Contract w/ Agent Expired - Now What?

You should not give up.

Here's the thing, depending on your contract, the agent may owe you a copy of the correspondences to the publishers they submitted your manuscript to. These correspondences will be more chatty but they will also inform the agent why they are rejecting. These correspondence should give you a hint on what is wrong if anything and how to fix. Sometimes the agent just can not place because the editor already has a few similar works going to print and they don't like having one of their clients competing with another.

If you haven't already, call the agent and politely ask for a copy of these correspondences and then pick the agents brain on what they think the issues are. They should be open to discussion. The agent may also want to try something else and if you are agreeable to extending the contract. You won't know until you talk to an agent. Sometimes, rejections are not about the work, but the timing and how many other similar novels the publisher has already bought...

Here is the thing, if you go searching for and find a new agent, they need to tell them that you manuscript was rejected by publishers X Y Z. Reason, so they do not resubmit to X Y Z and waste their time. This may also mean the agent will not take you on, but if you don't tell them and they find out from publisher X Y Z that this manuscript has already been rejected, they are going to be pissed at you for not mentioning.

Me, I would put trunk this for a couple of years to give the editors time to forget or move on to other things and have someone new take their place. Then you can rework and find a new agent again. In the mean time, work on something new that you can submit.

Repeat as necessary until you sell that magic one and then bring all the others back out and rework and resubmit now that you have a sale...

Here is the thing, if you go searching for and find a new agent, they need to tell them that you manuscript was rejected by publishers X Y Z. Reason, so they do not resubmit to X Y Z and waste their time. This may also mean the agent will not take you on, but if you don't tell them and they find out from publisher X Y Z that this manuscript has already been rejected, they are going to be pissed at you for not mentioning.

Me, I would put trunk this for a couple of years to give the editors time to forget or move on to other things and have someone new take their place. Then you can rework and find a new agent again. In the mean time, work on something new that you can submit.

Repeat as necessary until you sell that magic one and then bring all the others back out and rework and resubmit now that you have a sale...

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I think this says it all. At this point consider the manuscript damaged goods. Move on and create another work and with same find a new agent. But yes, if you don't already know why publishers rejected your first work, ask your former agent if she would tell you why.

First, hugs. It's very painful to have a book go unsold after finally getting an agent -- heartbreaking, even. It has happened to many, including me.

I agree with the most of the above -- get the information on the book's submission history, but likely you will not be able to get another agent to submit it unless they take you on as a client with another book that hasn't been shopped.

One thing I don't agree with is the characterization of your book as damaged goods. A book is not damaged by being read, but it does have fewer sales opportunities left. Although your book didn't sell, that may not be the agent's fault, nor a flaw in your book. It's tough to break in with debuts. If your agent is forthright with you and a good advocate for you and your work, when you have another book or proposal, send it to him or her. Hopefully the agent will love it as much and will rep that one too.

If you don't feel you were treated fairly or you don't trust your agent, query agents with a new book. Or, since your contract has expired, you could sub your first book to publishers yourself, if you know who has already seen it.

Good luck.

If you'd like to move on (and this is not a decision to make lightly), the advice to query with a new project is definitely sound. It gives you the best odds.

But . . .

though finding a new agent for a shopped manuscript is very difficult, I did just that. I found someone who doesn't see my novel as "damaged goods." The book still may not sell, especially with fewer opportunities, but I just thought I'd throw that out there. It's not impossible.

I agree with Thoth.

I would put the book aside and write another one, then shop that one. At least you have the knowledge that you are good enough to attract an agent. Which is more than some of us.

Then, if that book does sell, you have book two ready for them.

ocneagainsam:

When I said "damaged goods" I wasn't implying that your work is flawed in any way. It's ridiculous to think I would have any way of knowing if that were so or would think that to be the case based on the opinions of several editors to whom your agent sent the work. All I'm saying is that most agents you approach with this work will consider the rejections a big negative and more than likely will be reluctant to submit it elsewhere since it has a negative track record. That's just the way it is. Now, are there some agents who will ignore the rejections, ignore the fact that it's been shopped around, I'm sure there are, but I think you might be better off starting with another work and putting the current manuscript in a drawer, at least for now.

Here's what worked for me:

"I am seeking new representation for . . ."

And then I proceeded with a normal query. Agents noticed the word "new." Since authors seeking new rep for an un-shopped ms will make a point of telling them it hasn't been shopped in the query, they knew mine probably had been.

Others may suggest offering more info upfront, but I liked this wording because it left it up to the agent how much info he or she wanted at which stage.

Agents who were interested in my query asked me questions, some before requesting material, some along with the request, some after receiving the requested material.

The questions I got:

Who was your former agent?
Why did you part ways?
Are you sure this ms isn't tied to the former agent?
Which editors saw this ms?

The only person who asked that last question was the one who ended up representing me, and it was asked well into his reading of the full. He was also the only one to ask why I parted ways with my former agent, and that was asked at the same stage.

It was interesting to me that agents seemed more concerned with who my former agent was than anything else.

This is my experience, and I'm only one person, but I say go for it. . . and keep writing other stuff and submit that when it's ready, too. It's okay to query more than one project. You don't have to give up on this one in order to work on others.

If you have an agent who's talking with you about an offer, I would absolutely not offer the rejection feedback, but I would let them know you'd done revisions since it was subbed.

onceagainsam said:

Thanks everyone. I do have all the publishers rejection letters - my agent passed them on each time so that was helpful. It seemed they either liked my writing but not the story, or they liked the story but not my writing. No dice.

I guess part of me knows my chances are very slim to keep trying with this particular novel but I just have a hard time putting it aside, even for a little while. It's by far my best work, not to mention my favorite set of characters. I'm sure you all know what it's like to be attached to people and situations you dreamed up!

If I did try for another agent, what's the best way to tell them the history of my manuscript without scaring them away? I'd be honest about it, absolutely. Do I offer up the rejection feedback from the publishers and tell them I've done major revisions? Would they even care about that? Any advice there?

I guess if nothing else, I could try entering some contests!

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While I'm not a huge fan of self-publishing, it's something to think about for a situation like this, where all agent and publisher possibilities might be exhausted. In your shoes, I'd definitely be thinking about self-pubbing it as an e-book, just to get it out there. No cost other than time to do the e-book conversion...you don't really have anything to lose, and who knows what might happen after that?

Do you have anything else finished and if so, is your current agent willing to try to sell a different book for you? If he or she is, then maybe you can just table this one for awhile. If you don't have anything else finished then maybe focus on finishing something else for this agent if possible. The query process is so long and involved and time consuming. If the agent is trying hard for you, then I would do what I can to keep the relationship going if possible.

If you're unhappy with the agent or he is wanting to end your contract then by all means query the book but also keep writing and get more work finished.