MS = full, right?

I've just received a request for a full from an agent I would undergo a root canal w/out novocaine to work with. Her assistant sent me the not that:

_____ would love to take a look at your manuscript, however, she only
reads on an exclusive basis. If the MS isn't out with any other agents,
please email it to me...

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I'm in an interesting situation. First of all- MS means full, right? Would any of you consider a partial as skirting the issue? (I have 3 partials out) Can I just consider a manuscript to be a manuscript and send it with a time limit for the exclusive?

This is the kind of agent I'd waive my "no exclusives" rule for. I'm cheap like that.

The stickier part is this- another agent requested a full, gave the 1st 60 pages to his reader, and then sent me an edit he wants to see to those pages. He told me he's trashing my ms and wants me to resubmit the 60pp sooner rather than later and take it from there. My full is now a partial, but he seems to also be actively working with me on this ms--although he's refusing (under direct questioning) to define what we're doing here.

What do you all think? Are partials exempt ethically? Do I need to mention them to the agent requesting the exclusive and am I ethically bound at all to the agent working with me on the MS not to grant another agent an exclusive during this process if he's dodging questions and throwing out my full? Is it scummy to slow down my edits with him while I send the MS exclusively for a few weeks? My head hurts.

DeadlyAccurate said:

I'd email the assistant and tell her you have several requested partials out and let her make the call. If you're going to give an exclusive, make it a short one. After all, if any of those agents with partials ask for the full, do you really want to make them wait?

As for the agent who's working with you on edits, if you're interested in working with him and you like the editing suggestions he made, why wouldn't you want to get those edits done as fast as possible?

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Good advice! As to slowing down the edits- my concern is that if I give a short exclusive to the agent I heard from today, and the other agent in question likes the edits and re-requests the full, I end up looking like the jerk that I suspect that I sort of am if I then can't send him the full until the exclusive expires.

No one currently has an exclusive, but that agent originally wanted one and I refused. I'm not out of bounds, but I guess I'm a little uncomfortable with all scenarios. I don't want my reluctance to be an ass to keep me from the best chances of presenting my work to these agents, but it feels a little icky.

Julie Worth said:

And if you give an exclusive to this new agent, you're going straight to hell. No question about it.

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Yep, that sounds right in line with how my gut feels about it. Damn exclusives...

Thanks, everyone. It felt sticky. Still does a little, but should be fine. I've sent the full attached to my reply with a "here is the situation" note and a very brief window of time that I agreed to not send out any fulls. I recieved a "confirming we've received your ms" reply with no mention of the parameters I set. I'm sending the edits back to the first agent tomorrow and I'll let him know that interest continues to come in, so he can choose what he wants to do with that after he sees the edits.

Danthia said:

Don't rush into anything just because it's exciting. Slow down, take deep breaths...

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Yep. Adrenaline posting is second only to drunk blogging...

mysterygrl said:

Listen to Orion.

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I've been noticing as I lurk here that this is very good advice across the board.

Thanks again. I'm not great with the "but what if I do this and it leads to this, and what the hell does this mean?" sticky wickets. My brain goes into lockdown. I really need an agent now so I can stop looking for an agent.