Multiple agent offers, no sale club

You haven't really given enough information for anyone to be qualified to answer any of those questions.

1) Did the agent go through the proper steps? Did they shop it to every possible publisher? Did they provide good notes? What did the rejections from the editors look like? I can't tell you the answer until you tell me what the agent *did* for you.

3) Was this manuscript 'minimally' shopped? What do you mean by that? A dozen publishers? Two dozen? Fifty?

Also, did you do revisions with the agent? Did these competing agents all have the same/similar feedback on the book, or did they have different views of how ready it was? What revisions should be made?

Was there any significant time lapse between signing and shopping in the book to publishers? Was the manuscript part of a trend that peaked before you got out there - ie, 5 agents go wild over your <paranormal character book> but between the time you signed and started subbing, 8 other <same paranormal character books> sold, and your book looked late to the party?

There could be a bazillion reasons why a book that got a lot of agent attention failed to sell - some of timing and happenstance, some of agent effectiveness.

Also, some books that are hard to categorize might have trouble finding a publishing home, even if 3 agents think it's beautifully written.

~suki

alexalex said:

If you belong to this club, what do think are the reasons? (Assuming the offers are from very reputable agents and the phenomenon of a new, eager, inexperienced agent grabbing an unqualified author doesn't apply).

1. How much of the failure lies on the agent's side? Sudden inexplicable lack of interest in the project? Or lack of ability to match the right editors with the right books? Or giving up prematurely?

2. Have you had luck placing a second book with the same agent? Or have you moved on with your search for a new agent?

3. Do you have experience placing a previously minimally shopped book with a different agent and successfully selling it?

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I'll have a go. My second novel had multiple agents interested. Book was shot down in UK and US. Good notes from editors on the writing but the story wasn't developed to its potential. My agent saw a future in my writing which is why she signed me. She said she had other clients who didn't sell their first book. (After revising the novel, I saw the problems the editors did.)

However, Agent did seek other ways to get the book out there, and sold to it to a Cnd publisher. The main thing is editors are happy to see more work from me--it just didn't happen for this book.

Hope this helps.

alexalex said:

If you belong to this club, what do think are the reasons? (Assuming the offers are from very reputable agents and the phenomenon of a new, eager, inexperienced agent grabbing an unqualified author doesn't apply).

1. How much of the failure lies on the agent's side? Sudden inexplicable lack of interest in the project? Or lack of ability to match the right editors with the right books? Or giving up prematurely?

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I had 4 offers from top agents, and I don't regret my choice for a moment. I definitely don't blame my agent for that book not selling. It came out at a time when that genre (YA UF fae) was slowing down. We got very close, but no cigar. We decided to shelf the project after a second round of subs because I wasn't interested in going with one of the smaller presses at that time.

alexalex said:

2. Have you had luck placing a second book with the same agent? Or have you moved on with your search for a new agent?

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Stayed with my agent and my second book sold and sold quickly. Less than a year later, we sold two more novels to the same publisher.

alexalex said:

3. Do you have experience placing a previously minimally shopped book with a different agent and successfully selling it?

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I don't. I have some friends who have done this and as far as I know, no sales. However, the agents who took their projects on were very optimistic, so I'd say that's a good sign!

I had three great agents offer on my first book, and I don't regret my choice, though the book never sold. Neither did my second. Still waiting on the verdict for number three, but have been very happy with my agent's communication style and knowledge of the industry. If I had to hazard a guess on our poor luck with books 1 and 2, I'd say book 1 was a timing thing (the trend had peaked) and book 2 was too hard to categorize.

I have high hopes for my third ms...we'll see how it goes.

I do think a thread of support and encouragement for those of us in this situation is a great idea...lots of people talk about the agent search and all the trials and tribs associated...but fewer discuss what happens afterwards, when you go with an agent and your book doesn't sell. It can be a huge shock - it feels like such a triumph when you score an agent. But I think there are a lot of us out there. It's a more typical experience than one might expect.

It can be really hard to get the writing, the timing, and the tastes of an editor to align, no matter how great a book is or how many agents saw its - and its writer's - potential.

alexalex said:

3. Do you have experience placing a previously minimally shopped book with a different agent and successfully selling it?

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I'm in the middle of this stage. Had multiple agent offers after breaking up with former agent and revamping proposal. Now waiting for the "successfully selling it" part! We've just started revising the proposal so it may take a while.

But I'd like to join your club anyway, because somewhere between 1,2, and 3 is kinda/sorta/almost the situation I'm in.

i am here- but on sub again- hoping for a sale this time around...i just met with two editors and here is what I garnered from these meetings in terms of what they buy...they need to be able to "sell it" internally- for whatever reason what they don't buy, they can't sell. A lot of that has to do with formula- they may "say" they hate formulaic work but guess what? that's what they need bottom line- also something high concept...this is what they said to me. I write YA comedies...

I'm also part of this club. Book #1 didn't sell, and book 2 is currently out on submission...with no real movement, although my agent is optimistic. I'm working on revisions for book 3, which should be out on sub soon.

The whole process makes me feel a little nutty. I'm even having trouble writing nowadays because of it, which is terrible. I think I wrote about 500 words the other day...and that's the most I've done in the last month.

Sigh.

I'll share. A couple years ago I had 2 agent offers on a book, but it didn't sell and I ended up without representation again.

For my current book, I had 5 offers of rep from amazing agents this year. I've been on sub with that book since June and nothing yet. It's depressing for sure. I knew this book would be a hard sell though. A couple of the offering agents warned me as such, and I had plenty of full Rs that passed for the same reason. So we'll see.

I've since finished another story that I think is more marketable, and I'm working on a couple others. Maybe one day I'll hit the magic formula.

I'm paddling in this boat too. I had an agent for my first YA novel and she submitted it to about 7 places in the six month's time we worked together. I had submitted it before I connected with her and wound up getting an offer from a publisher that way, while her submissions all declined, but one, but passed because they couldn't offer an advance. Why she sent it to them was beyond me, she should have known they don't offer advances. Well it wound up my agent dropping me like a hot rock when the one offer was too low for her to work with. I did the same and declined it too. Even though there was that small itty bitty advance, the contract was poor. I had asked my former agent if I could go back to one of the editors that liked it, but didn't offer the advance...thinking maybe they have a better contract. I did and they were still interested, but through the whole process I had made revisions, so I sent them the newest copy. I still have yet to hear back. This particular ms. is out with only a selected few editors...since it was subbed before, during and after my agent experience.

And of course, while I waited through this whole process I wrote another YA novel and is out on submission to new agents. I have some better interest in that then I did in the first one. As someone said before in this thread, there was interest...but the story was under developed still. I knew in my heart, being that that one was only at 35K words, it would be a hard sell no matter what how many liked it.

From my experience, my stories are pretty good, and commercial-like, but way too short. Over and over again, I got comments from editors, "not literary enough" "needs more character development"...so this time after the fourth book, I finally listened and my newest one of sub is at 52K with a high concept. But I've already had declines on one full and two partials. Seems like my query is great, but once they start reading it, everything changes.

So I came close many times. I keep working my way up with publishing credits and writing my brains out. But haven't made it where I can pay all the bills yet. May never get to that point. I just don't have the heart to stop my dream coming true. It's been 8 years of writing, 3 years with novel writing and it's effin hard. But I keep writing and keep trying, why? (I used to ask myself that every day) I just now came to the realization, I will write till I die. Even if that means to stop trying to sell it and concentrate on just writing along for a while.

Some of us writers forget why we write if our work doesn't sell. I too, seem to lose interest if I have to take time away to have to research an agent or a publisher, or market or whatever the case. Everything that takes you away from the writing itself is what sucks.

Anyways, that's my standpoint. What's that old saying "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again..." (totally cliche, but it seems to work...eventually, right?) LOL

I had 4 offers within two days of querying from top agents/agencies. My book was on sub for 16 months, went to 4 acquisition boards and it seemed like a sale was going to happen. It then totally fell apart. Not my agent's fault.

We've shifted gears and while I do have another book ready for sub, I've signed on to ghostwrite a YA series, so I'm doing that for now.

And that book I didn't sell? My agency encouraged me to self-pub it because they believe in it. And they're helping me out with editing, cover art, marketing, foreign rights, etc.

dawn miller said:

I had 4 offers within two days of querying from top agents/agencies. My book was on sub for 16 months, went to 4 acquisition boards and it seemed like a sale was going to happen. It then totally fell apart. Not my agent's fault.

We've shifted gears and while I do have another book ready for sub, I've signed on to ghostwrite a YA series, so I'm doing that for now.

And that book I didn't sell? My agency encouraged me to self-pub it because they believe in it. And they're helping me out with editing, cover art, marketing, foreign rights, etc.

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Dawn, that breaks my heart. I clicked on your Goodreads link, and your book sounds fricking amazing. Good luck self-publishing. I can't wait to read it.

taylormillgirl said:

Dawn, that breaks my heart. I clicked on your Goodreads link, and your book sounds fricking amazing. Good luck self-publishing. I can't wait to read it.

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Thanks! I'm very proud of it. I feel like I'm a guinea pig for a new publishing method - an agented self-pubber who has industry resources behind my book. Who knows if it will work, but you know what? It's better than what I wanted to do - shove a great story in a drawer.

Oh, Gud. I'll put in my bio and history for vice pres of this club. Had three books go the rounds with very big top-gun SF agent 23 years ago (okay, Curtis). Five years ago three books went round n round with agent number two. I've just landed agent number three a year ago, out of three other offers, and she took on my entire inventory of finished books--five novels and a non-fic science book.

My third agent has sent my thriller out on two major sub rounds and we have about two more houses left for it. She's had my YA fantasy out there for a first major round, and now it's just starting a second major round. By round, my rounds, I mean about 8-15 subs (depending upon agent) to major advance paying, distributing houses.

All told, as the dust settles around me, I'm approaching triple digit agent subs for eight books. God knows what's happened, or beter yet, why it hasn't happened. To be honest, it might have something to do with crucial editing. I've never really had an agent that was hands on enough to give me a blistering edit--on any of the books. Just content and some hunt and peck grammar. I've even considered that my gender had something to do with it.

I've sold seven books myself (in the past), and have gotton some really nice advances doing my own wagering, but lately I've been stuck in a small press rut and have torn up more small press contracts that I've signed.

As far as agents, I'm a three-time loser, meaning no disrespect to the agents--they did their jobs in top gun fashion. Never, ever had a problem landing an admiring and enthusiastic agent. Always had a problem translating an agent sub to a sale. Total years with agents = 7.
Tri

All any agent can do is show the book to editors. There's no trick to it, no catching them at the right time, and losing interest matters not at all.

Agents fail to sell many of the books they take on. Generally speaking, such books fail to sell for one of four reasons. 1. The biggest single reason is that, despite what the agent thinks, editors simply do not believe the book will sell enough copies to matter. 2. The book is too similar to other books already out there. 3. The book is in a genre that just went bust. 4. The book is good, but best suited for a small press, and many good agents simply do not want to sell to small presses because there's more work than money involved in such sales.

All four reasons are why the path to success most often follows the writer who writers the most novels, and keeps them in submission the longest.

Agreed, James. There's no arm-twisting going on and it's no popularity contest between agent and editor. The bottom line indicates a strickly business decision on whether the book will reap enough profits to pay for the work that goes into it, hopefully earn out and then bring in revenue above and beyond. Wide appeal and high concept play very important, if not the most important elements in a decision to go to print.

Tri

triceretops said:

Agreed, James. There's no arm-twisting going on and it's no popularity contest between agent and editor. The bottom line indicates a strickly business decision on whether the book will reap enough profits to pay for the work that goes into it, hopefully earn out and then bring in revenue above and beyond. Wide appeal and high concept play very important, if not the most important elements in a decision to go to print.

Tri

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Absolutely right. The one thing I will add is that ten editors may believe a book simply won't sell well enough to to justify buying it, and all ten can be wrong. The eleventh may see the book with different eyes, but it, and it turns a big profit.


Or the ten who reject it can be right because they know it wouldn't sell well through their publishing and marketing scheme.

Fit matters, and this is often why several good editors may reject a book that goes on to be a bestseller somewhere else. Just because a book sells hugely from one publisher does not automatically mean it would sell equally well from another.

Good editors know who their readers are, what their readers want and expect, which may not be the same as what readers want and expect from a different publisher.

But you're dead right in all you said.