Dream Agent Asked to See A Different Manuscript

ARRGGHH!!! Good luck!

(I have no advice, just a bunch of ARRGGHH!! Good luck!)

mbowman said:

My dream agent got back to me today saying she LOVED my manuscript (!!!) but paranormal is hard to sell right now. She asked if I had anything else to send her. So I have a few questions:

1. Something I'm almost done working on is okay to mention, right? Even if I'm not quite finished with it yet? I should be finished in about a month, I was going to finish writing and editing it in lieu of NaNo this year.

2. Do I send her a 3 paragraph query-like summary or will a few sentences talking about what its about do?

3. I really really really don't want to waste my chances with this opportunity. If I have other projects that I have shelved but that may interest her, should i mention those as well and finish working on whichever one she picks?

Thanks, I just really don't want to screw this opportunity up!

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I think you can't go wrong with honesty. Tell her you have one that's unfinished, but close. Tell her you have others you shelved, but would consider resurrecting if they sound interesting to her (assuming you'd be comfortable doing this). A two-line description is probably fine, but be prepared to churn out a synopsis if she asks for one.

It sounds to me as if she really likes your writing, and is hoping you've got something she can sell. Tell her what you've got, and go from there.

You tell her the truth: You don't have anything polished yet, but anticipate your current project will be done in a month. Then you ask if you can submit it to her when it's ready to be seen by agent-eyes. If she says yes, then when it's finished, you send the new MS as a reply to this email chain when it's ready to be seen so that she knows it's not an out-of-the-blue submission that needs to be stuffed at the end of the queue.

DO NOT send something that's not done. You don't know how the MS will look in a month.

Save mentions of other projects for if she calls you after you submit your new project.

YAY!! That's so exciting! Congrats, she must really like your writing. I would do as Cyia suggested - definitely send it as a reply in the email thread when the time comes. I'd most likely push the near-complete work and send her a description, and let her know when you expect it to be agent-ready.. Good luck!

Woo HOOO!!!! Happy Snoopy dances for you!

Thirding Cyia. And good luck!

Also, don't feel pressured. If she likes your work, she's not suddenly going to stop liking it in a month or two or six, so there's no need to rush something out the door.

You want to send her whichever project you have that you feel most strongly about. If it's something that is as-yet unfinished, then you send her an email with an estimate of when it will be agent ready along with a brief description - unless it's something that is vastly different genre or category-wise from the first project in which case you want to phrase it more in a "I have X. Does that sound like something you would be interested in?" (And give yourself plenty of time to finish. You don't need to rush and it will give an agent pause if you say "I have an unfinished novel, but I can get it to you in two weeks.")

Then when it's done and ready, you send it in response to the previous correspondence with a brief intro "As we discussed back in November, I have attached Shiny New Manuscript as you requested."

Best of luck with it!

That would be really awkward. I get why you're stressing. The thing is though, this is your dream agent. This is a great opportunity. Do the best you can and trust your own judgement on your work. After all, she loved your last ms! You clearly know what you are doing. You'll know if it's ready to send. It sounds to me like your work has reached the point where you will have agent interest beyond the two you currently have interested, so don't freak yourself out!

mbowman said:

Thanks everyone! I did send her an email and she requested to see the manuscript when I am finished! I am frantically finishing the rough draft (I'm near the climax so pretty close to the end) so I can try to edit it up in a month or so. I meant to write more today but I got distracted by the World Series (I don't even like baseball but wow!).

I'm just so nervous that she's not gonna like this manuscript as much as she loved the other one. But then again, I was 99.9% sure she'd turn my first manuscript down so...

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It would be a good idea to get this ms to her in a timely fashion. But it's important that it's good, so don't rush it. Better later and good than early and not quite there.

Good luck! I'm scared and nervous for you. Update us when you're done.

Best of luck! I had a very similar experience just recently, and I am nowhere near done. I told them very honestly that I wouldn't be sending anything until mid to late 2017 and they were fine..not like they are sitting around waiting for it, anyway!

Good luck and keep us updated!