Exclusives

Exclusives are generally bad for the writer. That's why you'll see so many threads here with the advice of: "Tell agent X you can't offer an exclusive as there are others already considering the piece, but offer to not send out any more queries until they've decided on it."

That way, if the exclusive agent's still willing to read it, they can, but the others reading it still have their shot.

If your friend had sent out queries on a non-exclusive basis, I don't blame the 2nd agent for being bitter. He wasted her time by offering something she couldn't have when she wanted it.

I've been wondering about the etiquette of exclusives as well. I like the sound of the compromise you mention, Cyia - it's what I'd do, I think.

With top agents, exclusives are good for the writer. Always. It shouldn't even be a question. It's just dumb to go against them. For the sake of very little time, writers throw away their chance to land a top agent, and make the big time.

Many agents think they're unfair and won't ask for them. I've used Cyia's compromise before, though, and it worked just fine.

So when you grant an agent an exclusive, that means you can't send your MS to another agent? I thought it simply meant that you'd give the exclusive agent first right of refusal.

Astronomer said:

So when you grant an agent an exclusive, that means you can't send your MS to another agent? I thought it simply meant that you'd give the exclusive agent first right of refusal.

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Exclusive means just that. If you agree to it, then the only agent who has any materials from you will be the one to whom you've granted an exclusive read.

Some state up front that if you query them, they prefer it on an exclusive basis, others will request an exclusive only if they want to consider the full manuscript.

Okay, then what if you have sent your MS to a couple of agents who didn't ask to be exclusive, and then a third asks for your MS on an exclusive basis? Do you have to obtain rejections from the first two agents before you can send your MS to the third agent requesting exclusivity?

No. You tell the exclusive agent that it's already with others who are considering it, so you can't give an exclusive, but you'd be happy not to send it to anyone else until you've heard back from him/her. Then, if they want to read it, they can, and if not, you don't have to wait to send it to others.

Cyia said:

Exclusives are generally bad for the writer. That's why you'll see so many threads here with the advice of: "Tell agent X you can't offer an exclusive as there are others already considering the piece, but offer to not send out any more queries until they've decided on it."
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That's what I did. The agent was one of my top 5 hopefuls. She asked for a 4 week exclusive, but I already had 2 out. She waived exclusivity, but ended up rejecting with a form letter.

Ugh. I just got the same request. Feel nervous. I have two fulls out and one other partial, so even if I wanted to grant exclusivity, how could I?

Jamesaritchie said:

With top agents, exclusives are good for the writer. Always. It shouldn't even be a question. It's just dumb to go against them. For the sake of very little time, writers throw away their chance to land a top agent, and make the big time.

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James, do you know a single real-world example of a writer who missed his/her chance at the big time by not offering an exclusive?

Its2Snappy said:

Ugh. I just got the same request. Feel nervous. I have two fulls out and one other partial, so even if I wanted to grant exclusivity, how could I?

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Read the thread . We just answered the question. If you're interested in the agent, tell her what you've got out and see if she'll waive the exclusivity. Then agree not to send any more out until you hear from her. If you're no longer interested and want to keep querying, tell her you're not interested (if she's expecting a reply from your email). Be honest, don't give an exclusive then continue to send out queries.

My thinking was, this is one of my top 5 hopefuls, so I was willing to do it. Getting published is a marathon, not a sprint and I was willing to wait.

Exclusives require that the writer have some idea what they're doing.

If an agent requests an exclusive by email, and you've just sent out a whole bunch of queries, don't respond immediately. Give it twenty-four hours before you respond so that you can see whether you're going to get another request immediately. Although we all know writers live by their computers when waiting for acceptances, you do have to sleep sometime. So let time work to your advantage for a bit.

Before you accept the exclusive, find out exactly how long the agent wants the exclusive for. Once it goes beyond two weeks, you have to do a cost/benefit analysis. You should not accept an exclusive beyond four weeks.

Then when you accept the exclusive, you want to set a date certain. Let's say an agent asked me today for a two week exclusive (today being 2/7). When I sent the manuscript, I would say that I'm granting a two week exclusive, through 2/23. Notice how I've given the agent a couple of extra days, and I've got a simple date to mark on the calendar.

So tomorrow (Tuesday), another agent wants it. Choice one is to explain the situation to the second agent, and be upfront. Choice two is to stall a bit. Instead of replying immediately, wait. For example, I'd wait until Friday night at about eleven to respond, asking whether the agent wants it by snail mail or email. With any luck, the agent doesn't work until Monday. Then you could ask, in a few more days, whether the agent wants it as a .rtf or .doc file. With a little effort, you can eat up all your time without trying.

Both choices are used in the world, with probably about the same results. Definitely if I had less than a week before the exclusive ran out, I'd just wait. Although a week might seem like a long time, writing is not the major feature of your life, and other things can and do interfere legitimately.

Managing exclusives is a lot about managing the calendar.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

I don't see anything wrong with an exclusive

--if you're in a position to grant one, and
--if it has a definite (and short) time limit

My agent asked for a two week exclusive when she was reading my manuscript and frankly, two weeks to get a response is a lot shorter than three or more months which can be typical of many non-exclusive full reads. And, in the nature of queries and responses, no one else made a request during those two weeks anyway. If they had, I'd have written and said, I can send it to you on x date.

An agent who was bitter about that would give me pause.

I agree, awesome info.
Now that I have read what you guys have said about this subject I would love to have an agents POV on it. Particularly their view on getting put on hold for a submission because someone granted an exclusive. I can understand a little frustration about someone beating you to the punch but does it really make a big difference? I'll have to keep a look out for the next guest Agent answering questions.

jclarkdawe said:

Choice one is to explain the situation to the second agent, and be upfront. Choice two is to stall a bit. Instead of replying immediately, wait. For example, I'd wait until Friday night at about eleven to respond, asking whether the agent wants it by snail mail or email. With any luck, the agent doesn't work until Monday. Then you could ask, in a few more days, whether the agent wants it as a .rtf or .doc file. With a little effort, you can eat up all your time without trying.

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I have zero experience with exclusives, but I can imagine option two would annoy the heck out of an agent. It probably wouldn't even apply in most situations, given how many agents specify exactly how they want the MS sent in their request e-mail, but even when they don't specify, .doc via e-mail is pretty standard.

If I were an agent and a writer a) didn't know that, b) took several e-mails to ask these basic questions, and c) spread these e-mails out over several days, I'd be questioning their professionalism and knowledge of the querying process.

I mean... why would you want to look dense on purpose? I vote for being up-front whenever you can.

I totally agree with everything else you said, though.

Corinne Duyvis said:

I have zero experience with exclusives, but I can imagine option two would annoy the heck out of an agent. It probably wouldn't even apply in most situations, given how many agents specify exactly how they want the MS sent in their request e-mail, but even when they don't specify, .doc via e-mail is pretty standard.

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I agree. I think you would just look like a doof doing this. Maybe ONE email asking a random question to stall another day or so, or wait two days before sending a reply if the exclusive it almost up but at some point you're going to look dumb doing this.

I'm not advocating either way, and in business deals have done both, and have had both done on me. Sometimes you need to stall and can't say why, other times stalling won't be a problem. You've got to decide which is the better approach. However, done right, you won't end up looking like an idiot doing the slowdown approach. Providing you're smart enough to make it look good.

But the biggest thing I want to point out here is just because an agent sends you a email doesn't mean you have to answer it immediately. A one or two delay on replying is perfectly normal. I rarely answer an email in one day, even if it is a simple yes or no, so that I can think it through. But many people think emails need to be answered immediately. Not the smartest thing in the world, and why some people discover how dangerous the send button is.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe