Should I query my old agent?

MsGneiss

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I had an agent for the first book that I wrote - she was great, but wasn't able to sell the book. It really wasn't her fault at all, because every major publisher (and some minor ones) did read it, but then, turned it down. The book was kind of odd, and in a genre that is particularly tricky to place in the current market. Also, it was my first novel, and it had quite a lot of flaws that even many months of intense editing couldn't eliminate.

Anyway, forward two years, and I now have another novel, which I think is much better than the first. I'm currently querying it, and have received some interest from a bunch of different agents. I never approached my former agent because she previously did not represent this genre, but now I see that she does. Do you think I should approach her with the new manuscript? I don't want to put her on the spot, because we did have a very good relationship, and I don't want her to feel in any way obligated to read my stuff. But, on the other hand, if she IS interested, I wouldn't mind working with her again (because, as I said, she did everything she could to sell the other book).

What do you all think? Should I wait to hear back from the dozen or so other agents who are currently reviewing it? Or should I email her right away and ask if she wants to take a look?
 

Susan Coffin

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Gosh, she would've been the first I queried. If you like her and you know she did her best, go for it. Are any of the other agents reviewing it on an exclusive? If not, I don't see why you can't ask her if she's interested in seeing it.

Good luck!
 

dgrintalis

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I think the answer to your question is under what circumstances did you sever the client-agent relationship? If it was a mutual, friendly break-up, I'd say why not. I am curious though. I thought agents repped writers, not just one of their books, but you're not the first person I know whose client-agent relationship ended after a book did not sell.
 

MsGneiss

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I think the answer to your question is under what circumstances did you sever the client-agent relationship? If it was a mutual, friendly break-up, I'd say why not. I am curious though. I thought agents repped writers, not just one of their books, but you're not the first person I know whose client-agent relationship ended after a book did not sell.

It was definitely a friendly gentle sort of parting. She subbed the book to all the big publishers, they ALL requested to read it (which, in my opinion, indicates that she is a top notch agent) and then over the course of about three months, they all sent their kind rejections. At that point, there was nothing else to do - I didn't have another book to rep, and she had no other publishers to sub to. And that was that. She did a tremendous amount of work on the book though (in terms of editing) so I felt pretty terrible that she didn't get anything in return.
 

MsGneiss

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Gosh, she would've been the first I queried. If you like her and you know she did her best, go for it. Are any of the other agents reviewing it on an exclusive? If not, I don't see why you can't ask her if she's interested in seeing it.

Good luck!

Nobody who is reviewing it asked for an exclusive, so that would be all fair. I didn't contact her first because she wasn't representing this genre back then, and now I just found out that she is.
 

dgrintalis

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It was definitely a friendly gentle sort of parting. She subbed the book to all the big publishers, they ALL requested to read it (which, in my opinion, indicates that she is a top notch agent) and then over the course of about three months, they all sent their kind rejections. At that point, there was nothing else to do - I didn't have another book to rep, and she had no other publishers to sub to. And that was that. She did a tremendous amount of work on the book though (in terms of editing) so I felt pretty terrible that she didn't get anything in return.


Gotcha. I say most definitely query her with the new book!
 

amyashley

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I don't know how long ago this was or what was available. I am also new to the business.

You say she subbed it to all the major houses. Did she discuss other options with you, like smaller houses, indie publishers, or even e-publishers? There are some out there that have been out for a while. I would want an agent who is aware of all the options in the business, not just the big ones. We all dream of making it big, but sometimes getting it out there is the first step. Knowing all the options available would have been beneficial. Some of these don't have to have an agent to negotiate with, but it always helps.
 

Terie

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You say she subbed it to all the major houses. Did she discuss other options with you, like smaller houses, indie publishers, or even e-publishers? There are some out there that have been out for a while. I would want an agent who is aware of all the options in the business, not just the big ones. We all dream of making it big, but sometimes getting it out there is the first step. Knowing all the options available would have been beneficial. Some of these don't have to have an agent to negotiate with, but it always helps.

The types of houses you mention don't typically pay enough money to be worth an agent's time. That's why agents don't pay too much attention to them. 15% of no advance is nothing. 15% of $500 is $75. Agents can't afford to work for those kinds of rates.

And many of these houses DON'T want to work with agents, because agents will try to negotiate more money for the author, and they don't usually have the money to offer.
 

Irysangel

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The types of houses you mention don't typically pay enough money to be worth an agent's time. That's why agents don't pay too much attention to them. 15% of no advance is nothing. 15% of $500 is $75. Agents can't afford to work for those kinds of rates.

And many of these houses DON'T want to work with agents, because agents will try to negotiate more money for the author, and they don't usually have the money to offer.

This pretty much sums up what I was about to say. Some agents won't sub to smaller houses, and it could be a variety of reasons - most of which have to do with the fact that it's just not worth it for them, monetarily. I had an anthology come through (that I chased down) and it was for a few hundred dollars. My agent reviewed the contract for me, but declined to have her percentage on it, because running it through the agency simply wasn't going to be beneficial to her or to me.

You can always discuss if you want to take a book to smaller publishers yourself, or epublishers, but my guess is that an agent will usually step out of the conversation at that point.

It also depends on the genre. "Small press" in mystery is probably different than "small press" in romance, etc etc.
 

amyashley

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Like I said I'm new, so I didn't know! I know that e-pubs now are giving more royalties, some of them, but it hasn't always been like that.

I think I'd be calling the old agent on the phone, or at least sending a more personalized query then. If the relationship was good keep it up!
 

MsGneiss

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I don't know how long ago this was or what was available. I am also new to the business.

You say she subbed it to all the major houses. Did she discuss other options with you, like smaller houses, indie publishers, or even e-publishers? There are some out there that have been out for a while. I would want an agent who is aware of all the options in the business, not just the big ones. We all dream of making it big, but sometimes getting it out there is the first step. Knowing all the options available would have been beneficial. Some of these don't have to have an agent to negotiate with, but it always helps.


She did sub to some of the smaller independent publishers (like Kensington) but none of the really tiny ones. Those accept unagented submissions, so I guess I could have subbed to them on my own.
 

amyashley

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She sounds good, and I have seen some of your other posts on this round of queries. It looks like you are doing outstanding with this novel, it's inspiring.

Good luck with whatever route you take, I hope you find fabulous success and soon!
 

MsGneiss

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She sounds good, and I have seen some of your other posts on this round of queries. It looks like you are doing outstanding with this novel, it's inspiring.

Good luck with whatever route you take, I hope you find fabulous success and soon!

Thanks. I think I must be a very very good query letter writer. But I'm still quite a novice novelist. (Did you see my thread on plotting 101? :)) It would be great if this novel sold, but I'm hoping my next one will be better.
 

Filigree

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The first agent isn't always the best.

I met a really nice literary agent at an sf&f convention years ago. He agreed to read the mms I'd finished. Nothing came of it (my second written work wasn't that great), or the next two that I wrote. I also had some private worries about his low track record in genre sales: he had one major sf author, but the rest seemed lower than midlist, from authors I haven't heard about since their first few sales. We amicably parted ways in 1999, when I stopped writing for a while, but I kept up holiday emails and other contacts over the years.

Now I've got a much better mms -- and I'm not submitting it to this guy. He's not repping my genre anymore. The agency affiliate who does look at fantasy rejected my query last summer, and she doesn't seem the right 'fit' anyway.

If I get through my whole list of other agents with no solid offers, then I might email him.

Filigree
 

Truth and Fiction

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You say she now represents your genre. How much experience does she have in it? Has she made lots of sales in this genre? Would you want her as an agent for this particular genre/book even if you had never worked with her before?

If the answers to those questions are positive, then I say call her up. (It's not like you should have to go through the query slush as a former client...) I bet she'd be happy to hear from you and take a look at this project. And then, if she's interested, you can determine whether she'd be the right agent for what you're doing now. Good luck.