I have a three ‘fulls’ out to agents that I am very excited about (that is, these are agents that I would be very pleased and excited to work with and that have outstanding track records). One full was from an agent that requested a full initially, and two are from agents that asked for a partial and then a full manuscript. All these requests for a full manuscript have happened in the past two months.
There is one agent, however, who has had my partial for about three months but has not yet sent me a response. While I would be ecstatic to be represented by any of the agents currently holding my manuscript, the one who has yet to respond is the one that I think is truly the best fit for my work, my personality, and my future plans. I am 85% sure that this isn’t just a ‘grass is always greener’ situation. I don’t know if this non-responding agent tends to be slower than a typical agent, but the other three agents with fulls have all been very quick in their correspondence. (One request from query to partial to full happened over the course of just 3 weeks – hardly even enough time for the post office to deliver all that correspondence.) By the way, I know three months on a partial is not an outrageous timeframe by any means.
Here is what has me worried (and what a wonderful thing to ‘worry’ about):
If I am fortunate enough to have one of the other agents offer representation, I would be completely foolish (and probably rude) to not immediately accept --- correct? I don’t really feel like I am in the position to say “Thanks for the offer, hold that thought while I check in with one of your competitors to see where he is at.” Should the fact that he is taking a long time tell me that he isn’t as excited about the manuscript as the other agents might be, and therefore he may not be the best of the four agents to represent the work afterall?
Has anyone here done something like this to try to get the “best offer”? Was it a trainwreck?
Thanks in advance for any insight/advice/slaps. I understand there is a mighty good chance that I’ll find four rejection letters in my mailbox today and be back at square one. I just like fantasizing about best-case-scenario worries such as this.
I apologize also for this rambling post. I hope my novel isn’t as incoherent as the paragraphs above.
There is one agent, however, who has had my partial for about three months but has not yet sent me a response. While I would be ecstatic to be represented by any of the agents currently holding my manuscript, the one who has yet to respond is the one that I think is truly the best fit for my work, my personality, and my future plans. I am 85% sure that this isn’t just a ‘grass is always greener’ situation. I don’t know if this non-responding agent tends to be slower than a typical agent, but the other three agents with fulls have all been very quick in their correspondence. (One request from query to partial to full happened over the course of just 3 weeks – hardly even enough time for the post office to deliver all that correspondence.) By the way, I know three months on a partial is not an outrageous timeframe by any means.
Here is what has me worried (and what a wonderful thing to ‘worry’ about):
If I am fortunate enough to have one of the other agents offer representation, I would be completely foolish (and probably rude) to not immediately accept --- correct? I don’t really feel like I am in the position to say “Thanks for the offer, hold that thought while I check in with one of your competitors to see where he is at.” Should the fact that he is taking a long time tell me that he isn’t as excited about the manuscript as the other agents might be, and therefore he may not be the best of the four agents to represent the work afterall?
Has anyone here done something like this to try to get the “best offer”? Was it a trainwreck?
Thanks in advance for any insight/advice/slaps. I understand there is a mighty good chance that I’ll find four rejection letters in my mailbox today and be back at square one. I just like fantasizing about best-case-scenario worries such as this.
I apologize also for this rambling post. I hope my novel isn’t as incoherent as the paragraphs above.
Hopefully you understand what I mean.
