Bidding war

Amanuensis said:

Does anyone know how exactly a bidding war works? Say you've written the Great American Novel and your agent has subbed it to a half a dozen houses, each one more determined than the next to get it. What happens then?

Does your agent keep calling you every time there's an offer, giving you advice but with you having the final say?

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How often your agent contacts you depends on what you've asked them to do. But yes, of course the author has the final say. It's their book, their contract, their income.

How long does the/can the process last?

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However long you and your agent decide.

Can houses retract an offer? I know sometimes in Hollywood, there can be a feeding frenzy on a script, then one studio backs out and the rest do as well--you go from turning people down to can't-get-arrested. Does that happen in publishing?

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It can happen but it doesn't often happen, judging by the auctions I've seen. Usually, if an offer is made then it's a pretty firm offer, and won't be retracted unless the agent or author concerned makes some ridiculous contractual demands--and that's not likely to happen as such demands are often part of the auction details.

How does a preempt work? Is it like a publisher says, "I will give you one million right now, but you have to say yes before the phone call is over." And is it legally binding on both parties if you do?

Thanks, all.

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It's not legally binding until a contract is in place but yep, that's kind of how it works.

An agent can't agree to anything on an author's behalf unless the author has told them that they can. So when an offer comes in, the agent has to say that they can't accept it until they've talked with the author concerned.

I hope that's a help.

A few days, usually. Three to five? Much depends on the agent, and shorter is usually good. It focusses the mind so nicely.

Just chiming in with a personal account -

For book 1 - there was only one phone call; it came when a desirable pre-empt came in. My agent said, basically: "Here's the proposed deal. These are the good points. I think we should take it because there's a time limit on the offer. Etc." I agreed with her, so we took the offer. This was a matter of hours. This was a pre-empt, so they're basically offering what they think the book would go for at auction, only on continent on your not letting the book go to auction so they get it locked up first thing.

For book 2 - there were no phone calls involved, just emails. We got more than one offer, so my agent set up an auction. She emailed the editors who wanted in on the auction. They emailed back. She emailed me. The chain repeated itself until we got to the offer we wanted to take. In this case, it was a matter of days to the first offer, then the auction was set-up for the next week, and the auction itself took up a day, so it was a total of about 2 weeks.

So, it varies greatly based on who's interested and what they offer, as well as how many parties are involved.

It's definitely nerve-wracking. You'll become attached to the refresh button on your email, and you can forget working on something new - your mind isn't going to let you get away with anything productive.

We actually agreed on taking the offer. It was something that I didn't want to risk losing on the chance that something "might" top.

You should read this blog post: The Auction. I believe the writer of it's on AW somewhere--I think this is where I found it originally --and it's just a really informative/entertaining post that I learned a lot from. Sort of a blow-by-blow of how his auction unfolded for him.

Guerrien said:

You should read this blog post: The Auction. I believe the writer of it's on AW somewhere--I think this is where I found it originally --and it's just a really informative/entertaining post that I learned a lot from. Sort of a blow-by-blow of how his auction unfolded for him.

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That was a pretty funny distillation. He should've chugged some Patrón, though.

One last bit of advice: Trust your agent. When she says it's as good as it will get, don't question her. And never say yes unless the agent thinks it's the right deal.

It's like buying a car. The salesman makes 30-50 sales a year, you make a purchase once every five years. Who's the expert?

Jeff

The agents I know and respect make far more than 30-50 sales each year, Jeff. They're even more expert than you think they are!

Old Hack said:

The agents I know and respect make far more than 30-50 sales each year, Jeff. They're even more expert than you think they are!

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Car salesmen.

Though I suspect my number for them is off as well...

Jeff

WeaselFire said:

Car salesmen.

Though I suspect my number for them is off as well...

Jeff

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My 56 year old mother is a car salesperson, and she sells usually 15-20 a month.

WeaselFire said:

One last bit of advice: Trust your agent. When she says it's as good as it will get, don't question her. And never say yes unless the agent thinks it's the right deal.

It's like buying a car. The salesman makes 30-50 sales a year, you make a purchase once every five years. Who's the expert?

Jeff

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You trust car salespeople? When was the last time when you were on a car lot and paid what the salesperson told you it was worth (hopefully the answer is never)? There shouldn't be a resemblance between your interaction with the guy at the car lot and your interactions with your agent. You are negotiating against a salesperson for a contract. Your agent is negotiating a contract on your behalf.

But yes, I agree with the trust your agent advice.

blueobsidian said:

You trust car salespeople?

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When I go to the car lot, the salesman runs out to greet me and asks what he can do for me. My response is always "I'd like to get ripped off in a car deal."

And we both always get what we want.

Jeff