Should I tell each agent who asks for the MS how many other agents have it?

diana86 · Oct 20, 2017

Hello!

I've been querying for just about three weeks now and have gotten quite a few requests for fulls and partials, spread out across the three weeks. Each time I get a request, I simply say that I'm glad they'd like to read, here's the full MS, look forward to hearing from you.

But I just stumbled across an ancient AbsoluteWrite thread where an author mentioned she let an agent who requested her full know that other agents were also considering. "I let her know that two other agents were considering the full, and she promised to read it as fast as she could. She actually called me 12-13 hours later (without having quite finished the book) to offer representation. VERY exciting and flattering to say the least!"

Now I'm kicking myself! Have I been going about this all wrong? Should I have been letting agents know how many other agents are also considering the manuscript to get them more excited? I didn't even know this was a thing! I thought you were only supposed to let other agents know of interest once you receive your first offer of representation. Next time I get a request, should I be like, "10 other agents are considering the manuscript at this time"?

I feel like if I were an agent and I got that response, I'd be like "WELL LOOK AT YOU, AREN'T YOU SPECIAL?" but hey, what do I know? Clearly not enough. Halp!

Maggie Maxwell · Oct 20, 2017

If it's a good query and pages (and it sounds like they are, well done), I think agents are going to assume there will be others reading it. You only need to tell them if they have the partial/full and someone offers representation.

Aggy B. · Oct 20, 2017

If they ask (some will), you should tell them.
If you get an offer of rep, you should tell any agent who has a partial/full that you have received an offer.

If they don't ask there's no need to tell them other agents are looking at it.
If they do ask you can tell them which agent/agency made the request. You do not need to (probably shouldn't) mention how long they have had the MS.

Best of luck.

diana86 · Oct 20, 2017

Thanks for the quick responses. I know there's "no need" to tell other agents. I guess what I'm asking is, is telling them a good way to let them know a project is hot? Is this a clever sales strategy, so to speak?

Aggy B. · Oct 20, 2017

diana86 said:
Thanks for the quick responses. I know there's "no need" to tell other agents. I guess what I'm asking is, is telling them a good way to let them know a project is hot? Is this a clever sales strategy, so to speak?

Egh. It could be. But we've talked before in this forum about folks who lie about stuff like that so in general if the agent doesn't ask you probably don't want to be like "Oh, and a bunch of other folks are looking at it too." (I mean, obviously, if they are and you say that and the agent asks you can provide names and they can check it out. But it might seem a little scammy just because there are folks out there who pretend to have interest to try and get an agent to read faster or make an offer.)

Agents know that authors query more than one agent at a time so they will generally assume that you probably have more than one agent looking at a full MS - you don't need to tell them that. If it were me, I wouldn't tell them unless they ask, but other folks may feel differently.

diana86 · Oct 20, 2017

Ew, that sucks that people lie about that. As if this process wasn't already miserable enough for the rest of us! I'd be happy to share names with any agent who asked, though, so I wouldn't base my own query strategy on the fact that other people are liars.

Curious what others think — I mean, it obviously worked out well for the individual I quoted in my original post, and nobody called her out in that thread (which is what made me think aww man, I'm doing this all wrong!). Though it was a long time ago, so maybe it's more typical these days for authors to keep their cards close to the vest.

Shoeless · Oct 20, 2017

You really don't need to inform them that other agents are looking at and considering it unless you're feeling like you might have better luck if you push the coals a bit closer to their feet to hurry them along. Or, if they specifically ask for an exclusive on reading it, then you pretty much have to tell them at that point that they're not the first to ask for it, and other agents already have it. I was in that situation once with an MS that ultimately didn't get representation, but because the agent asking wanted an exclusive, I did have tell her that she was actually third, and a couple of others already had it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have volunteered the information at all.

Laurasaurus · Oct 21, 2017

diana86 said:
I feel like if I were an agent and I got that response, I'd be like "WELL LOOK AT YOU, AREN'T YOU SPECIAL?" but hey, what do I know? Clearly not enough. Halp!

Lol, that's exactly what I always think.

I have seen one or two agents say they want to be contacted if another agent requests the full. And that seemed so strange to me that I went back and reread that statement about 10 times to see if I was understanding it right. But that was what they said!

But the vast majority of agents seem to only want to be contacted if another agent offers.

I wouldn't do it unless it was one of those very rare agents who I'd seen with my own eyes wanted it. But even then I'd be reluctant to. It'd feel so weird.

ElaineA · Oct 21, 2017

The thing is, you don't know how "hot" your property actually is based on requests. I had 8 full requests (which seems like YAY! from my end) but no one offered (so not YAY! on their end). Luke warm at best. Pushing them wouldn't have done me a darn bit of good, and it *might* have caused some to just say, "nah, nevermind" earlier. I do know some agents bow out when pushed because it causes them to take a close hard look at, "Do I really-truly love this?" because their time is money. It's one thing to lose agents when you have an offer waiting, another to do it in the "still reading" stage.

I'm usually in favor of taking the conservative professional approach and letting them do their job on their time schedules, but I'm old-school (and very shy about self-promotion), so grains of salt all around.

The Otter · Oct 24, 2017

I don't know how common it is--less common these days, I think--but there are some agents who do expect to know who else is looking at the full manuscript, or will request an exclusive for fulls. Those ones will typically let you know up front what their expectations are, though.

Carrie in PA · Oct 24, 2017

ElaineA said:
The thing is, you don't know how "hot" your property actually is based on requests. I had 8 full requests (which seems like YAY! from my end) but no one offered (so not YAY! on their end). Luke warm at best. Pushing them wouldn't have done me a darn bit of good, and it *might* have caused some to just say, "nah, nevermind" earlier. I do know some agents bow out when pushed because it causes them to take a close hard look at, "Do I really-truly love this?" because their time is money. It's one thing to lose agents when you have an offer waiting, another to do it in the "still reading" stage.

I'm usually in favor of taking the conservative professional approach and letting them do their job on their time schedules, but I'm old-school (and very shy about self-promotion), so grains of salt all around.

^^ This exactly, except I only had 5 full requests.

Should I tell each agent who asks for the MS how many other agents have it?

diana86

Maggie Maxwell

Making Einstein cry since 1994

Aggy B.

Not as sweet as you think

diana86

Aggy B.

Not as sweet as you think

diana86

Shoeless

Laurasaurus

ElaineA

All about that action, boss.

The Otter

Friendly Neighborhood Mustelid

Carrie in PA

Write All The Words!