you didn't, oh gadzooks, you did.

Three weeks ago, I got a Full request from an agent and I quickly submitted my Full to her.

Then last week, another agent emailed me, saying she enjoyed my submission and would be delighted to read the Full, but that the agency only read on an exclusive basis.
I replied back, attaching my Full and confirmed that the first agency still have my Full but haven't yet got back to me and that I promised not to submit my Full to any other agents whilst she was considering it. I asked her if this was agreeable and also for a rough indication of timescale for reading my novel exclusively, but she didn't respond and there is no indication the agency website.

Then, lo and behold, I've just had a third request for my Full this afternoon, but have had to explain to this agent that I can't currently submit my MS to her, as it is out on an exclusive, but would she be prepared to wait for now, until I get clarification from the exclusive agent?

I then dropped Ms Exclusive agent a brief, polite email explaining that I have just received another Full request but have obviously not submitted as I agreed to exclusive arrangement and could she give me a rough idea when she might be able to get back to me?

She still hasn't replied.

I have never had an exclusive request before – I'm assuming Ms Exclusive will read my MS - she didn't reply saying she wouldn't - and I did clarify that it was only with one other agency.

How would you advise that I proceed?!

The first agent who requested my MS, e-mailed me a week ago to say she will be back at work this Monday after a week's holiday and will be in touch this coming week.

Remember when I told you exclusives sucketh the Large Lemon Drop?
No?
Ok, here's where I said it again.

And in case you need that third iteration: Exclusives Stink.

Your first (well, only) mistake was Agreeing To A Deal She Didn't Offer.
 She asked for an exclusive.
You sent the ms and ADDED: I won't send this to anyone else till you let me know.

Because she has not AGREED to your offer, you don't have a contract with her. And by contract I mean an agreement about the terms of exclusivity (duration for starters.)

You are free to submit this manuscript to Agent #3.
When (I hope) Agent #1 calls with an offer, you notify Agents #2 and #3 of the offer.


I have no idea why you thought it was a good idea to hamstring yourself with Agent #2 by saying you'd stop sending your work out to people actively asking to see it.  That gives Agent #2 more
power over your career trajectory than anyone deserves. You also let her set the terms; NEVER DO THAT. If you're agreeing to something, you offer terms that are favorable to YOU, and let her negotiate. 

Exclusives assume an agent's time is more valuable than yours. That is not true and any agent who says that (or thinks it without saying it) has a skewed view of themselves.

Exclusives are never in a writer's best interest and an agent who would ask you to do something that isn't in your best interest is not an agent I'd want to work with (nor should you.)

I will tell you that exclusives seem to be much less prevalent in the YA market where there is a lot of competition for good manuscripts.  The YA agents I know read manuscripts overnight, and have notes in the morning for the author on hot projects.

If an agent doesn't like to lose something cause they're slow, there's one easy answer to that: read faster. It's not like we are operating under varying time/space continua.

R&R exclusives

On a recent WIR you explained how to query when you have an offer on the table. You mentioned it is best to involve the agent as soon as possible in the process.

Scenario: an editor offered an R&R. I agreed with editor's vision and suggestions, (which have made my book 100x stronger). Checked out all the online resources for red flags. Talked to a writer in my local RWA chapter who has published with said publisher. All looks good. I agree to proceed, and receive my very first edit letter.

During the R&R discussion, this is what was agreed to: I would take as long as I need to revise, and when I submit back to editor I would give editor 90 days to offer/reject before submitting elsewhere (I know exclusives are bad, but after the extensive edit letter and all the work editor put into it, this seemed reasonable). If editor likes, it goes to acquisition board, and if they like it, they make an offer. I stated up front that if an offer was made I would be contacting an agent.

My questions for you are - did I screw anything up in this process? Is an exclusive okay in these circumstances? And, if my timing choices for querying an agent are (a) when I'm done with the book, (b) when the editor is considering the revised book, (c) when the editor decides the book is the best thing ever and takes it to the board, or (d) when a formal offer is made, which do I chose? I am thinking the answer is (d), and if no offer is made, query normally?

No you didn't screw anything up, and yes you should query with a subject line of "offer in hand from X publisher" when you query (answer d.)

If an editor has given you notes and asked for an exclusive on the revised manuscript, it's polite to say yes. I probably would have negotiated a shorter time period since things get pushed down the To Do list the longer the time frame for MUST REPLY.  30 days is certainly enough time to read something and decide if you want to take the next step.


My trumpeted disdain of exclusives is when the agent or editor hasn't added any value yet. Just offering to read something doesn't add value. It's our damn job.


Once the editor or agent has some skin in the game (ie sent an editorial letter) then giving them first crack at revisions is the right thing to do.

Query Question: why are agents asking if they're reading exclusively?

I've recently received requests from agents for full manuscripts (yay!)
The last two have asked whether they would be looking at it exclusively.
What are the getting at? Do they think I'm querying agents one at a time? Do they only want to read my ms if they know that other kids are reading it? Are they stuck in an early century?
I replied to each that other agents were also reviewing the manuscript, and they could let me know if they had a problem with that. But honestly? It just felt so strange, and as though I must be missing something.

My thoughts on exclusivity are widely available (they stink.)  That said, sometimes I do ask a querier if I'm the only one looking at something.


My intent is not to ask for exclusivity (cause we all know that stinks) but simply to assess where we are in the query process.


If a querier has sent out 200 queries and I'm the only agent reading, well, that gives me some good intel on where we are.


If the querier has sent out 3 queries, and I'm only the first to respond, that's intel too.


Mostly this happens with non-fiction for me. When I read a proposal for a non-fiction book there's often a lot of revising and editing and shaping to come. I'm reluctant to start offering up all these suggestions if an author hasn't narrowed his search down a bit. Some of that is concern for time management: writing up all those ideas about revisions is time consuming. Some of it purely proprietary: I don't want the author to take all my ideas for revision, improve the proposal and then sign with someone else.  


I think you can assume that all agents assume you are querying more than one agent at a time. Asking about exclusives is a bit different than asking FOR an exclusive (which is good, cause we all know those STINK.)