher? Seriously? Try being a writer some time, buddy.'

Another factor is that if you've been rejected by countless editors, no agent will touch you. There won't be any place for them to send the work. For the most part, you are better off going to agents first. That said, this may not be true for specific fields - picture books are one. Few agents accept picture book authors.