R & Ring with one agent while others are waiting -- should I nudge?

Hi lis, that is quite a conundrum, but a good one! Congrats on the interest! Here's my humble opinion:

For starters, definitely start the rewrite incorporating any advice from the agent you feel will make your book stronger. Shoot a note to the R&R agent saying you're doing this, and that you'd appreciate any additional feedback on your most recent outline (you might attach it again. Agents lose things like all humans!).

I wouldn't worry about the other agents who had your fulls. Publishing is glacial, and if the other agents liked your premise and style, they'll remember it when they get the rewrite even if quite a lot of time passes. The agents I've met have amazing memories for stories and characters. You're in a nice position, because if nothing comes out of the R&R agent, you have some established interest to tap into *plus* a stronger book.

Good luck!

Congrats on the interest.

I guess the thing I would ask is "Can you see any other potential changes you would want to make?" It's great that the agent is providing feedback on the outline, but there's also a point where you may not be able to make more changes even if they seem to still want something else. (I mean, you can always change stuff, but I'm talking about changes that effect your vision of the story/book. At some point you can't diverge any further because it moves beyond development of content and into writing a different story.)

Sometimes you won't see further changes until someone points them out to you. (I've have at least one project with my agent that has gone through 3-5 different drafts because he's able to suggest things I hadn't yet considered. At the same time, he sometimes suggests things that I'm like "Nah. That's not right.") But you need to be able to recognize when you are satisfied with something too and be able to stick with that. So, if it were me, I'd start working on the revisions. Maybe don't dive in full-speed, but consider which things you want to change and are 100% committed to.

(Also, I'd suggest - in the future - not pulling a MS until you have a revised MS to offer. Even if you find that an agent is offering suggestions that you really agree with, that doesn't mean a different agent isn't going to love the thing you've already written or offer different suggestions. Once you have a revision completed you can then contact any other agents and say "Hey, I made significant revisions based on agent feedback, would you like to see the current MS?")

If I were you, I would run the agent’s comments by a couple of trusted beta readers and ask for their opinions on the revised outline. Then I would start revising immediately. Agents are so busy they sometimes forget, or they may suddenly be swamped with work from their clients. There is no telling when she will get back to you. As long as you feel good about the outline, make the changes, and resubmit the full MS to the other agents.

lis_kb said:

But Janet Reid said I should! I did wonder if I was making the right decision by doing that. I read on her blog that it's important to always send best work and if you know you are making changes to let the agents know so that they only read the work you want them to read. Here's the post: http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2014/10/query-question-revising-novel-when-on.html

But live and learn... I think now I probably would have not pulled it but who knows. The R&R agent is my top choice so I guess my thinking was that it wouldn't hurt to pull it from the others until ready.

Thank you for your advice! Looks like I'm going to be diving into revisions soon.

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I guess the thing I would think about pulling something before the revisions had been made is that sometimes things don't work like you think they will. And, while it's rare, I guess to make changes and then realize you hate them there is the possibility that you try something and decide it's just not right for the story. (Of course, you could keep working on it until you find a better solution, but it's always possible to get caught up in the excitement and then discover you didn't like it as much as you first thought.)

FREX: My agent usually gives me notes after I finish the first draft. Which sometimes involves him spitballing an idea or two for filling in slow areas or strengthening a relationship or something. Sometimes he says something that I think would be cool to try, but then once I play with it doesn't work for one reason or another. I don't typically do nothing if he says "This bit is too long/choppy/whatever" but sometimes the solution is not at all what he originally suggested I try. If I were querying again, I would be wary of pulling a MS until I was certain that I had made substantial changes to the MS with revisions. But maybe that's just me.

lis_kb said:

That's a good way to look at it! As opposed to my way which was borne completely out of query etiquette anxiety. This is great, thank you!

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Well, every book is different. And you have to do what you feel is right for your book. (I have had projects - of varying sizes - that after the fact I realized needed a lot more work. I'm not saying "Never pull the MS." I am saying "Take some time with the consideration of pulling a MS." (When querying I got a rejection from an agent who thought my MC was "too belligerent" - which made her "unlikeable" - and almost simultaneously a rejection from an agent who loved the fact the MC didn't back down from a fight.)) Agents are people, they have preferences, that's okay. The trick is recognizing what you want from your book and then making that happen.

Advice, even from professionals, is still advice. I'm sure you did what you thought was best at the time. Having done revisions (both at the querying stage and then at the have-an-agent stage) my perspective is slightly different, but that's because I wasn't certain I would be making substantial changes and didn't want to pull a MS until I was certain I had a better one in the queue. (Also, if you find yourself in a position where you change a relatively small amount of material, it's still okay to contact agents who have the full and say "I made some changes based on agent feedback. Would you like to see the new version?" I, personally, would wait until I reached that point unless I felt an agent had discovered a fatal flaw in the work. [I did have a beta-reader who did that with a draft and they were correct. I would have queried a project that was not structurally sound.])

All of this to say, anxiety tends to be the name of the game with querying. Everyone is going to do things a little differently. Knowing your MS will make a difference in how you approach revisions and asking about looking at revisions. [Janet Reid is a topnotch agent. But I had a ton of folks tell me not to use a logline in my query because Reid said not to... and then I got a 4 minute full request and then a phone call with an offer because of a query with a logline instead of a multi-paragraph pitch. Individual agents are... individuals. Research and listen to your gut about your project.]