What you've always wanted to ask the Agent

I've been receiving a number of questions about authors and agents, so I wanted to take a few weeks to explore agenting. Glenna wrote to ask, "How long does it usually take for an agent to respond after receiving a requested manuscript?"

Everybody is different. I try to respond to people within a month, but this past fall it seemed to take me two or three months before I could read and react to all the submissions. If you'll check out the web site of literary agents, most will offer some sort of timeline in the two-to-four month range. I've heard stories of authors having proposals in to agents for eight or nine months, but my response to that would be: "Maybe you aren't picking up the hint." Look, if you've had something in with an agent for six months, and they haven't so much as responded to your idea, it's clearly not ringing their bell. Move on.

I should also note that I have a couple people who work for me who review manuscripts. Like most longtime literary agents, I don't promise to read everything that gets sent to my company. I work with a couple people who have great editorial eyes, and they frequently take a first look at stuff coming in over the transom. And if something isn't a fit, we may not respond at all. (In fact, it may not be read at all if it's written in crayon, is a retelling of the Book of Revelation, or warns me that I'll go to hell if I dont immediately read and get excited about the idea. Just so you know.)

Not in my book. The way I look at it, if I'm taking a couple months to review a manuscript from you, then you've got every right to use that time and try to see if some other agent might be a better fit. This should come with a warming: Not everyone agrees with me. Some agents do not want to be spending time exploring a project, only to find another agent is also considering it. So be careful. Research the agents you're interested in working with, so that you link up with someone who's a fit, not just someone who happens to be an agent. Oh — and one caveat to what I just said: If you and I start talking about your manuscript, and I give you substantive input into your work, that means I've made an investment in you and your career. I'm only going to do that with someone who really interests me, so be cautious of dismissing that. An agent who takes an interest in your work is telling you that he or she wants to continue the conversation. You'll want to be up-front with them if you're seriously in discussion with another agent. I had a tough situation last year — I'd spent an enormous amount of time helping an author resolve issues with her novel. When she then announced she was signing with somebody else, I was less than pleased. (May her name be blotted out of my memory.)

And Doug wrote to whine at me about agents not responding to his "potentially bestselling" proposal. He wrote: "I had this project in with one agent for nearly a year, and she never got back to me. I sent this to YOU several months ago, and you haven't even answered! Why don't agents do their job?"

Um…Doug, where exactly is it written that I owe you a response? My "job" is to run my literary agency. I mean, I work in the industry. I represent authors. I've got a thriving business going. And… that somehow requires me to reply to everyone who sends me their proposal? Sorry, Sparky, but that's not how the world works. Lots of people write to me. And, uh, not to be impolite, but I've never heard of you. I don't think we've ever met. (If we have and I've forgotten,you'll have to forgive me.) I believe our only connection so far is that you decided to send me a proposal, for a project I'd also never heard of, just because you read about me in a magazine. And you did so apparently without checking our submission guidelines (though they are clearly posted on our web site). So the mere fact I'm a literary agent doesn't automatically mean I owe you a response. 

Think of it this way: If you write to the Mets and tell them you're a relief pitcher, do they owe you a tryout? If you write to Citibank and tell them you've got an investment idea, do they owe you a loan? Business doesn't work that way. I don't owe you a response simply because you can spell my name and have figured out how to send an email. So take a lesson from all the hardworking writers out there — do some research, get to know some agents, get face to face with them at a conference, and base your writing business on relationship, not some misguided sense of entitlement. 

Got a question about working with an agent? Send it along and I'll take a crack at answering it.