Response from Andrew Zack
Dear All:
I was recently made aware of a conversation taking place here regarding my firm and a new service it offers called Express Review. Have read the conversation, I thought it would be helpful to post here myself—once—on this subject, in order to put an end to hearsay and rumor. If, after reading this, you have any further questions, please feel free to visit my site at
www.zackcompany.com and send us an email using the FAQ form.
Express Review is a service that guarantees a response time for an author’s submission. It is not a reading fee—we read thousands of submissions by authors not ordering Express Review—and it is optional, and great effort is made to communicate that. The offer letter makes no promise of representation for ordering it and, in fact, emphasizes that the odds are against being offered representation, e.g.:
Now please keep in mind that
we will read your material even if you don’t choose Express Review (after all, we’ve requested this material). But we can’t guarantee
when we’ll read it, given the volume of material we have on hand at any time and the needs of our current clients.
Please note that your payment for Express Review will in no way influence whether or not we take on your project. Nor does failing to order Express Review mean we will not read your project—we read everything we ask for—it merely gives you a guaranteed response time....
Additionally, an available FAQ list includes the following:
SO, IF I DON’T PAY THE FEE, YOU WON’T READ MY STUFF, RIGHT?
Wrong. We read everything we request. Keep in mind that the letter regarding Express Review doesn’t go out to the general public. We don’t want to be deluged by authors willing to pay to have their material read. We aren’t in that business. We are in the literary representation business. So, we read query letters like yours and only request the material that interests us and that we think has potential. The Express Review service is for those authors that want to know the exact time frame in which they will hear back from us.
Finally, the following are also included:
...this is an optional service. We will read any material we requested whether or not you ask for an Express Review.
...99% of what we get is ultimately not taken on for representation.
Please note that the idea for Express Review actually arose from an author’s request. Some time ago, an author offered to compensate me for my time if I would prioritize responding to his submission. Though I did not take him up on this offer, it stayed in the back of my mind. I’ve found, over the years, that some authors are extremely impatient and at times even angry at the amount of time it takes for agents to respond to material. After consulting with other professionals in service-oriented businesses, I concluded that offering authors the opportunity for Express Review could be the answer for those authors who are frustrated and angry at the long response times many agents have, and was a valid business service.
You have to understand the calculation that occurs in any agent’s head: If I spend an hour reading this unknown author, will it make me money? Or should I spend an hour trying to find a new way to market or license the works of one of my current clients, or following up on current submissions? Which is more likely to make me money? And to whom do I have a greater responsibility? The current client or the author who sent in something that’s sitting on my pile? Well, since 99% of what we get is ultimately not taken on for representation, you can probably understand why we tend toward the needs of the current clients first. Yet, periodically, we do get authors who don't understand that. Who get ugly in their phone calls or letters to us and feel that we owe them an answer
now. For them, Express Review provides them a means to get that answer within a period of time and relieve them of the stress of wondering and waiting.
I review thousands of query letters, sample chapters, and manuscripts every year and for no charge. I offer a service to those authors who don’t want to wait for an answer. It’s the same “read” whether or not they order the service; those that order simply get a response within a defined period of time. The others must wait until my workload allows the time to get to their material. It is not a fee to read submissions; it’s merely a fee to read
what I would already read within a set period of time. It’s in exchange for the faster response time, not the reading of the material. Numerous businesses offer similar services, from theme parks that let you cut to the head of the line for an extra fee, to software companies that provide priority technical support for a fee.
I’m pleased to report that of those who have ordered the service, I’ve had no complaints and several compliments on the value of it. The response to it has been modest—perhaps 2 or 3 a month—and I’ve seen no significant impact upon whether or not an author submits, i.e., based on my casual observations, authors are clear that this is an
optional service and that they should feel free to submit without ordering it (I currently have approximately 125 sample chapters and synopses to read, all of whose authors were offered Express Review but did not order it).
Agents are in a competitive business and each of us strives to expand and improve our businesses. I see Express Review as an innovation designed to improve the submission process for authors who desire more control over when they will receive a response—positive or negative—from an agent. I believe that many authors welcome it and take reassurance from it that they are not merely mailing envelopes into a void. Though not offered as a service to the general public, I hope that word of it will spread and its availability be seen as a positive reason to query my firm. I acknowledge that there are some authors who may choose to see Express Review in a negative light, just as they did the shift from 10% commissions to 15%, or the charging of fees for other services (generally
not optional) that an agency provides an author, e.g., photocopying, messengers, etc. Those authors have the option to not query or submit to my firm, or if they choose to do so, they have the option not to order Express Review (their works will be read regardless). After all, one of the pluses of having hundreds of agents in a competitive industry is that authors may evaluate and choose the agent they feel offers them the best service. TZC is a service-oriented business and I’m pleased that Express Review has been received by many authors as a welcome option in their search for the agency with the best service.
All best wishes,
Andrew Zack
President
The Zack Company, Inc.
www.zackcompany.com