Time for an update:
Of the three agents who had my full back in mid-May, two still haven't responded. The third one turned it down, but that was after a very informative and rewarding series of critiques and tweaking – so although I was devastated that they declined, I was very thankful for their assistance.
I have since gently nudged the other two (one has had it for several months). No response to my nudges.
In the interim, I have received three more requests for the full manuscript! I guess I’ve finally figured out how to write a decent query letter.
Now here’s the rub: one of the three has requested it as an exclusive. It’s a great agency, and I’d love to have their agent represent me – although at this point, I’d love to have ANY reputable agency represent me. I asked them how long they would require the exclusive and they said only a couple of weeks, which I feel is amazingly reasonable. I wrote back to them that it’s currently being considered by some other agencies, and I offered to send it to them on a quasi-exclusive basis, wherein I’d hold up on sending it to any other agencies during their review period.
I didn’t hear back, so I elected to send it to the other two non-exclusive requesting agents. I mean, how could I turn them down?
Was this a bad move? Should I contact the original two requesting agents and tell them thanks anyway, wait about a month and do the same with the most recent two and then send it to the agency that has requested exclusivity for two weeks? I hate to burn my bridges with the outstanding fulls, especially since I’ve heard that it can take up to a year to hear back – then again, I hate to procrastinate and have the agency that has requested exclusivity (and they sounded excited about the project) lose interest.
