Do I have good reason to P***** off

[Ty T]

Right in November an editor said that they wanted to receive a submission of my work so I sent it to my agent and asked him to submit it to the editor is question. Now I have only hust learned from the editor that she has never received the work and my agent has never said to be or given any indication that he didn't send the work, numerous times I have asked him if has had a reply from the editor and he said nothing about the fact that he didn't actually send it to I have good reasont to be pissed off about this

[aka eraser]

Maybe the agent sent it but the editor didn't receive it. Snail mail and email do occasionally veer off into the Twilight Zone.

Ask your agent directly when he/she sent it. If worth his/her salt there will be a record of when and how.

[SRHowen]

If your agent is not telling you that the ms never went to the editor when you ask, or you have asked and the agent says ahh, well, I haven't heard back yet. Then you have good reason IMHO to be po'd.

I'd be looking for a new agent.

Shawn

[Writing Again]

In your position I would be in the mode, "I want the facts and I want the facts now."

Part of the agent's job is to keep track of submissions -- Where they go, when is a reasonable time to check up -- Things you would do were you doing it yourself.

Even if your agent sent the ms and it did not get there does not excuse the agent if they did not check up in a reasonable period of time. If a work is requested by an editor the reasonable length of time to run a check is shorter than for an unsolicited work.

[Jamesaritchie]

You just need to ask the agent whether or not it was sent.

How did you come to talk to an editor about the manuscript, and is the editor one the agent would feel comfortable submitting a manuscript to?

Either way, there does seem to be a lack of communication going on here, and that would bother me.

At the same time, I would never tell an agent where to send a manuscript. If I happened to get into a conversation with an editor who then asked to see the manuscript, I'd pass that info along to my agent and let him/her decide whether or not that was a good home for the novel.