Does a Call Mean an Offer?

Eluveitie said:

One of the agents who has my full got back to me, suggesting we set up a time to talk over the phone. However, she didn't explicitly say that she was making an offer. Have you ever had an agent call to discuss a R&R?

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Yes. The R&R ended in an offer of rep, but 8 months later.

Sometimes, the call isn't The Call. A call to discuss an R&R could result in an offer, but not necessarily and sometimes there are more calls before an offer is made. A call to discuss an R&R does indicate interest and that's a very good thing. Think of it as a sort of "first date"—the agent wants to get to know you, learn your vision for the book, and find out how open you are to revisions and edits. That sort of thing. So, it's a cause for dancin', but don't be disappointed if that first call doesn't end with an offer. It could lead to one, though.

Yep, I had "a call" with my agent before I got The Call, too.

I had one call to give me a personalised rejection once!

Treehouseman said:

I had one call to give me a personalised rejection once!

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Were you kind of insulted by this? I mean, if you're going to be rejected a personal letter would have sufficed, not to call and personally tell it to you, surely?

Kristin Nelson wrote a really great post about this. The comments are interesting, too. That being said, my agent didn't say "Can I call you discuss rep?" He just said, "Can I call you?" So really, it was up in the air whether it would be an offer of rep or not until I actually got the call. The time between the email asking for a call and the actual call are the worst, but don't think much into it! Whatever happens happens, and in the end, your manuscript has gotten their attention enough that they want to physically speak to you about your work.

konstantineblacke said:

Were you kind of insulted by this? I mean, if you're going to be rejected a personal letter would have sufficed, not to call and personally tell it to you, surely?

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I had a small publisher once call to reject my full. It actually came at a time when I was ready to throw in the towel, but she had such nice things to say about my writing that I was so thankful that she called. (She rejected because they had just contracted something with a similar character, and because she wasn't sure about marketing it.) She called to tell me to definitely try them with something new, and to discuss what I was working on at the time.

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Eluveitie said:

One of the agents who has my full got back to me, suggesting we set up a time to talk over the phone. However, she didn't explicitly say that she was making an offer. Have you ever had an agent call to discuss a R&R?

Click to expand...

I just wanted to say: Good Luck!!