Question about exclusive requests

MsGneiss · Aug 26, 2008

Hello,

I am a new writer, trying to sell my first novel - a contemporary off-beat satire. I queried about a dozen agents, and two of them requested a partial. Today, I received an email from one of those two agents, asking to see the rest of the manuscript on an exclusive basis. I would love to grant her the exclusive, as she is certainly my first choice out of the two that requested the partial.

Can you please instruct me as to the etiquette that I should follow? Should I tell her that another agent has a partial? Should I tell the other agent that has the partial that I have granted an exclusive to somebody else?

Please help out, as I don't want to burn any bridges.

Thanks!

Boomergirl · Aug 26, 2008

You should tell the one who has asked for the full (Agent A) that someone else out there is reviewing a partial (Agent B) and you'd like a couple of days to contact Agent B. You should then contact Agent B and tell him that someone is interested in the full on an exclusive basis and give B a chance to counter the offer. If B wants to read the full, then you should decide which of the 2 agents you'd rather have representing you and grant the full to that agent. In either case, both agents should be apprised of the situation as a professional courtesy. I've read agents don't mind if you're honest, but they get peeved if they find you've been sneaking around behind their back with other agents.

Tasmin21 · Aug 26, 2008

I had this same situation come up with a recent full request from an agent. I simply e-mailed him back (along with my MS) and told him that I couldn't grant exclusivity because other agents were already reviewing it, but that I would keep him in the loop if something else developed with those other submissions.

He e-mailed me back and said thanks, he'd read it as soon as he could.

Question about exclusive requests

MsGneiss

Boomergirl

Tasmin21

They will come from below...