Agent did the work, won't call the pubs

Er...your agent sent to 50 pubs. At once?

Yeah...sorry, but this doesn't sound right at all. I can't think of 50 publishers any one work is good for; I have never heard of an agent blanket-submitting to 50 publishers at once.

And it's part of the agent's job to follow up. My own agent called the editors who had my ms every couple of weeks (or was in touch by email, or whatever). That's what they're supposed to do.

Not to mention waiting a year to hear back on an agented submission does not bode well at all for your agent's reputation. Your agent should have enough juice and enough sales ability that editors make their mss priorities; yes, I've heard up to 3-6 months can be common, but after 6-9 months I'd be wondering if my agent had the necessary connections.

Editors shouldn't feel confident that your agent's submissions are things they can safely ignore.

To have 25 editors, out of 50, not respond to your agent after a year, is a bit unusual. Actually, it's a whole lot unusual. I could see eight or ten that might need a nudge, but a full 25?

Like the others have said, if this was a blitz mailing, or resembled spam in any fashion, then I could see it. I would suggest looking up your agent here in the Bewares section and finding out a bit more about him/her. Could very well be that this agent is clueless. And, certainly, no contact for that amount of time with you is a huge red flag.

Tri

This is not, in my experience, how legitimate agents do business. Blanket submitting to 50 publishers? Refusing to follow up with publishers?

Have you checked this agent out on the Bewares and Background Checks thread here? Because this just doesn't sound even remotely professional to me.

Ditto to what DecemberQuinn, triceretops, and IceCreamEmpress said.

Facts are facts. I think it's going to very difficult to find another agent to represent you. Any interested party will want to know who represented you before, why you terminated the contract, and most important, to which publishers your work was submitted. When you tell them of the 50, you are dramatically cutting down on their pool of sources, and it also waves a red flag, causing them wonder why your work was rejected by so many.

Of course, where acceptable, you could submit a query directly to publishers. Problems there are that most only accept queries from agents and those that do take forever to answer -- and if read most often done by an assistant or first reader of some sort. You can't (or shouldn't) resubmit to the 50 already visited by your agent since it'll probably be a waste of time. Most every publisher keeps archival records of works already submitted to them and rejected, or whatever. Changing the title may help with a couple of the 50, but only a couple. Editors and their assistants or first readers usually remember the core of something they have read which sends them to their archives.

The agent should give you the names of the editors if you ask. Again, that's info you're entitled to. Not just publishers, but editors.

I'd PM Victoria with the agent's name and let her know, really, because this just doesn't sound right.

I don't know how non-fiction works compared to fiction, but this seems like a rough situation. 50 non-fiction editors may or may not be a typical sampling. It wouldn't be for fiction, but non-fiction has a broader scope, doesn't it?

It sounds like your agent sent out everything, got a lot of rejections, and gave up on the project. Have you discussed this with your agent? What did they say? Are they talking to you about a new book? Do you have a new book in the works?

If you have nothing new to submit, and the last project didn't sell, it's possible the contract won't be renewed. But if you have new work and your agent is excited about that new project, then it's likely you would be renewed.

I'd talk to your agent if you haven't already. Agents should be in your corner, and you should be able to talk to them about any concerns you have. If you can't, and you're frustrated about how your submission went, then maybe not being renewed is a blessing.

Victoria is Victoria Strauss, and author who is very involved on this board and is one of the trio who runs the "Writers Beware" blog and site.

She's one of the mods of the Bewares & Background Checks forum, so if you look at the main forum page you'll find a link to her on the far right.

elroy said:

Now I'm finding out the agent will not share the names of the contacts she has at each publisher. I was hoping, if we didn't renew AND I find a new agent, I could ask the new agent to follow up.

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Bad idea IMHO. If I'm understanding this correctly, you want potential new agent to follow up on old agent's submissions. That would mean you'd owe commission to both agents.

More experienced writers, please correct me if I'm wrong -- which I'm sure I am more often than I'd like to be.

Elroy, you should read this blog post (and forward it to your agent, IMO).

Elroy, how did the situation end with your agent?

Hope you managed to find a new agent. This is really sucky.

WendyNYC said:

Elroy, you should read this blog post (and forward it to your agent, IMO).

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This is an amazing post. And I'm sure things have only gotten worse since October '08. Everyone who's afraid of bothering their agent by communicating too much ought to reconsider their strategy.