Submitting a new manuscript to your agent

UltraViolette

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Hi everyone,

I have a question for those who have agents: what was it like when you wrote a new manuscript that you wanted to send to your agent?

Did you pitch the premise before you wrote the book?

Did you submit pages for the agent to read and offer feedback that let you know they thought you were on the right track?

Did you only submit the manuscript once you finished it? And if so, did you go to the same lengths as you did for the ms they signed you on (for me that was a zillion drafts and several reads from trusted critique partners)?

Thanks for any responses!
 

Earthling

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I've done all three of those. :) I asked her when I signed how she wanted to deal with further Mss--which stage she wanted to see them at. I would recommend you do the same. Mine said it was up to me, and she was happy to be involved whenever I needed her. I like running pitches past her before I start writing because she knows what her editor contacts are likely to be interested in.

I wouldn't send her drafts, though. Even when I sent a few sample chapters for her comments, I polished them and put them through critique beforehand. She's a business partner, not a critique partner, and I would feel embarrassed sending her rough drafts.
 

waylander

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My agent wanted to see mine when it had gone through all my beta readers, been rewritten etc. Then made me rewrite it 3 times.
 

mccardey

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Hi everyone,

I have a question for those who have agents: what was it like when you wrote a new manuscript that you wanted to send to your agent?

Did you pitch the premise before you wrote the book?

Did you submit pages for the agent to read and offer feedback that let you know they thought you were on the right track?

Did you only submit the manuscript once you finished it? And if so, did you go to the same lengths as you did for the ms they signed you on (for me that was a zillion drafts and several reads from trusted critique partners)?

Thanks for any responses!

For me, it's the third option. That might just be me.
 

Aggy B.

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For me it looks like a combination of those three.

I usually send an email with a two-three paragraph synopsis of the thing I'm thinking about writing next. I might include few pages from the first chapter to give a feel of the voice/style. I also give him a rough timeline of when I think I might be done.

Then, when I get about 1/3-1/2 finished, I sent him those chapters, plus an outline of how I think the rest of the book is going to play out. (This is where he'll tell me if it feels like the conflict is close enough to the surface, if the character goals seem tangible enough, etc. Some big picture notes on whether the first part is promising to pay off.)

Finally, once I have a first draft done, I do a basic pass to fix anything I might have already made a note to fix, clean up typos and generally tighten up the writing. And which point I send him the whole thing. (I do have an alpha-reader who sees most of it while I'm writing. And my first drafts are typically very, very clean. That said, I don't send in material I'm not comfortable with yet so you need to make your own decision on what you want to do there.)

Then he'll read and send me back notes or schedule a phone call. I'll make revisions on things I agree with, until we're both happy with it. (I make final decisions on any changes, but he still has to sell it, so he has to be comfortable with the MS.)

Personally, I do tend to pitch new projects because I want to make sure I'm presenting it in a way that is easy to see what the pitch to a publisher would look like. Even though my agent reps me and not just a single novel, they have to evaluate each project in much the same way they did the first - is this something I have room for on my lists? Do I have the contacts to effectively submit and sell this?

Best of luck! :)
 

D.L. Shepherd

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I had an agent, but we have since parted ways, for unrelated reasons. But while my first book was on sub, she had me send a synopsis of the one I was working on. I wish I had not. Synopsis are very hard, especially for a W.I.P., and she had some negative remarks about how she felt it was only suitable for a short story and not a novel. Even though I felt the synopsis did not do my idea justice, after that, I couldn't get into the new project anymore. I was always wondering if my agent wasn't going to like it when I was done, then why was I bothering with it?

So for me, unless an agent insisted on seeing something, I personally would keep my ideas to myself until they were fully developed. Actually, I feel that way about sharing anything to ANYONE about any W.I.P. now, because I had a similar situation with yet a third novel I was working on, after a family member asked what I was working on. Maybe I'm too sensitive, but negative remarks early on can kill my creativity way too easy to risk ruining something I am passionate about working on.
 
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UltraViolette

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Interesting! Thanks for sharing how you submit new work to your agent.
 

Dennis E. Taylor

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Once I'd finished my trilogy (which is what got me signed in the first place), we had a discussion about what I could write next. I picked five loglines from my Ideas List and emailed them. We narrowed it down to one, and I wrote a synopsis. Ethan actually didn't like the first one, so I tried a different angle. That passed muster, and I wrote that.

It's always ultimately my choice, of course, but you have to keep in mind that an agent knows the industry, knows what's out there, knows what's selling, etc. Ignoring their advice is suboptimal.
 

lizmonster

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It's always ultimately my choice, of course, but you have to keep in mind that an agent knows the industry, knows what's out there, knows what's selling, etc. Ignoring their advice is suboptimal.

This is true, but in defense of D.Owczarek's point above, agents are also humans with their own opinions, and AFAIK it's not entirely uncommon for agents and writers to disagree about the direction a writer wants to go. It's not a matter of professionalism or unprofessionalism on either side. Sometimes this can be negotiated with a conversation (or a bunch of conversations); sometimes it means the writer needs new representation.

TL;DR: It's OK to disagree with your agent, even while recognizing their knowledge of the marketplace, but it probably warrants a discussion at least.