Agent wants full manuscript in 3 weeks?

VictoriaHS said:

Is this normal?

I recieved a message today from an agent saying that if they decided to go with my work they will want the full manuscript in 3 weeks, which I dont think will be possible, unless I write constantly, night and day!

Could use some advice on this?

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It's usually a good idea to have your manuscript finished and polished before you look for an agent. Saves a lot of hassle that way.

VictoriaHS said:

Is this normal?

I recieved a message today from an agent saying that if they decided to go with my work they will want the full manuscript in 3 weeks, which I dont think will be possible, unless I write constantly, night and day!

Could use some advice on this?

Click to expand...

I don't understand why they're not asking for it now; who is this agent, if I can ask?

Most agents want the full right away, if they want to see more. They also wouldn't "decide to go with [your] work" without seeing the full.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something?

firedrake said:

It's usually a good idea to have your manuscript finished and polished before you look for an agent. Saves a lot of hassle that way.

Click to expand...

I think Victoria's MS is non-fic. Does that make a difference?

For myself - I wouldn't be happy with anyone who set that kind of a deadline. It's just too rushed and it doesn't let me feel they'd be taking the care I'd expect.

If you sold a proposal for n-f, that does sound quick. I guess...I'd counteroffer. I can get you a draft of fifty pages in that time, or a hundred, but it'll take me X months to get it into submission shape.

Also, do check them out in this thread.

I know nothing about travel biographies, but a quick Google search shows they're commonly grouped with memoirs. Memoirs are sold more like fiction -- off a query + complete, polished manuscript, rather than proposal + partial. You may want to verify that travel biographies are sold via proposal.

Second, did you vet the person you sent the query to via Preditors & Editors and/or this site? If not, DO THAT. Do that FIRST always and forever.

Third -- again, knowing NOTHING about that genre -- 200K is HUGE. Are you sure that's in line with what's being purchased?

Yeah, I'm concerned about the reputability of that agent. 200k is (probably more than) double the going word count for narrative NF, and debut books are almost never over 100k, even in your genre.

I would expect a reputable agent to ask for the manuscript immediately. It is meant to be finished when you query.

And they don't need to disguise rejections. They just say: no thanks.

I suggest 1) Check it is a real agent. If it is 2) apologize and tell him/her when is can be ready and see if that is okay

I am terribly terribly confused. Of course, this may just be me?

- What is a "travel biography"? Is it a biography of someone who was famous for their travel (T. E. Lawrence, Freya Stark, Patrick Leigh Fermor, etc.)? Or are you talking about a memoir of your own travels?

- The word count is perhaps twice what it should be; if you look at other books in the travel or memoir subgenres, 100K is an unusually long book. For the biography subgenre, even for a biography of a super-famous person who lived a long life, 150K would be an unusually long book. I would be concerned that an agent who didn't flag that for you would be unfamiliar with the conventions and markets for the subgenres.

- Three weeks is certainly not long enough for most writers to complete a biography or a travel book. If this is a memoir, then yeah, it's best to wait to query until the book is completed.

I don't know what I would do in this situation except to say "Three weeks isn't going to be possible for me; I will contact you once the book is completed and see if you are still interested at that time" and then go on either querying from the proposal and sample chapters (if this is a biography or a travel book) or complete the book and then query (if this is a memoir).

That doesn't make sense to me. Why the 3-week deadline? Unless she knows an editor that's hot to see a travel biography before August. But it doesn't ring right with me. If they like your non-fiction work and think they can sell it, the timeframe shouldn't matter. Publishing works so slowly that 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 9 weeks shouldn't matter -- unless you've got a time sensitive story.

If travel biography is handled like fiction, though, I could see an agent saying. "I like it. But I'm holding off on an offer of representation until I see the finished book." But the 3 week deadline just encourages you to write fast-- not necessary -- well.

Sheezzzz. This one has an odor about it. I usually sell non-fic with a full chapter outline, marketing proposal, TOC, and at least the first three chapters. But three weeks? On a even a narrative non-fic piece, but of that size? Dear God, get me the smelling salts or a weeping vase.

tri

I think I'm missing something here. You said your work is 200,000 words, which implies to me that it's finished. So, if that is true, then what is the problem?

This three week thing is kind of strange. If it's completed, why don't they want it now? If it's not completed, why do they want it in such a short amount of time?

Who is this agent. Did you check them out at Preditors and Editors?

When I worked at a commercial NF house, when we bought a book on a proposal, the manuscript deadline was usually months in the future, depending on our calendar, the length of the book, the author's experience, etc. And all these things were talked about at length before deciding on the date that would be put on the contract.

I second, third, fourth and then some the suggestion to vet this agent thoroughly.

Victoria - can I urge you to post your experience in the Bewares forum, or start a thread for these people if they don't have one?

Victoria, I'm very concerned by this. Unless I've misunderstood you by a significant degree, this just isn't how agents work.

If you'd like, you could PM me the name of this agent (in confidence, of course), and a link to their website if you have one. It could be that I've misunderstood what's going on here: but it could also be that this isn't an agent you would want to work with, and if that's the case, I might be able to advise.

Or you could just let us know who the agent is in this thread, so we could put our worries to rest.

If you are the traveler, then what you're writing is a travel memoir. A biography is a work detailing the life of another person.

I say this not to be nitpicky, but because it will help you make decisions about how to present and query your work. A memoir is generally queried after the entire manuscript is completed, unlike other non-fiction works. A biography of another person is generally queried on a proposal and sample chapters, because like most non-fiction works, it requires research and interviews and so forth.