Last week, I wrote about the still slightly unbelievable day I got an offer of representation for my book, THE STORM CROW.
Still unbelievable nearly nine months and a book deal later because, honestly, I’m not sure this will ever feel real.
After receiving my first offer of representation, I got to send some of the most exciting emails of my life, all titled:
OFFER OF REPRESENTATION: THE CROW QUEEN
(THE CROW QUEEN being my book’s original title.)
Which made my Inbox an utter mess of confusion, but was also super exciting!
Once you’ve received an offer of rep, you get to tell every other agent who has your manuscript (full or partial) or query about it. For those of you who may be in this situation, here’s the general template I followed:
For agents with my QUERY:
Dear AGENT NAME, I realize you may not have seen my query yet, but I wanted to reach out as I've been offered representation by another agent. If BOOK TITLE seems like something you'd be interested in, please let me know. I plan to give the offering agent an answer by DATE. If not, no worries, and thank you very much for your time! Best, CONTACT INFO + Insert personalized query you sent them below for reference
Honestly, you can probably come up with something better than ‘no worries,’ but I digress.
Also, I totally don’t mind if you want to steal this template. Go for it.
For agents with my MANUSCRIPT (full or partial):
Dear AGENT NAME, Thank you for your interest in BOOK TITLE. I've received an offer of representation, and I've told the offering agent that I'll give them an answer by DATE. If you are also interested, could you please let me know? Best, CONTACT INFO
Agents will either respond with a pass or ask to see the full manuscript. A couple things to consider here:
- Only do this if the agent who offered you representation is someone you’d like to work with (after you’ve had a call with them, which I’ll talk about in a bit). Do NOT use an offer from an agent you wouldn’t work with to nudge other agents. Many agents will pass because they don’t have the time to read your manuscript in the short window you’ve likely given, and it’s also not fair to the offering agent.
- Similarly, only send the above email to agents who you’d be equally as interested in working with as the offering agent. Hopefully you didn’t submit to any agents you already know you wouldn’t want to work with, but take time to think about this. You don’t want to make busy people put aside time for you if you’re not going to truly consider them!
I received several more requests to read my manuscript after that. A lot of these agents didn’t get back to me by my deadline. If that happens, that’s okay. Focus on the responses you do get!
Here’s where things got a little weird for me. The agent who made an offer didn’t set a date for me to get back to her by. Essentially, she let me set one myself. At that same time, I had completed an R&R for another agent.
R&R stands for Revise & Resubmit.
Also known as YesNo, Not Quite There but Almost, This is Really Good BUTTTT, and Heartsplosion (a combination of heartbreak and explosion from excitement.)
It’s where an agent really liked your book, but they have some suggestions and would like to see the manuscript again after you’ve incorporated them. Which you should definitely only do if you agree with the edits! Don’t waste your time or theirs.
Since the agent I’d completed the R&R for was someone I was interested in working with, I went ahead and sent it along. Then, once I’d decided on a date to tell agents about my offer, I sent her another email informing her of the offer.
3 days later I got a second offer of rep.
When I let the R&R agent know about my offer, she prioritized reading my updated manuscript. 4 days later, she made me an offer too. Somehow, I had to chose between several amazing agents.
When you receive an offer of rep, the first thing that will probably happen is you’ll freak out for a while.
The second thing is you’ll get on a call with the agent. I recommend preparing by creating a list of questions you want to ask the agent.
Here are a couple websites whose posts on this subject really helped me:
Literary Rambles Rachelle Gardner
Really though, Google any variation of “Questions to ask a literary agent before representation” and spend some time browsing the results. It’s also worth looking up common questions literary agents will ask you on the call. Here’s a quick reference for that:
Carly Watters
Other things I recommend you do are:
- Ask to speak to some of the agent’s current clients. The agent will likely give you a list of emails for authors you can contact and question.
- Ask to see their standard agency agreement to make sure you’re comfortable with what you’d be signing if you went with them.
- Email them with any additional questions you come up with. Forgot something major during your call? Don’t hesitate to reach out. This is an important decision and agents understand that you want all the details.
I also suggest you take notes during the call, as well as compile important details from the above suggestions. That way, you can use them to compare later if you receive multiple offers of rep.
Which sounds like a dream, and in a lot of ways it is, but it was also one of the most stressful and difficult decisions I’ve ever made.
With additional offers from two agents I would have loved to work with, the choice took me a while. Even after asking them all my questions, talking to their current authors, and researching absolutely everything I could about them, I couldn’t decide.
In the end, I did exactly what all the posts like this one I’d read told me to do: I trusted my gut. I went with Carrie (the R&R agent!), because I’d seen her editing approach and the way she understood my book, and I felt comfortable with her because of that.
On top of all the other stuff of course. Clients, sales, phone call, etc. Consider everything!!
However, I can honestly say that I truly believe I would have been happy with any of the three offering agents, because they all seemed amazing based on my calls with them.
Once I’d signed with Carrie, I completed the most important step of this process: I celebrated.
I ate more ice cream than is probably good for me, went to dinner with my friends and family, and tried not to hide under the table when they attempted to tell every stranger we passed.
But seriously, don’t forget to celebrate! You’ve done something amazing and you deserve it.
