How long did it take for you to say Yes?

One week. I gave the others reading that long to respond and those who only had the query that long to request additional materials if they wanted them.

That week resulted in an avalanche of requests that only served to strengthen my impression of the first agent being the best choice.

NEVER make an important decision while high on excitement. It's never a good idea to have "never" rules, but never do it anyway.

Two seconds. I landed my dream agent and said yes almost before I answered the phone for *the call.*

If the agent I have an R&R with offers me rep, I'll say yes. So, that'll make it... nine months from initial contact to me saying "yes" XD

First agent, I said yes on the phone right way. BIG mistake. Didn't give the others a chance to respond. After a year and a half, I left him.

My new agent, I took a week, talked to the others and then made a really good choice.

About 4 hours. However, I had other offers, she was the 2nd and I asked for a week to get back with all the other agents after the 1st offered.

About a week. I had to talk to the other agents who had fulls. It was a very hard week, it's a huge, huge decision and you don't want to make the wrong one. And in the end I went with the one who offered first. Part gut, part head.

Three days. I got the offer on a Tuesday, then asked for a week to let other reading agents know and respond. They got back to me quickly, and I accepted the offer that Thursday.

And calendar-wise, I just realized today is our three-year anniversary!

I asked for 48 hours. Only one other agent had the full and agreed to get back to me within the timeframe. I clicked so well with the first agent, though, that even if the other agent hadn't gotten back to me I'm still pretty sure I would have gone with her. Hopefully it was the right call!

About two seconds. If there was any doubt whatsoever in my mind, I wouldn't query that agent. You should know everything there is to know about an agent, and be absolutely certain she's one you want representing you, before sending her a query.

Since I was the one doing the asking, no time at all

Jamesaritchie said:

About two seconds. If there was any doubt whatsoever in my mind, I wouldn't query that agent. You should know everything there is to know about an agent, and be absolutely certain she's one you want representing you, before sending her a query.

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Dude, you can't possibly know everything about an agent before speaking to them - not everyone blogs or tweets, not even these days. There's more to knowing an agent is right for you than a list of who they represent (which is sometimes about all you can find out), or even a few details about their agenting style.

In my case, I was biased towards my agent because (apart from having a stellar client list) he mentions on his site a favourite book that is also a favourite of mine. However it wasn't until we exchanged emails and he likened my premise to a particular movie that I thought "aha - we're on the same wavelength". No amount of prior research gives you that kind of connection.

Dude, you can't possibly know everything about an agent before speaking to them - not everyone blogs or tweets, not even these days.

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Nope, and without talking to the particular agent, you also can't know how she sees your title fitting into the marketplace, what kind of editorial changes she might want you to make-- if any-- or whether the two of you communicate in a way that will make a business relationship palatable over the long-term. You may be working with this person for the next 20 years or longer; it's worth considering.

You are also assuming the writer doesn't have any pages out with other agents. You wouldn't say "yes" to the first person who asked for your mss if you had four other fulls out.

In my case, I asked for a week and had all the information I needed after 3 or 4 days.

Anne Lyle said:

Since I was the one doing the asking, no time at all



Dude, you can't possibly know everything about an agent before speaking to them - not everyone blogs or tweets, not even these days. There's more to knowing an agent is right for you than a list of who they represent (which is sometimes about all you can find out), or even a few details about their agenting style.

In my case, I was biased towards my agent because (apart from having a stellar client list) he mentions on his site a favourite book that is also a favourite of mine. However it wasn't until we exchanged emails and he likened my premise to a particular movie that I thought "aha - we're on the same wavelength". No amount of prior research gives you that kind of connection.

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Yes, you can, and if you have any business sense at all, you darned sure will.

If all you did before querying was look at the website, or at a list of clients, you may as well be playing Russian Roulette with five rounds in the chamber.

There's never a reason to query an agent who may not be right for you.

Exactly. And yes, you may know a lot of an agent from what they have on the web, but you can't possibly know what vision they have for your book until they read your book and then offer to talk about it.

Back to the OP. I waited a month as I wanted to talk to everybody who said wanted to talk to me.

Jamesaritchie said:

Yes, you can, and if you have any business sense at all, you darned sure will.

If all you did before querying was look at the website, or at a list of clients, you may as well be playing Russian Roulette with five rounds in the chamber.

There's never a reason to query an agent who may not be right for you.

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It's not all that black and white. I landed an agent with 31 years of experience as an agent, before that he was an editor for 11 years. He's placed over 3,000 titles but there's not super much info about him on the web. If you end up with someone who's been in the business for so long, and before the internet came along (remember them good old days?), the info you can find about them may not amount to much - as in my agent's case.

The only reason I queried him was because he's got a reputation for giving helpful feedback when he rejects. I find that a valid reason to query somebody.
I wasn't too sure if he'd be a good fit when he offered but during the phone conversation realized that he's totally perfect. There is no way I could have found out the info I got during the phone call over the internet (to get back to the OP: two days to think about it and then the call convinced me).

So I'd be careful with blanket statements.

Bushrat said:

So I'd be careful with blanket statements.

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Meh, that's just JAR. You get used to him.

Exactly. Come on, James, you should know better. How a person presents themselves on their site can be completely differently than how they are in person or on the phone. Maybe they have a different vision for your book than you do, or there's a personality clash. Maybe they do business differently than you thought they would through their web presence. A hundred reasons to wait and decide after thinking.

And if you would say yes in two seconds, why bother querying anyone else? You mean to say you wouldn't give anyone else, because of course you researched all of the agents you query, a chance to consider your work, just because this one happened to offer first? Or do you only query one agent at a time?

I do not have an agent. I have several queries out to reputable agents, any one of whom looks great on paper. Should one call to offer, I would ask for a week to consider, and then graciously let the rest of the agents know what's up and my deadline. Give them a chance to decide for themselves.

That's good manners and good business, and it's what's expected in publishing etiquette.

My first agent, after the second phone call. I had an offer on the table and wanted an agent for the negotiations (and it's a good thing I had one because I put them through their paces with that particular project). This was pre-internet so I couldn't just look up websites and there weren't many agents in the publishing niche I was in. I was fortunate enough to get a recommendation from someone with clout in another arena of publishing which opened that door.

Agent #2 I met at a conference and we spent several days talking. I took another month or two to break ties with the agency I was at (my original agent had left and there wasn't anyone suitable for me to move to). Somehow it took another 3 months to sign a contract and 6 more months to break up (after he never submitted my completed proposals to anyone--not even the publishers who had requested them at the conference where we met.)

I met my current agent at a conference too. We spoke briefly there twice, and then by phone several times over the next month or so before committing to working together.

Jamesaritchie said:

There's never a reason to query an agent who may not be right for you.

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There's never a good reason to query an agent who's obviously wrong for you (wrong genre, wrong working style, wrong personality obvious through blogs/interviews/whatever) - but I still disagree that you can know "right" just through research, however thorough. As has been pointed out, you can find an apparently perfect agent to query, who then turns out to have a totally different vision for your project than you did. Plus it's a two-way street - the agent has to like you and your work, so if you query too narrowly, you risk finding no-one you can work with. These days most writers have two options: agent, or self-publish.

Expanding on my original comment to the OP, I had a deal on the table, direct from the publisher, and asked my now-agent to negotiate it (he had already expressed interest in seeing my full) - but if I hadn't seen eye-to-eye with him during the subsequent phone call, I would have pulled out, because I would rather have done the deal alone than through the wrong agent. So, I guess my real answer is 18 hours, which was the time it took to exchange emails and then talk on the phone the next day.

Yet another thread to which I won't need to respond further.

both times at the rodeo i had multiple agents interested, and both times i knew in advance who i wanted more, so the decision came within 24 hours of the offer.