pre-agency contract revision requests

White Ginger

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Wondering how other AWWC members have responded to agents' revision requests before they've received an offer of agency?

Is there a protocol to follow regarding pre-agency revisions? I've already revised for three other big agents who requested revisions before offering me agency. (I'm still awaiting their second round of responses - 2 months today)

I am completely committed to making whatever revisions my agent feels will help my novel sell (short of killing off my protagonist). I'm actually looking forward to the process of editing with the help of an agent who is passionate about my work.

Has anyone dealt with this? Outcomes? Suggestions?
Many thanks.
 
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Calla Lily

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Ginger, my agent called me once as he read my ms, and asked if I was open to editorial suggestions. When I said "of course," he started brainstorming ideas, and said he'd call in 2 days. During that call, he had more ideas, then offered representation. Perhaps this is what your emailing agent is planning to do.

I also had 2 other agents invite me to revise and re-sub, but my agent was definitely the right choice.

Good luck!
 

White Ginger

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Thanks so much for the feedback!

I was surprised read in Poets and Writers a few months ago that many authors tell prospective agents that they're not open to making changes.

I hope you're right that the email was the "prelude to the kiss". :)

All the best, and congrats on your success!
 

Calla Lily

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Yanno, if I'm looking for an agent, it should be a given that I think the agent knows more than me about selling my book. And that should include making changes. I told my agent that I want the book to sell, so if he tells me to fetch a chainsaw, I'll head to the hardware store. :D Sheesh. If I had Golden Word Syndrome, I'd be self-pubbing.
 

DeadlyAccurate

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I was surprised read in Poets and Writers a few months ago that many authors tell prospective agents that they're not open to making changes.

I'm surprised many authors could even reach the point of attracting an agent without being willing to entertain editorial suggestions.

Do consider any advice you're given, though. It is your book, after all. I had one agent who suggested two major revisions. One (which rewrote the last 1/3 of the book) I made; the other I did not, because I felt it wasn't an aspect of the protagonist's personality. When my agent makes suggestions, I take about a third of them instantly, about a third I could go either way on, and about a third I hold my ground on.

ETA: In case it wasn't clear, that 1/3 thing is not some hard-and-fast rule I made up; that's just how it tends to go down.
 

White Ginger

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I suppose my question is more about timing...

Should the agent insist on revisions before making an offer of agency, I will likely have pause. Having read and loved my novel, she must realize that I have the chops to make revisions.

Wondering if you were asked and indeed made revisions before your agent offered agency?

Thanks so much for your feedback.
 

WendyNYC

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My hunch is that she's going to offer, White Ginger. But if she doesn't, you should keep querying while you revise and/or after you send it back to her (provided her suggestions make sense and you are willing to do them with no guarantees.)

My agent wanted revisions, but she offered representation and worked closely with me.

Good luck!
 

Toothpaste

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White Ginger,

I understand your line of reasoning, to a degree, but just because you can write a decent novel it does not necessarily follow that you are amenable to editorial suggestions. It is more likely, but not a guarantee. An agent wants to make sure you are before risking her reputation on you. It's a bit like being a director. When I audition actors, I always give them direction once they are done their monologue. Not because I thought they were bad, but because I have seen some decent actors perform who then when given direction either don't know how to take it, or are so full of themselves they don't think they need to take it. Neither are actors I wish to direct, no matter how awesome they might be on stage.

For you it's logical. Writing a good book means you've worked on it, probably had others read it and offered advice. Besides which being an author means having to take editorial suggestions, what decent author wouldn't know this? To an agent it isn't quite as obvious. And they wouldn't ask for revisions before offering representation if they hadn't been burned in the past.

I say all this really to make this final point. My agent asked for revisions, pretty big revisions before signing me. If I had been like you and "taken pause" I would not be represented by them today. Not only that, but my agent wound up being just the nicest person and my biggest supporter (oh and she also got me book deals all over the world). I'm glad I didn't throw that all away because I felt that agents ought to "realise that I have the chops to make revisions".
 
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ChaosTitan

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Should the agent insist on revisions before making an offer of agency, I will likely have pause. Having read and loved my novel, she must realize that I have the chops to make revisions.

Having read and loved your novel, all she knows is that you can write a complete story. Words on paper don't tell her a thing about your ability to revise based on the editorial suggestions of others.

It's not uncommon for agents to request revisions before offering representation, because they don't know if you can revise your manuscript enough to make it something they can sell.

While my agent offered before we got into revisions, he did let me know right up from the revisions he thought it needed, so we were able to discuss it before I accepted his offer. Every agent is going to be different.
 

DeadlyAccurate

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I suppose my question is more about timing...

Should the agent insist on revisions before making an offer of agency, I will likely have pause. Having read and loved my novel, she must realize that I have the chops to make revisions.

Wondering if you were asked and indeed made revisions before your agent offered agency?

Thanks so much for your feedback.

Yes, my agent also asked for revisions before offering. It's pretty common.
 

rugcat

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Should the agent insist on revisions before making an offer of agency, I will likely have pause. Having read and loved my novel, she must realize that I have the chops to make revisions.

Wondering if you were asked and indeed made revisions before your agent offered agency?
I understand this, but as others have said, having a good book, or perhaps a book that the agent feels has great potential, but not quite right in its present form, doesn't mean an author is going to be good at revising. Some authors might even make the book worse by attempting to make changes.

And exactly what did the agent say? My current agent did not offer representation right off the bat, but said, basically, that she'd love to represent the book if some changes could be successfully made.

Her suggestions were not specific -- nothing along the lines of, "you need to kill off this character." It was more, "you need to provide a stronger motive for the MC to hate his opponent. That the bad guy stole his candy bar isn't strong enough."

DeadlyAccurate said:
When my agent makes suggestions, I take about a third of them instantly, about a third I could go either way on, and about a third I hold my ground on.
That's pretty much how I see it as well.

On my first book, my agent zeroed in on precisely those things I myself wasn't sure about, so I was thankful for the input and the things she suggested were never a problem.

But to answer your original question, a request for revisions before an offer of representation is not unusual, although it's not always the case either. And remember, agents are busy. An agent isn't going to take the time to work on editorial revisions, read what you've done, and the make further comments just on a whim.

It shows they have some serious interest and are willing to invest their time, hoping the final result will be a book they can be enthusiastic about. If you absolutely disagree with everything they have to say it's probably not going to be a good match anyway, but in reality that's seldom the way it plays out.
 

scope

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I suppose my question is more about timing...

Should the agent insist on revisions before making an offer of agency, [The majority of agents ask for revisions before offering representation. Some want to see if you are willing to do revisions, if you can do them effectively and timely, if you balk at doing them--why? At this point in time they don't know you personally, they only know they like what you sent, that it has possibilities, but needs some re-writing]

I will likely have pause. [Suggest you don't have too much pause unless you vehemently disagree].

Having read and loved my novel, she must realize that I have the chops to make revisions. [Why?]

Good luck.
 

WendyNYC

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Is there a protocol to follow regarding pre-agency revisions? I've already revised for three other big agents who requested revisions before offering me agency. (I'm still awaiting their second round of responses - 2 months today)
.

But I think Ginger's question about protocol regarding "pre-agency revisions" would be just to treat it like any other R&R. Correct? I wouldn't stop pursuing other agents until I had a verbal agreement for representation.
 

Cyia

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I'm surprised many authors could even reach the point of attracting an agent without being willing to entertain editorial suggestions.

Ditto.

I wouldn't balk at suggested changes 1 - because they know more than I do about the marketability aspect and 2 - I know what I meant to say, they know what I said. Sometimes the two are not synonymous.

The only time I think I'd put my foot down would be at the suggested inclusion of elements with which I'm not comfortable. I can't write graphic sex convincingly (unless maybe they're wanting an inadvertent comedy :D ) so I would try to explain that if such a suggestion were made. Things like that.
 

White Ginger

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Many thanks to everyone for your responses. I look forward to talking to the agent this week to see what she has in mind for the novel, and will take it from there.
 
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