ground rules for exclusives

PastTense

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I just started sending out some queries and got a quick response from one agent who asked for a 30-day exclusive on the full ms. They also seemed concerned about how many queries I had already sent out.

I am open to giving them an exclusive, but not sure how that works with other queries out there. Can I just agree to the exclusive and if another agent get back to me, just say I need to wait or let them know another agent has an exclusive?

It's one of those bird-in-the-hand issues.

Any help?
 

mayqueen

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If you choose to grant the exclusive, you can just tell any other agents who request pages that it's on exclusive and you'll send it to them as soon as you can. That's what I would do. Thirty days isn't terribly long. You could also just send the pages after the exclusive is up (assuming it doesn't end in an offer) without saying anything.
 

NicolaD

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IMHO exclusives aren't really in an author's best interest, but guess it depends if exclusive agent is someone high on your 'would give my right arm and firstborn to work with' list.
 

Wilde_at_heart

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How high-profile is this agent? If it's a fairly established one, then I'd take my chances and give it to them.

It's no different than dating or anything else in life really - you always have to weigh the odds of something better coming along.

Congratulations at any rate.
 

MandyHubbard

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Do NOT agree to the exclusive unless this agent is your one and only dream agent, and even then, I would advise against it. If you query me and i request it, and you say you just granted someone an exclusive, it shows that you value her time more than mine, or that she's a higher priority to you. If the pages arrive weeks later, now I know that person passed which could color my reaction to the work.

Or if I request a full and it takes 4 weeks to arrive, I'm always wondering why you queried if it wasn't ready to send.

Tell the exclusive agent you are unable to do so, and would they still be interested in reading? 90% of the time, the agent will still read. Or tell them that you can grant a one week exclusive, but that you already have other requests and cannot wait longer.

very few agents ask for exclusives for a reason-- they're not in your best interest.

How does she even know how many queries you sent? That's your business, not hers.
 

The Otter

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I'd agree that exclusives generally aren't in the author's best interest, but 30 days seems like a reasonable time frame. If they haven't responded within that time, you can assume the exclusive is over and start sending out again. But it is still conceivable that you could miss out on other opportunities.

So yeah, like everyone else has said, it depends on how much you want this particular agent.

Though the fact that she's concerned over how many queries you sent out seems a bit...weird. Not quite a red flag, but it shows that she might be out of touch with the current market or have unreasonable expectations of authors. It's the norm for authors to send out a large number of queries. Why would any agent be surprised by that or consider it an issue? For that matter, why would they even ask? I can understand asking about how many full manuscripts are currently being considered by other agents, but queries?
 

EMaree

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What country are you querying in, PastTense? (US, UK, EU, AU etc)

Agreed with everyone else to avoid giving exclusives if at all possible, and limit it to a low exclusive time period if you want to grant one. I'm also very surprised that the agent was nosying into how many queries you've sent -- did they directly ask you how many you've sent?

It's normal for an agent to ask if you have any other fulls out with agents when requesting a submission, but not how many queries. I'm wondering if there was a mix-up somewhere in the conversation.
 
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Katrina S. Forest

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Alternatively, you could send the manuscript and state that you can only do two or three week exclusive, if a month seems long to you.

The important part is that the exclusive has some reasonable ending point. I had one full request from an agent who asked for exclusives for as long as they were considering. It was a mess. When it neared the 90-day mark, I finally wrote the agent and said that after 90 days, I needed to make the manuscript available to others. They didn't hold it against me (or at least, they still expressed interest in future work.)

Best of luck whatever you do and congrats!