How often to expect contact?

scfirenice

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Hey AWers, I know our resident agent left, but there are alot of folks here with experience sooooooooo- How often should I expect my agent to contact me? On the flip side of that- How often is it reasonable for me to contact them? Any thoughts??
S
 

dantem42

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scfirenice said:
Hey AWers, I know our resident agent left, but there are alot of folks here with experience sooooooooo- How often should I expect my agent to contact me? On the flip side of that- How often is it reasonable for me to contact them? Any thoughts??
S

Depends a lot on what's going on. If your agent has just started pitching your manuscript, you should hear pretty frequently -- maybe once or twice a week. He/she should be working at least one publisher each week, so you should get comments back pretty regularly.
 

triceretops

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I've got about four full reads out there via my agent. And I'm finding that it takes about a month for an editor to get back to my agent. So I'm putting myself on a 30 day rule where we usually contact each other. I don't think we have to meet more than that. Now, if you've got a dozen manuscripts out there via your agent, I would expect more frequent contact. But it does depend on how much work is out in the market place.

Tri
 

jchines

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It also depends on the agent. Some are strictly business, and will only contact you when there's something important to pass along (ie, an offer on your book). Others are a bit chattier. My agent and I have talked about books in the genre, good pizza, and the unbearable cuteness that is my kids, all interspersed with his efforts to sell my books.

Miss Snark talked about this a while back, though I don't have the exact link. I believe she said that even for the strictly business crowd, it's not unreasonable for the author to check in from time to time (maybe once/month?) to see how things are going.

Overall, when we're working on an offer from a publisher, I'm sometimes talking to my agent on the phone or by e-mail almost every day. When nothing much is happening, it's much closer to the once/month check-in.
 

jchines

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When you e-mail, you could also just come out and ask the agent how often you should expect to hear from them... That way you both know what to expect.
 

Daughter of Faulkner

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Everyone is different

I would think you'd get a sense on how your professional relationship works.
If you are unsure, just ask him in the next e-mail when he will make you aware of what's what, etc.


My agent writes me right back anytime of the day or night I contact him and leaves me his number with unlimited voice time whenever he is out-of-pocket or on a trip. Again, this is rare but that is how our professional relationship works. He can do this because he is a "boutique agent" with 10 or less clients and gives each of us his 110% attention until we move on. He keeps me informed of every step he takes for he is working for me. This makes me feel like I'm his only client and want to work even harder writing more books.


All good wishes to you for a book deal sooner rather than later in 2006!
Keep writing!

:e2BIC: