An agent's ASSISTANT requested a partial...

When this happened to me recently, I just addressed it to both of them. I'm not sure if that's the technically correct thing to do, but it seemed more polite than leaving one of them out.

caromora said:

When this happened to me recently, I just addressed it to both of them. I'm not sure if that's the technically correct thing to do, but it seemed more polite than leaving one of them out.

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that's what i've done in past situations like this as well.

Fortunately, when it happened to me, they requested it via e-mail, so I just responded to the address it was sent from.

Address it to the assistant. See, the agenting business is a little different than other businesses. The "assistant" is quite often an agent-in-training. They're learning the business through DOING. They're basically doing the agent's job and then checking with the agent to see if they're doing it right. An agent has to learn what will sell. A manuscript needs to have just the right tone and content to sell currently and the only way to learn that is to read submissions. Then, they request the partial, read it, and write a report (or have a meeting) with the full agent to discuss whether to take it on. Sometimes, an agency will allow the agent-in-training to actually represent the work under the tutelage of the full agent, or sometimes the trainee will pass it along with a recommendation to be either approved or rejected by the full agent.

Either way, it's GOOD to treat the assistant as the full agent they'll someday be. It could be just the friend in a future high place that will push you to the top.

I agree with those who said to address it to the agent's assistant, especially since the agent's assistant might be the one who ends up offering representation and becoming your agent!

Fresie, that's a neat trick. How can you totally agree with people who give you conflicting advice?

I definitely agree that the input from both sides was valuable.

Another note: My agent's assistant reads first and then sends it on to my agent to read next. I addressed all correspondence to both when they asked for my full.
Now that we email back and forth the assistant takes care of the payment / housekeeping questions and my agent is free to talk about projects, career etc.

LOL Judg, I frequently agree with everyone who offers conflicting opinions. It's called confusion.