Question about Exclusive Etiquette

I'd wait a couple of weeks beyond the original four weeks, then send a polite email inquiring about the status of the ms.

- Victoria

Personally, and I don't know if this is the right thing to do or not, but I'd say yes to both questions.

Toni1953 said:

You've given an agent your ms to read on an exclusive basis. In a follow-up email wherein you asked for the amount of "exclusive" time, the agent said 4 weeks.

the 4 weeks is up and you have heard nothing. What's the proper thing to do? Do you email the agent, reminding them the time set for the exclusive is up, or do you just go ahead and begin resubmitting the ms to other agents?

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My take: I would pop an email -- at this point still being courteous -- and inquire before sending out, just in case the agent is almost finished. If you still don't hear anything within a few days, send out queries and manuscripts, and a month or so later if you still hear nothing, it would be appropriate to send the agent a way serious nastygram.

Asking a writer for an exclusive and then not reviewing the manuscript is one of the worst things an agent can do, because if the writer honors the exclusive, he's taken out of the running with other agents until the exclusive is over and gets squat in return. It's arrogant and unprofessional. You should also report your experience on "beware" threads here and elsewhere.

respond time

I will tell you my story....

I had a major agent ask for 6-8 weeks exclusivity and I gave that to him. At the end of 6 weeks, I wrote a kind letter telling the agent's assistant that it had been 6 weeks and that her agent was more than welcome to continue to review my MS, but that I was going to offer it around to others now. I received the NO THANKS letter a few days later, but it was not in MY SASE...it was in an agency envelope, which surprised me. Well....FOUR MONTHS LATER, I received the same NO THANKS letter dated TWO DAYS AFTER they had recieved my origial submission. In other words, that agent knew right away my MS was not for him, but the assistant misplace my NO THANKS letter in MY SASE and never sent it. Had I not written to her, I would not have known for all that time that it was not even being considered.

In the future, I will only ever allow 2 weeks exclusivity. Six weeks was WAY too long.

Good luck....

ANd here's my story. My ms was with a top agent (A) exclusively, but no deadline had been prearranged. She'd had it for 4 weeks when another agent (B) requested it. I told her the situartion; she advised me to give the agent A one more week, and if she didn't want it to give HER (B) an exclusive. She said she'd read it "in a few days". That's what I did.
After two weeks I gently asked for feedback; I told her that other agents were interested and I'd like a decision. She said "she hadn't had time" but had started, liked it, and needed more time. I told her she could have that time, but no longer exclusively.
She said she'd get back to me but let her know if it was accepted anywhere else. That was MONTHS ago, and I haven't heard back. Other agents I'd queried said they only wanted it exclusively, and to let them know when agent B had finished.

In the meantime, I've started another book as I believe if so many of them are dithering something must be wrong somewhere; the topic, I guess, just is not commercial enough at this time. SO I'm not particularly upset. But I do think agent B was extremely unfair!