90 day exclusive on a partial?!

I agree with Miss Snark: Exclusives suck. And on a partial? For ninety days?

If past posts on AW are any indication, that's often negotiable. Especially if you've got other queries/partials in the field. You might email the agent and explain that you're not in a position to offer an exclusive, but that you'd be happy to keep them appraised of any developments with other agents. They might not go for it, but ninety days on a partial is ridiculous if you ask me.

I am not experienced in this but I was going to say Miss Snark says exclusives suck before LeeFlower beat me to it.

Can you send out all the others first - and then send in the one for the exclusive? Send the exclusive back a few days later with a note that you have already sent out the other queries but won't send more?

I'd tell them to go screw themselves. But that's me.

That does seem like an awfully long time, particularly if it's only a partial.

I'd probably run with what LeeFlower said - it's honest, and it means you can continue as you were and at the same time give this agency a chance if they decide they want it.

First, congrats on the request from a respected agency. If I were you, I'd give them exclusivity, and try to forget about it for 3 months by working on something else. A respected agency interested in your work, even with those conditions, is big time (well I'd feel it was if it was my partial). Go for it.

I would move that request down to the bottom of the stack. Exclusives suck, and 90 day exclusive suck even more.

90-days on a partial? Gads, that's bending with the breeze until you break. Especially at the rate partials get deleted and rejected. Yeah, I would explain there's few out there and that you will curtail further subs. This always throws you over a barrel.

Tri

Is this trident? Because if it is I just told them I had it out already to other agents and they took it anyway and read it -
Another agent I liked better offered representation after that.
Again (as I said before) saying I had partials out already with other agents never was a deal breaker BUT you have to decide.

90

Where are you going to be ninety days from now if you say no? There aren't all that many good agents out there, and passing on a good one because she asks for ninety days, which is a very short time span, doesn't make a lot of sense.

Miss Snark may not like exclusives, but many of the best agents out there demand them, and ninety days is a heartbeat. Count yourself extremely lucky if you can find a really good agent at all, let alone find one in ninety days.

In all honesty, I think most writers are against exclusives because they lack confidence in their own writing. They think, "Geeze, at that rate I'll only be able to send to four agents per year."

It's planning on rejection, rather than doing what it takes for an acceptance.

You can certainly deny a good agent an exclusive, and only submit material to the next fourteen agents who don't demand them, but odds are all that will accomplish is to give you a much worse agent at best, or fourteen quick rejection slips at worst.

Patience really is a virtue in this business. It takes time to read a partial when there are who knows how many writers in line ahead of you, and it takes time to reach a decision on a partial. When an agent puts in that time, she has the right to expect the manuscript to still be available.

Three months is a very short period of time, and you can often wait twice this long from an agent who doesn't ask for an exclusive.

If this agent really is a good one, really is one who has sold a number of novels to major publishers, then for heaven's sake give her the exclusive. Never pass up the chance to land a top agent. There aren't many out there for any given genre, and landing a good agent in three months is a heck of a lot better than landing a mediocre one in three days.

Don't think about how many agents you can submit to. That's self-defeating. Think about the best possible way to land the best possible agent for your novel.

James, I submitted to some of the best agents around and not one of them asked for an exclusive - that's in the US, in the UK it's a bit different. But even then, the two who asked for an exclusivel promised to read it within a month, and one promised to read it in three days. And these were for FULLS, not for partials. Exclusives on partials are totally unreasonable.

In the three months I've submitted in the US, starting at the top, the only one who requested an exclusive immediately changed her mind when I said it was already out, said "send it anyway", and then offered representation.

It's not at all lack of confidence in my writing; I'd give an exclusive if it was an agent I really wanted, but 90 days is just too long. I think it shows lack of enthusiasm on the agent's part (and lack of respect). I'd like an agent who can't wait to read my ms; that's CONFIDENCE, not lack of it!

I think times have changed a lot since you've been submitting, James, and it really is very unusual these days.

(edit: what nonsense I wrote the first time around!)

scully931:
I got the impression, the exclusive part was non-negotiable.

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Firstly, congratulations on getting a request for the partial - that's already one foot in the door!

Now onto my substantive comment: very few things in life are non-negotiable. Personally, I'd give the agent/assistant a call and see if you can bring it down - preferably to nothing, but if you're prepared to live with 4 weeks then offer them 4 weeks.

Jamesaritchie:
Patience really is a virtue in this business. It takes time to read a partial when there are who knows how many writers in line ahead of you, and it takes time to reach a decision on a partial. When an agent puts in that time, she has the right to expect the manuscript to still be available.

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I agree that patience is a virtue but I disagree that an agent should have the right to expect that a manuscript will still be available when s/he finally gets around to reading it. I'm not knocking agents - they get queries all the time and have a constant stream of manuscripts and partials to get through so it must be constantly hectic - but surely it's part of their job to manage their time and they assume the risk that a querying author has been snagged by someone else?

From what I've read on agent blogs, they know pretty well within the first couple of chapters of a partial whether they want to see the full thing - it's not the case that they read it and then spend ages agonising over whether to see the whole thing. A 90 day exclusive is simply letting them put your partial in a queue and it might very well be day 88 before they even get around to reading it. As an author, an exclusive is therefore asking you to take the risk that the agent won't see something they like before they get to your partial, snag that author and thereby fill their list so they can't offer you a spot.

scully931, if this agent is on your all time 'must haves' so that you're willing to take the risk, then take it. But if you've got other agents who you think would be an equally good fit, then I'd keep searching elsewhere.

Wow. 90 days is a long time with a partial. It depends on how badly you want this agent and how many queries you've sent out. Just for me, I would send the partial, but in my cover letter say that I can't agree to a 90 day exclusive. Set a schedule for what you feel is more appropriate and tell them that you will be submitting to other agents in X days, but hope that they like your partial because you are very interested in their agency. I would keep the tone very nice, but I don't know that I would grant something just because they want it.

Shoot, it's just 90 days. Why not give 'em what they want?

(The form makes me suspect I know who you're talking about.)

Jamesaritchie said:

In all honesty, I think most writers are against exclusives because they lack confidence in their own writing. They think, "Geeze, at that rate I'll only be able to send to four agents per year."

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And agents want them because they also lack confidence, knowing you will jump at a better offer if you get the chance. Slot them for last.

Julie Worth said:

And agents want them because they also lack confidence, knowing you will jump at a better offer if you get the chance. Slot them for last.

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Donald Maass says on his website that he doesn't ask for exclusives because he knows he can hold his own against other agents.
And somehow I feel this just isn't my kind of agent; I'm for generosity. An exclusive partial, AND 90 days? I'd have to want him/her desperately to do that.

Congrats. Would you mind sharing the name of the agent privately with me? I have been waiting for ages to hear from an agent I've submitted exclusively to and I'm wondering if it's time to send out more partials.

I agree with both Jamesritchie and aruna. It depends on the agent. I've had two requests for exclusives on partials that I couldn't give because I had partials out to other agents. (That makes how to respond easy.) Both agreed to reveiw my work anyway. Both were with well-known agencies, but one was a younger one and the other a very well known agent. I probably would have given an exclusive to the latter under any circumstances, had I been able to, but I'm not so sure about the other one. If Binky Urban asked me for a 90-day exclusive I'd agree in a flash, were I able to do so honestly (unfortunately, she doesn't take queries). It depends on the agent.

I'm wondering if giving an exclusive makes it more rather than less imperative that the agent read your work as promptly as possible. That may be a benefit to granting an exclusive. I've found without exception that agents take a really long time to review partials. Any thoughts on this?

Homer said:

I've found without exception that agents take a really long time to review partials. Any thoughts on this?

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That varies widely. I've had an agent read a partial in one day, and then the ms in two weeks. (She suggested changes and asked me to resubmit, which I did.)

thirding the advice, and a half...

“The letter says they will not compete with other agencies for work they want.”

Isn’t that a bit like a writer saying, “I’ll not compete with other writers for your representation, so, for ninety days, consider my work, only my work, and no other work besides”?

I jest. It’s their shop, so they get to make their own rules. If you think they’re the best representation for your novel, give then their ninety days. If you think some other agency is a better match, then send it elsewhere.

I haven't started subing my novel yet, in the next week or so once everything is polished, so my opinion is without the experience of james and james, but I'm thinking I'd just be happy someone wanted to look at my novel, 90 day exclusive or not.

But then I've been working on mine going on 2 years. Another 12 weeks is a cakewalk.

A nibble is a nibble, reel that sucker in.

Two cents

If this is your first/only piece to sell, I can understand your reluctance. That said, if they LOVE it, they'll likely tell you sooner than that and your assumption now IS based on a perceived eventual rejection.

Sub it and forget it.

You now have three months where you don't need to worry about that piece. Three months to start something new. Three months to finish something else. Three months where you don't have to nurse this baby.

Given how long it can take a book from selling to release, 90 days ain't that much.

In all honesty, I think most writers are against exclusives because they lack confidence in their own writing. They think, "Geeze, at that rate I'll only be able to send to four agents per year."

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On the contrary I think its confidence in your own writing that should prompt you to tell an agent like this to go screw themselves. If you truly believe in your work, it shouldn't be a problem to say 'no thanks, I'll find a home for this with someone who isn't a jerk'

Again, by supporting this kind of behavior you support....this kind of behaviour. Tell these people to get bent. If you have confidence in your writing, it will be an easy thing to say.

kuatolives said:

On the contrary I think its confidence in your own writing that should prompt you to tell an agent like this to go screw themselves. If you truly believe in your work, it shouldn't be a problem to say 'no thanks, I'll find a home for this with someone who isn't a jerk'

Again, by supporting this kind of behavior you support....this kind of behaviour. Tell these people to get bent. If you have confidence in your writing, it will be an easy thing to say.

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If this was some fly-by-night operation, then your thoughts would make sense. But the OP called this "a respected agency." I'm not about to tell a respected agency to go screw themselves. I think it would hurt my career more than anything else. And I personally would do whatever it takes to get in with "a respected agency." Granting them a 90 day exclusive to a partial being the least I'd do.