End of an Exclusive Period?

LisaAnn · Feb 25, 2011

Hi everyone! I'm new to Absolute Write, and I'm very excited to gain from everybody's expertise. Here's my question--and forgive my naivete, but I just finished my first novel and I'm still shaky on submission procedures and timelines.

I sent out my first agent query in January and received a standard rejection within 24 hours. After tweaking my query for the past month, I sent out my second query on February 10th. Within 24 hours, the agent asked for my synopsis and the first 50 pages of my novel. Elated, I sent her my partial, and I received a request for my full manuscript within 24 hours. She asked for a two-week exclusive, which I granted, and that two-week exclusive just expired today.

I know I am completely jumping the gun in even being concerned that I didn't hear from her today, but how long are you supposed to wait after your exclusive ends before you re-contact the agent? I don't want to seem pushy--and I'm in no hurry--but I also don't want her to forget about me. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks so much in advance; I really appreciate your advice!

Becca C. · Feb 25, 2011

Hello and welcome to AW!

Unless she specified that she would be done reading the manuscript in two weeks, I wouldn't "nudge" her for at least another couple of weeks. Does she say on her website how long it typically takes her to respond to full requests? It's not uncommon for it to take a few months. So the exclusive period is up now; that should mean that you could send to other agents now, if you wish, but I wouldn't expect to hear from her for a little while yet.

tarak · Feb 25, 2011

Lisa - I would keep querying. You might try to see what you can find out about her response time and nudge after that if you don't hear anything.

Congrats on the full!

PoppysInARow · Feb 25, 2011

I would send her a curtesy email. Not a "nudge" but just a quick email telling her that the exclusive is up and that you're going to contrinue querying. It's possible she just got buried and forgot when your exclusive ended.

charmingbillie · Feb 26, 2011

What PoppysInARow says. She asked for an exclusive for a specific time and that's what you gave her. And letting her know that that time is up and that you're going to be querying is a great reminder if she has gotten busy.

I don't have a problem with two week exclusives, but I wouldn't let one go on beyond the time you both agreed to. Though I would, as PoppysInARow said, contact her and let her politely know that you know that the time has expired

Michaelg · Feb 26, 2011

If it was me, and that is all I have to work with, I would send her a written notice that the contract had expired so that there would be no chance of an implied extension or any other miss-understanding. She knows she can ask for another extension and she knows if there is no exclusivity agreement you will be sending other queries. I would resist the urge to state what she already must know.

Thank her for her consideration and move on if she does not reply quickly.

Sydewinder · Feb 26, 2011

I would NOT nudge yet. Just send out queries to other agents. They know the exclusive was for 2 weeks. They know the 2 weeks is up.

On a side note/rant, I hate exclusives. I think it's extremely selfish of an agent to request it, and I think when they don't get back to you at the end of that period it reflects poorly on them. The most rudimentary desktop calendar will notify you when you have deadlines so I can't think of an excuse for being so thoughtless.

PoppysInARow · Feb 26, 2011

Sydewinder said:
On a side note/rant, I hate exclusives. I think it's extremely selfish of an agent to request it, and I think when they don't get back to you at the end of that period it reflects poorly on them. The most rudimentary desktop calendar will notify you when you have deadlines so I can't think of an excuse for being so thoughtless.

I understand your frustration, but when an agent requests an exclusive, it's not necessarily "selfish." The reason for an exclusive is so that the agent can take a look at the manuscript without having it snatched out from under them. A lot of agents get a manuscript, read it, and then when they go to offer, they find out that the writer already accepted representation elsewhere. That can be extremely frustrating. And, on the writer's side, extremely rude.

And you never know what's going on in an agent's life. Maybe their intern quit and they were buried under emails. Maybe a deal fell through with a publisher and they have to patch things up. Maybe her mother died. You can never tell, and that's why it's best to give a little heads up and then continue querying.

LisaAnn · Mar 2, 2011

Thank you so much to everyone for your quick and helpful replies. I really, really appreciate your advice because I was definitely at a loss--especially since two weeks really isn't that long in the grand scheme of things. After much thought, I decided to take your recommendation, PoppiesInARow, charmingbillie and Michaelg, and I sent her a very polite and very short email. Something along the lines of, "I realize our exclusive period just ended, so I thought I should touch base with you, etc." No word from her yet, but I'm crossing my fingers...

End of an Exclusive Period?

LisaAnn

Becca C.

tarak

for certain qualities of "sane"

PoppysInARow

Book Reviewer y'all

charmingbillie

Are we there yet?

Michaelg

Sydewinder

PoppysInARow

Book Reviewer y'all

LisaAnn