Is this advice valid -- saying you will only show proposal to one agent at a time

Hathor

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I have just started my research process about getting an agent. I already have a list of some possibilities to query and am working on polishing my query and turning my book proposal ideas into an actual proposal.

I thought how I knew how to proceed and went to the library to get some books about writing book proposals and ideas for marketing (for that section of the proposal). Another book caught my eye, Susan Page's The Shortest Distance Between You and a Published Book. Now I'm confused because she gives advice I haven't seen before. (But then this may be standard advice. If there have been threads on this subject already, please tell me. I tried searching AW but all I was getting was threads about agents asking for exclusives.)

Ms. Page says to proceed as follows. Query a group of agents (she suggests 12). Tell them in the query that you will only send your proposal to one agent at a time and so to respond ASAP. In ten days you see who has responded. You pick out the agent you want the most and send him/her the proposal, explaining that no one else is reviewing the proposal, and you hope to hear back soon. You wait 3 weeks. If you've heard nothing, you call the agency and ask when you might expect to hear back. If given a reasonable time frame, wait for that. If you get a vague response, you wait 2 weeks and call again. From what they say you decide whether to wait or move on. If you decide to move on, you write and say that, since your proposal hasn't been reviewed thus far, you want to show it to someone else, adding that if you don't hear from them in a week's time you will do so. An alternative is to send the agency a big SASE and tell them you want your proposal back.

According to Ms. Page, this procedure gets agents to respond quicker and also makes the singled out agent feel, well, singled out.

Is this standard advice, intriguing advice (that may work), or goofy advice that will create problems? I will continue to search out other books on the subject, but I thought it would be useful to ask all the experienced folk on this forum.

I note that the book in question was published in 1997. The market or the expected protocol may have changed since then.
 

jclarkdawe

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The first question is whether you have a nonfiction proposal or a novel query? The answer changes depending upon which you're talking about.

Then the question is how special/time sensitive your nonfiction proposal is.

Nothing is simple in this world.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe
 

Parametric

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I suspect this would make the hypothetical querier sound like a massive diva - like they're doing the agents a favour by letting the agents vie for their masterpiece.

In addition, supposing more than one agent replies with a request, you have two unhappy options: (a) send material to everyone who requested it, and thus make yourself a liar and put yourself in an extremely awkward position if there are multiple offers; (b) tell perfectly good agents to take a hike because they didn't jump through arbitrary hoops.
 
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If I were an agent being approached like this I'd make sure the author in question knew they were welcome to send their book elsewhere.
 

Hathor

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Yes, it struck me like weird advice, but this is my first book and I've just started researching how to get an agent, like I said.

My book is nonfiction. It is only time-sensitive in the sense that I cite the law and assorted academic literature, which may change as I wait (and wait).

Thanks for responding so quickly, everyone.
 

Cyia

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Sounds like the quick road to the auto-reject/email block pile. Considering something like 98% of proposed novels are unpublishable garbage, deigning to bestow an unsolicited exclusive isn't such great leverage.
 

jclarkdawe

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The problem with generic advice is trying to decide whether you fit into the circumstances. And as you noted, the advice is old, actually dating back to before 1995. Among other things, this was written before wide-spread use of email. But there are occasions where this advice might still be useful.

First off, it wouldn't apply to fiction, and probably never did. But you're not writing fiction, so we can ignore that area.

For nonfiction, let's say you're sitting on Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's diary. Now ignoring your obligation to maybe turn this over to the appropriate authorities, you decide you're going to produce a book about him using it. Now you've got something incredibly unique and time sensitive that probably is going to cause an agent to drool. Yeah, I'd try an approach roughly along the lines of what she's suggesting.

On the other hand, say you're writing the full story of the ten best games in basketball. It's not unique, it's not time sensitive, and I would go with a more conventional approach.

You need to know what you've got, and whether it's good enough to go her route. Of course, if you've got something that good, it's not going to be hard to find an agent regardless of what method you use.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe