This is an issue about agents and etiquette and strategy, concerning a novel and a nonfiction proposal I have out there...
My full novel ms is in the hands of two great agents--both read partials of it and said very nice things, so I consider them serious possibilities, although it hasn't been that long so I don't necessary expect to hear back from either of them before another month. One said she was so busy it would take till the end of Aug. to let me know but I should call her if I get another offer before then.
Meanwhile I have also been shopping a nonfiction book proposal to other agents and a small indie publisher. This publisher made a very modest but enthusiastic offer on the book, based on my proposal and two chapters. Two agents who I sent this proposal to said they thought it would be a difficult sale because it combines two genres (memoir and prescriptive nonfiction) even though the writing is strong... blah blah blah...
One agreed when I asked her in a follow up email that I would probably have to write the whole thing first to sell it to mainstream pubs because of the hybrid aspect... and presumably their tendency to be more conservative.
My question is how weird would it be to let the two agents reading my novel know about the offer on the nonfiction proposal and ask them if they'd like to see it before I make a deal with the small Publisher? I don't want them to be upset if they want to rep my novel that I didn't run this other thing by them to rep also...on the other hand, I don't want to jinx or hassle them while my novel sits somewhere in a pile on their desks...
What to do?
My full novel ms is in the hands of two great agents--both read partials of it and said very nice things, so I consider them serious possibilities, although it hasn't been that long so I don't necessary expect to hear back from either of them before another month. One said she was so busy it would take till the end of Aug. to let me know but I should call her if I get another offer before then.
Meanwhile I have also been shopping a nonfiction book proposal to other agents and a small indie publisher. This publisher made a very modest but enthusiastic offer on the book, based on my proposal and two chapters. Two agents who I sent this proposal to said they thought it would be a difficult sale because it combines two genres (memoir and prescriptive nonfiction) even though the writing is strong... blah blah blah...
One agreed when I asked her in a follow up email that I would probably have to write the whole thing first to sell it to mainstream pubs because of the hybrid aspect... and presumably their tendency to be more conservative.
My question is how weird would it be to let the two agents reading my novel know about the offer on the nonfiction proposal and ask them if they'd like to see it before I make a deal with the small Publisher? I don't want them to be upset if they want to rep my novel that I didn't run this other thing by them to rep also...on the other hand, I don't want to jinx or hassle them while my novel sits somewhere in a pile on their desks...
What to do?
