When I was querying my second book, I had the opportunity to have three calls with agents who offered me representation. It is a unique position to be in, so I thought I’d share a few things I learned from the calls that might help other querying writers, whether you have one or multiple offers of representation.
There are lots of factors to consider when choosing an agent: editorial vision, communication style, industry contacts, career strategy, commission rate, and even time zone. You can find guides on what kinds of questions to ask regarding these subjects and more by searching for “questions to ask agents on The Call,” so I won’t get into those details here. I will say that one of the suggestions I saw on a lot of lists was to ask to speak to a few of the offering agent’s other clients. I will admit that I didn’t do this. It felt weird. But also, I went into the call with the mindset that I wanted to judge each agent on how we connected personally and over my manuscript, not based on what others had to say. (I already knew the agents weren’t “shmagents” so I wasn’t worried about that.)
In hind sight, I would recommend that querying writers ask to speak to other clients, especially if they have multiple offers they are trying to decide between. Not because of anything terrible that happened to me because I didn’t, but because I think it can give you valuable perspective. Finding out from other authors how the edit and feedback process works or how the submission strategy is planned with the agent could be that extra information you need to make your choice, and help to give you realistic expectations of the process. Of course, you can and should ask the agent these questions as well, but hearing it from both sides will only help.
The main thing to remember about The Call is that you are going to be a bit star struck chatting with the agent. You might not remember everything that’s discussed. You might think of a question after the call is over that you’d like clarification on. You should not feel like a bother for sending a follow-up email or even requesting a second call.
When you are faced with choosing your agent, remember, this is first and foremost a business decision. Here’s what I think you should keep in mind when choosing between multiple agent offers:
The agent should give you time to decide. When I had my first offer call, that agent already knew I had other fulls of my manuscript out, and I asked her for two and half weeks to wrap up my outstanding materials. (Two weeks is industry standard, but American Thanksgiving landed within my two week window, so I requested a few more days.) She told me to take as long as I needed.
There shouldn’t be any pressure to immediately sign on the dotted line. You might end the call and know you want to work with that agent, but I would urge you not to rush, even if it is tempting to get to that next stage of your career as quickly as possible!
I’ve seen some posts around forums from writers asking why they shouldn’t just accept the first offer of representation they receive. It can feel “icky” to tell the agent who pulled you from their slush pile you’ll think about it, but it’s a perfectly normal part of the process. It is a professional courtesy to let everyone with your full, partial, or query that you may want to work with know that you have been offered representation and to give them a deadline to respond by. It’s also better for you and your future career if you give yourself a chance to speak with other agents who might also want to offer representation, though making the decision and turning down other agents can be difficult. If you’ve never worked with an agent before, you truly don’t know what you don’t know, so talk to more than one if you are given the opportunity, ask them questions, find out how they work. No two will be the same.
The key words here are agents “that you may want to work with.” Hopefully, you did all your research before you began querying, and you would potentially want to work with any agent you queried. But, if there is an agent that now—with an offer in hand—you no longer feel you’d like to work with, then you should withdraw your query materials.
Essentially, you are updating everyone with your query package so they don’t waste their time reading a query letter or pages for a manuscript, only to reach out to you and find out that you have already signed with someone else.
Besides being professional, the two weeks gives you the chance to think about your conversation and ask any questions you might come up with later. It also gives you time to read through a blank copy of the agency agreement and contact other agent clients. It’s a big decision to make, so take your time!
The agent can’t guarantee anything. On the call, the agent should be able to tell you their basic submission strategy for your work. They should not be able to guarantee you anything! An agent can’t know they will sell your book for six figures/at auction/in a week/to a Big 5 publisher. They obviously have faith that they can sell your book (that’s why they are offering you representation) and they might even have an idea of how they think it might go based on their prior experience, but they really can’t tell you anything for certain. If they could, then no book would ever die on submission, which is sadly, not the case. In fact, I would encourage you to ask your offering agents what happens if they don’t sell your book.
The agent should love your book. I know this sounds obvious, but if it comes down to choosing between multiple agent offers where everything else seems equal between the parties, this is a fairly simple tie breaker: who did you feel had the same love and passion for your book that you have? Not just an understanding, not just an “I can sell this” mentality, but a love for the story you’ve told, a connection to what you are trying to say. You want someone who really “gets” it, especially if you are looking at doing substantial edits with them.
What does your intuition say? Not very scientific, I know, but if you have all the information laid out in front of you and you still find the choice impossible, sometimes you just have to go with your gut.
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