Terminated the Author-Agent contract, where to go from here?

Hey all, I'm a long-time lurker and short-term poster on these forums, and I got a question about how to proceed on getting a book published AFTER having it agented.

So to summarize a very long story shorter, I signed with a very enthusiastic agent and went on submission about a year ago with a graphic memoir [graphic novel] that I had fully written and illustrated, and after about nine months, this agent started to disappear on all of her clients and wasn't responding to any of her emails. After a conversation with her on Skype, we thought we got her back on track, but a month later she went off-the-rails again. Not having any more confidence in having her represent the work, I terminated contract with said agent by email and certified mail (which the agency did receive and sign for). It's been two weeks now, and I still haven't heard anything back from either this agent or agency, and I have a feeling that they probably won't reach out again.

That said, I'm wondering how I can even get a submission list from them at this point. I am keen on getting this book published, especially due to over five years of self-funded research and traveling through multiple countries in order to complete this work, and really don't want to see this thing die because of an inept agent soiling the submission.

Any advice where to go from this point? Do I fly to New York with my best pair of door-kicking boots, or what?

Definitely thanks for that, Daniela. I'm still confident in the work getting published at some point, heck the thing recently got shortlisted for an international award, and it hasn't even been signed.

I'm going to start hitting up different agents at the literary agency shortly, but even the head agent of the agency that co-signed the contract with my ex-agent isn't replying. So I'm not quite sure how successful writing to the others will be. Doesn't hurt to try with them, right? haha

For follow-ups and rejections, I only heard updates on that within the first 5 months or so, and I know our first round didn't turn up much at all. We supposedly started round two of submissions, but she was pretty evasive to tell me any response on any of those publishers in that round. I'm hoping they really weren't sent out, because the list of graphic novel publishers is considerably smaller than traditional prose.

Perks said:

Don't give up. That's first priority. If you got an agent once, you can get an agent again.

Certainly keep trying to get a submissions list (with responses!!) -- from anyone in that agency who might be able to pressure your agent to put together and send the list.

But if she doesn't (she probably will) forge ahead anyway. Requery. If there were other agents who expressed interest, get back in touch with them. When the discussions progress, be honest, but neutral. Just say that it was subbed lightly or that you have not been able to get a submission list. If you can't get the list, it will not reflect poorly on you (or your new agent) if future submissions have some overlap. Everybody would prefer that not to happen, but as they say everywhere - shit happens. No big deal.

Best of luck to you and I'm sorry this has happened to you.

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Thanks for the support on this, Perks and Quickbread!

Re: Perks-- Thanks for that note from earlier that you sent, and I think we covered a lot of things that you posted here. As I said, I'm definitely not going to tank this amount of work and research because of one person, so there should be no worries about giving up.

Agreed that something like this shouldn't reflect too poorly on any overlapping submissions, and I feel most editors and agents would be understanding if there was. I'll keep working on getting that submission list, though, since that's going to be helping tremendously to get the next agent on board.

Quickbread said:

Just my two cents here, but I think you should try to be professional but persistent about getting your submission list before you do anything else. Since graphic memoir is very specific, that means a much smaller publishing universe than, say, a YA novel. If your agent supposedly was on round two, you need to ascertain how much exposure your manuscript has actually had, what the responses were, and how much opportunity still exists for it.

I hope for your sake that the agent slacked and didn't submit to many places, but getting that submission list is your right as a client, and it's going to be critical in getting a new potential agent onboard. Also, have you checked your contract to make sure you don't owe your old agent a commission if a new agent sells it?

And finally, don't despair. The same thing happened to me and I finally got my sub list. I ended up calling my ex-agent via a different phone than my own, and he didn't recognize the number and picked up. Since he was cornered, he coughed it up.

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You're definitely right about graphic novels and the amount of available publishers to us--we got something like only 30 mid-large publishing houses within the English market, so every one of them counts! You are right about the part that the agent is obligated to provide that submission list as a client, at the very least, and I do intend to get that back.

There is a clause in the contract that, once the contract is terminated, the agent is entitled to the 15% commission if the book is to sell within the six following months.

Also, really slimy about your past agent not coughing up the sub list and forcing you to have to fake your number...

I'm definitely going to be having more reasonable expectations on what a future agent should and should not be doing during submission, that's for sure.

Quickbread said:

This is good. By the time you get all set up with someone new, some of that time will have gone by at least. Six months is manageable. Is there a period of time you need to wait before you seek a new agent? Some contracts have a clause about that, too.

It doesn't say in your post whether you emailed the other agents at the agency or called. If you haven't yet, calling may do the trick and it's a perfectly acceptable reason for calling (as long as you're professional, which it sounds like you've been). Email is so easy to ignore or rank low on the priority list. It might also get blocked by spam filters.

Once you're ready to start querying again, you'll need to decide whether to mention your previous representation in your query or wait until you have an offer before you bring it up. This forum has a few threads by other authors in similar situations. It kind of depends on the specifics of your situation, but the people around here are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful, so ask for advice if you're unsure.

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Yeah, actually I should give a 30-day notice for termination, and then six months after that to resubmit and make a sell. It's fine since my sequel is going to take another two years to draw, so time isn't too much of a factor. The first book is done and ready to submit whenever.

I agree with you that getting someone on the phone might be the best option for something like this. I'll have to figure something out with this, as I'm all the way in Asia and phone calls can be a bit tricky.

Well mentioning that a book has been previously shopped should be something that comes up fairly early in the conversation of agenting, though I think it could honestly wait after the query letter (but before the agent reads any substantial amount of the manuscript). I will be checking out these resources for sure--AW has been a great resource for years for me.

Well, after all of the clients sent out a joint email to the head of the agency, we finally got a response. Will keep things updated here if need be.

Alright, so our head agent gave our ex-agent the chance to contact us all to make things right, and only two of the clients thus far were given fairly short emails from said agent. My 30-day notice for termination takes full effect, and the former agent nor the head of the agency has addressed or responded to the termination notice specifically. Any options you think need to be garnished?

DanielaTorre said:

Any mention of your submission list?

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No mention of it yet, so that's presenting a whole can of worms.

Our head of the agency finally contacted us back to release us completely of all obligations to the agency, along with waived the 30-day notice required for termination for all the other clients. So at least there's that; I don't owe the agency a 15% commission on any sales at this point forward.

Our only major roadblock now is to get that submission list! I just very recently joined the Authors Guild, which provides free/low-cost legal services, and they would be willing to get a hold of this agent to try to get it.

Sarah Scott said:

So sorry you had so much trouble, Erik. I had a similar problem with a non-responding agent, and so did a few of my friends who had the same agent. She just wouldn't return calls or emails. As dar as trying to get another agent at the same agency... well, if they let her get away with this behavior, is the rest of the agency going to be any more professional? Good luck, though.

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Really sorry to hear about that about your non-responding agent. Don't they understand that they are under a legally-binding contract? Did you ever end up getting your submission list back at all?

Also, I have no interest in getting another agent at this agency.

MandyHubbard said:

Erik,

just FYI I'd be surprised if another agent will take on a shopped manuscript with no sub list, so don't let that go. Even WITH The list, it'll be challenging. But without it, I personally would not shop a project. A "little overlap" DOES make you look like an incompotent agent, but beyond that, I have no idea if the first agent already exhausted everywhere I would plan to take it. I wouldn't be willing to take on the hours and hours of work (and add a client to my list) knowing that I could discover that the project was dead before I began.

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I'm definitely considering having that attorney press the agent about the submission list, so I'm gaining her contact info now. Any other advice to press forward?

Filigree said:

Another reason to consider agents very, very carefully. Through no fault of the author, the whole project can die to commercial publication, just because of poor submissions record-keeping. It may not be endemic to a whole agency. But it is a problem if the senior agent won't respond and make things right quickly.

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Thanks for comments here, and elsewhere on the website, Filigree. Sad thing is that this agent's background and references checked out pretty well, even with the research I did before signing.

Any advice how to proceed?