Interacting with agent for R&R?

aetherpen

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Hi! I’m in a situation that’s making me nervous and I thought I’d ask if anyone more experienced has any thoughts or advice.

So, I’ve been querying a novel, and I received an R&R a couple of months ago. For this R&R, all the agent did was ask me to introduce an external conflict to force the two main characters together in a more compelling way, but she left it completely up to me as to how to accomplish that (though she gave me a few suggestions). Because her request was so open-ended, she made it sound like I could communicate with her as I did the R&R to bounce ideas around.

I was a little unsure and intimidated by the scope of rewriting that her R&R involved, but I was really impressed with her enthusiasm for my book over the phone and her dedication to supporting marginalized authors. So I started brainstorming.

Because I still have a couple of agents who have fulls/partials of my manuscript, I decided not to get in contact with the R&R agent again until I had closed out the other agents, on the off chance that I received an offer of rep. And I let her know upfront that I was still waiting on those agents’ responses, and she sounded understanding. But I’ve been quietly working on the R&R as I’ve been waiting.

Two weeks ago, out of the blue, I received an email from the R&R agent, checking in to see how the revision was going and what direction I’d decided to go in. I was pretty surprised and incredibly anxious about how to respond.

I decided to be transparent and let her know that I still had a few agents with my manuscript, since, again, on the off chance that I receive an offer of rep, I didn’t want her to think I’d wasted her time through long email conversations. But I also described my ideas for the R&R and said I’d welcome any feedback. To be honest, I hadn’t gotten very far yet, because I’d never done a rewrite on this scale before.

It’s been two weeks, and I haven’t received any response to my email. Obviously I’m not her client (yet), so I know she doesn’t have to prioritize correspondence with me, and I guess she could be on vacation or something. But I can’t help feeling worried that maybe I said something in my email that's made her lose interest in my manuscript. Maybe she didn't like the direction I was going in? Could she maybe be upset that I’m still waiting on other agents’ responses instead of withdrawing my manuscript everywhere and being fully committed to the R&R?

I'm really not sure how to act in this situation. If anyone has any advice, I’d be eternally grateful. Thank you.
 

Earthling

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It might have come across that she's your Plan B and she didn't like that, or she might just be busy. There's really no way of knowing so, hard as it is, try not to keep guessing!

The good news is she's obviously VERY interested in you, because it's really unusual to actively chase an R&R like that.

In your shoes I would start on the R&R, assuming you agree with it (from the little information you've given, it seems she gave pretty sound advice) and send it as soon as it's ready. If you get an offer from her the others will be forced to respond sooner.

If you don't agree with the R&R then thank her and move on.
 

cool pop

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Sounds to me like you aren't really interested in the R&R. If not then don't force it. You have things with other agents then keep pursing those avenues. If this agent was interested than others will be too. You shouldn't make the changes if you aren't happy with them. She isn't the only fish in the sea by far. If it was meant to be her client then it will work out and if not that's okay too. From your post I just sense hesitation that you want to incorporate her ideas and if so moving on is best. She's told you what she wants so...

Also, her advice is pretty standard. Unless an agent has taken you on as a client, she's not going to give you detailed ways to incorporate things into an R&R. Time is money. The most you will get from many is what she said. She says she believes it needs more conflict. She's not gonna say, "Character A should do this and B should do that." It's your job to figure out how to incorporate what she asks for IF you want to. When an agent becomes your agent they work more closely with you but you're not her client. She has clients she has to take into account before anyone else so that's where her time and expertise is going to go.

I also think you probably shouldn't have told her all that. It's not her business what you got going with other agents and you did make it sound like she's a backup plan, which no one wants to be told.
 
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aetherpen

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Thanks for the replies. The truth is that I've been struggling a lot with this R&R over the past few months (plus other life issues this year have gotten in the way of writing), so it's not something I imagine I can finish soon, unless new inspiration suddenly strikes. I totally understand her advice (which seems geared toward making the story more attractive to publishers); I've just found it challenging so far to do.

Also, her advice is pretty standard. Unless an agent has taken you on as a client, she's not going to give you detailed ways to incorporate things into an R&R. Time is money. The most you will get from many is what she said. She says she believes it needs more conflict. She's not gonna say, "Character A should do this and B should do that." It's your job to figure out how to incorporate what she asks for IF you want to. When an agent becomes your agent they work more closely with you but you're not her client. She has clients she has to take into account before anyone else so that's where her time and expertise is going to go.

I didn't mean to imply, at all, that I was unsatisfied with the vagueness of her advice or anything like that. She herself mentioned that she viewed this as an unusual situation and said therefore she welcomed more communication from me regarding how to accomplish what she wanted. Like I said, I didn't plan on contacting her until I finished the R&R (or was at least well on my way to doing so), but I felt anxious since she reached out to me first.

I also think you probably shouldn't have told her all that. It's not her business what you got going with other agents and you did make it sound like she's a backup plan, which no one wants to be told.

I get that. I just thought that if I received an offer of rep after I began discussing the R&R with her and then tell her I'll be bowing out, that would totally burn the bridge, which I didn't want to do. These aren't new full/partial requests; they are the ones still outstanding from the queries I sent before I received the R&R (perhaps I should have clarified that?). And since I told her so initially and she said she understood (she even brought it up herself, during our initial conversation, that she would understand if I'm still waiting on other responses), I didn't think she would get offended...but as I said, I'm pretty out of my depth when it comes to how to interact with agents in this kind of situation.
 

Sparverius

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Two weeks is nothing, really. The agent sounds very keen, but her continued investment will depend on you actually completing the R&R eventually, or another offer potentially pushing her into an offer because she's excited enough to take the risk. Either way, just wait for any response that might come from her, and continue working through the revisions if they feel right to you. If they don't, that's okay too and you have other materials out, which is great!
 

cool pop

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Thanks for the replies. The truth is that I've been struggling a lot with this R&R over the past few months (plus other life issues this year have gotten in the way of writing), so it's not something I imagine I can finish soon, unless new inspiration suddenly strikes. I totally understand her advice (which seems geared toward making the story more attractive to publishers); I've just found it challenging so far to do.



I didn't mean to imply, at all, that I was unsatisfied with the vagueness of her advice or anything like that. She herself mentioned that she viewed this as an unusual situation and said therefore she welcomed more communication from me regarding how to accomplish what she wanted. Like I said, I didn't plan on contacting her until I finished the R&R (or was at least well on my way to doing so), but I felt anxious since she reached out to me first.



I get that. I just thought that if I received an offer of rep after I began discussing the R&R with her and then tell her I'll be bowing out, that would totally burn the bridge, which I didn't want to do. These aren't new full/partial requests; they are the ones still outstanding from the queries I sent before I received the R&R (perhaps I should have clarified that?). And since I told her so initially and she said she understood (she even brought it up herself, during our initial conversation, that she would understand if I'm still waiting on other responses), I didn't think she would get offended...but as I said, I'm pretty out of my depth when it comes to how to interact with agents in this kind of situation.

I understand why you wanted to tell her, just saying you don't have to tell an agent anything at this point. When you get an offer is when you tell them what else you got going. Other than that, you don't owe them any explanation. And for the R&R, I was just clarifying not to expect much. Some agents might be more forthcoming but many won't. They'll just tell you what they feel will make the work stronger and it's kind of like a test. They want to see how you incorporate the changes and if you know how to work under that type of pressure because if you get a publishing deal, you most likely will have to make many changes. An R&R helps an agent see how you do in those situations.

Maybe she didn't get offended about the other agents but it can happen. That's why it's best not to overshare. Just tell agents what they need to know WHEN they need to know it.

Good luck to you!
 

Fuchsia Groan

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She might also think that your mentioning the other requests is a way to encourage her to go ahead and offer rep (by playing up the interest around the ms.). Or very possibly she realizes that you were just doing it to be conscientious. Honestly, I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Getting no response or a delayed response from an agent or editor is par for the course; publishing is very slow. Her bothering to check in on the R&R is the anomaly here, but it’s a good anomaly.

I would not worry about her response or lack thereof until you’ve sent her the R&R (if you do), because the proof is in the pudding. For you two to be a good match, you need to like her revision idea, and she needs to like your execution of it. Focus on the part you can control: whether and how to make the revisions she wants.
 

mccardey

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Two weeks is nothing, really. The agent sounds very keen, but her continued investment will depend on you actually completing the R&R eventually, or another offer potentially pushing her into an offer because she's excited enough to take the risk. Either way, just wait for any response that might come from her, and continue working through the revisions if they feel right to you. If they don't, that's okay too and you have other materials out, which is great!


+1. Try not to let this interaction play on your mind too much - these things can be paralysing. Congratulate yourself, stick a nice note up on your wall to say KEEP YOUR FOCUS!! and just - well - stay focussed and keep working. (If you agree with her suggestions).
 

RaggyCat

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I wouldn't worry about having caused offence to the agent by being upfront. A. It's holiday season, so she may well be away (you could check her Twitter to see if this is the case). B. She may not feel your email requires a response. C. She may just be really busy, and will wait for you to get back to her either to say you've received an offer of rep or with the R&R. Hang in there! Having an agent chase a R&R is unusual and really encouraging.
 

WeaselFire

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Usually an agent asks for a R&R because they are genuinely interested in the story and its sales potential. Do the R&R (sounds ike a very reasonable request from her) and resubmit. It can be as simple as two people meeting during a fender bender or a blind date or it could be a volcano caused both to flee in the wrong direction and get boxed into the same location. It really depends on your story.

Jeff