UK or US agent

aruna

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UK or US agent?

hello Andy or anyone,

As many of you know I live in the UK and at present I'm sending out queries to Uk agents. A few seem quite interested and the other day one requested the ms; I sent a partial. 3 chapters, 34 pages.

Yesterday while browsing I noticed a US agent who seemed to be looking for exactly my kind of novel. I mailed her my query and within the hour got a reply; she is "definitely interested". She is from a major agency with a NY and CA office, AAR membership and several well-known authors. She asked for the ms and I asked if it was ok to send a partial; she agreed, and asked for 100 pages.

My question: my former UK agent engaged a US sub-agent to find a US publisher for me; that didn't work. I had the feeling the US agent (with whom I corresponded briefly) hadn't even read the book and wasn't all that interested. That was a couple years ago; this time I want to do things differently if possible.

Is it OK for me to look for two agents myself, one in the UK and one in the US? Or do I have to leave US sales to a UK agent - when I find one - and vice versa? IF this US agent takes me on, will she want to find me a UK agent (I assume they have their own subagent here) or will she be OK with my doing it independently?

I am aware that finding my own separate UK and US agents is better for me financially, since if either one does it through a sub-agent that's 5% more commission for me to pay. I'd rather have my own two, unconnected to each other. Is this very unusual practice, or can I go ahead?
 
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Cathy C

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Hi, aruna!


First, CONGRATS on the request! That's super! I haven't personally experienced this, but I do have a friend who shares my agent (which is how I met her.) She DID have a UK agent first and the UK agent found her US agent. If you like, I could ask her how it's working out and what issues you might want to address/consider.

Let me know. :)
 

aruna

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Cathy C said:
Hi, aruna!


First, CONGRATS on the request! That's super! I haven't personally experienced this, but I do have a friend who shares my agent (which is how I met her.) She DID have a UK agent first and the UK agent found her US agent. If you like, I could ask her how it's working out and what issues you might want to address/consider.

Let me know. :)

Thanks, that would be great! I'm being very careful not to get too enthusiastic; I've fallen in love with agents before only to have it fizzle out! However, this does feel good as it was a personal selection on my part and not simply a random name so I am cautiously optimistic....
 

Kasey Mackenzie

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Wishing you tons of luck, Aruna. I wish I had specific advice to give but, unfortunately, I don't. Perhaps you can cautiously broach the subject with one of the agents if you get far enough in the process to get a firm offer of representation. At any rate, congratulations on the requests and I hope one or both pan out for you!
 

aruna

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I guess I will just wait and see who, if anyone, bites first! And now that I've "discovered" America I will certainly continue the search over there. Someone suggested that US publishers might be more favourably inclined towards my sort of book. The good thing is that I have no compunction about sending full mansucripts simultaneously to a US and a UK agent.

I just checked the contract I had with my former agent and it says:

"This letter confirms our agreement whereby you appoint us as your agents to act excusively on your behalf for the sale of all rights in your literary work throughout the world..."

I am hoping that it is possible to amend that to exclude the UK or US.
I was not pleased with that agent's work. She didn't make a sale to the US and so I went about looking for a US publisher myself. I had my work posted on PublishersMarketplace and a Simon and Schuster editor approached me. I thought my agent would be delighted, but all she said was, "oh, she's probably very junior and our sub-agents are already trying to sell it". She never followed up. I had a bit of a correspondence with that editor afterwards; she was quite pissed off about being dismissed so easily. I just wish I could remember her name, I'd approach her again! That was about four years ago.
 
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aruna

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Andrew Zack said:
Usually an agent is the agent throughout the world, but there ARE authors with separate US and UK representation.

Thanks, Andy. I've been doing a bit more research on US agents and I'm finding some intersting stuff... I think I'm going to go in more in that direction. I assume there's no particulat problem with a UK author having a US agent?
 

Euan H.

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aruna said:
I assume there's no particulat problem with a UK author having a US agent?
I'm a Brit who is resident in Thailand who has a US agent...so I don't think you'll have any problems. :)
 

Pencilone

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Aruna,

Best of luck and let us know how you're getting on.

It's something which I'll try doing as well (when I'll be ready:) ).

Best,

Pencilone