Two agents interested in seeing my manuscript -- etiquette advice?

Spidercat

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Hi -- I believe this has been covered to some extent in a thread I read below, but I believe my case might be slightly different, so I'd appreciate any feedback.

Six months ago, I received a response to my query from Jennifer DeChiara asking to see my full manuscript. I sent it immediately and waited patiently -- her website mentions that it takes about three months to respond, so after six months I sent her a polite letter asking if she had reached a decision on my manuscript yet.

I haven't heard from Jennifer DeChiara yet, but today I got a response to another one of my queries from Liza Pulitzer Voges asking to see my full manuscript.

I haven't promised either agent exclusivity and stated in my query letter that the query was being submitted to multiple agents. I'm still curious though -- is there any type of etiquette I should follow in this situation? Both are reputable children's book agents according to my research and I'd be lucky if either one of them represented me -- but I wouldn't want to alienate either one.

Thanks!
 

jvc

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I could be wrong as I have never been in this situation personally, but I would say to go ahead and send it to Liza Pulitzer Vogues.

You haven't heard back from the other agent after six months, it may mean they weren't going to accept it, especially if they say it normally takes three months to respond. Did you send a SAE in with the subbmission to Jennifer Dechiara, so they could send the MS back to you if they didn't like it?
 

StoryG27

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Since you didn't promise (and neither agent requested) exclusivity, you are fine sending it off to the second agent. You might want to let both agents know that another agent is looking at the material, though you really don't have to because you haven't received a response from the first and it has been a while. If you really want to be safe though, just drop another note to the first agent, letting her know another agent is interested in reading the full manuscript, and mention to the second agent that another agent requested to read it a few months ago but you haven't received a response yet.

Anyway, whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck! Let us know how it goes.
 

Spidercat

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Thanks for the advice! And to answer a question -- yes, I did include a SASE in both my note to DeChiara six months ago and the note I sent to her last week. Your suggestions sound fair and professional -- I think I'll follow up on that by informing DeChiara of what's going on.
 

Spidercat

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Thanks for the advice again you guys! I ended up sending an e-mail to Jennifer DeChiara (the first agent) and received a very prompt e-mail from her letting me know it was okay to send to the other agent and also to forward her my manuscript via e-mail so she could get to it sooner.

So it turned out for the best! :)