I have another beginner's question on submission of a proposal. Briefly for background, I submitted my query letter to an agent with Trident Media Group in New York City. I had been under the impression from the research I had done that answers to queries generally took 3-6 weeks. I had planned to use the interim to finalize a complete book proposal, which is in draft form. Up until this stage I had focused my efforts on writing the manuscript, which is about 90% complete for a first draft. To my surprise, I received a very interested response from TMG within the hour asking for a full proposal. I want to be very responsive and optimize my chances, but will not have time to complete the full proposal at an acceptable standard of professionalism for a few days (full-time job getting in the way here). Do I send an interim response to the agent at TMG giving a date on which the proposal will be sent? Do I wait until the proposal is done and then send it in? Simple little thing, but for one very new to this game a very vexing question. Thanks in advance for your responses.
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I vote for responding soon, thanking them for their interest and giving them a date when they can expect the proposal. And I'd make it as soon as it can reasonably be done. Don't fret if that's a couple or three weeks though. Agents have enough other goodies to keep them busy.
Congrats on whetting their interest and good luck the rest of the way.
Congrats on whetting their interest and good luck the rest of the way.
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I concur. You want to respond quickly but you don't have to commit to the proposal RIGHT NOW. Prompt response is the way to do business.
Thanks for the responses. I followed your suggestions and gave them a date on which they can expect to see the proposal. The agent responded with a brief note expressing his thanks for the update and that he is looking forward to the proposal. Again, a simple little beginner problem, so I appreciate the advice.
You mentioned that you have been working on the manuscript and it's about 90% complete. For both nonfiction books I've had published, I sold them through my agent based on the proposal only. The company preferred to edit my manuscript as I wrote it, first a third, then two thirds, and final manuscript, paying the advance in three blocks. Marge
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