Q&A Thursday: Back to the Well Edition

Hello friends,

Let's answer some questions! As always, Q&A Thursdays are open to paid Agents & Books subscribers and you can send me your questions via this handy form!

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Now, on to today's questions:

B asks: I got a full request for my debut novel five weeks ago. It is a 95,000-word genre blending work of sci-fi, family drama and literary fiction. How long should I wait before sending a nudge to the agent? Should I even send a nudge?

Things I have done in the last five weeks: Read two client novels. Vetted six contracts. Attended two conferences and three book events. Attended two school events for my kid, three plays, and two movies. Responded to a few hundred

queries. Read one partial requested manuscript. Met with several dozen authors (at one of the conferences, so I'm double dipping there.) Slept roughly 280 hours. Went to nine hot yoga classes. Had twenty-one meetings/calls with clients or editors. Ok, I'll stop there. I don't mean to be a jerk with this list and you have every right to nudge the agent reading your book.

I would maybe wait to nudge until eight weeks have passed. This is not an official number that will work in all situations but it's a fine number, a good one, and one that won't annoy an agent on the receiving end. My list above is to remind you that agents (and everyone who owes you an answer on something) is doing 500 other things every day and not avoiding your work to vex you on purpose. Requested manuscripts are not an agent's number one priority, I'm sorry to tell you. When you're a client, you'll want that to still be true. Contracts and deals are pretty much top priority, followed by clients and submissions, followed by everything else, and then a couple more notches down the list is queries and requests. Do not feel badly that you want to nudge an agent–this is normal and good and fine! You are allowed to nudge! Agents expect to be nudged and we take it in stride. But, as I said to my good friend Glynnis this week no one's watching the clock but you. And that's ok, too. Go forth with your waiting and keep yourself busy. Nudge politely in a few weeks. It's all part of the whole game. Good luck!

A asks: Would it be a bad idea or faux pas to query an agent who previously requested then passed on two different fulls with a third new manuscript? Their feedback was complimentary on the other two Rs (they cited very specific things they liked about the work, just didn’t fall head over heels), but they did not include that sentence inviting me to query if I ever had a future MS either time.

You can absolutely query this agent again. You do not need the official golden ticket that says "please try me again with your future work." Honestly, you can query an agent as many times as you like with different books. Statistically speaking, you may have a one or two percent better chance with another manuscript because (presumably) you've grown and improved as a writer, read more, studied the industry more and this time you're really nailing it with your new book, and this agents sees something they like about your work. Third time could be the charm! I hope this is true for you.

I also may not be. You may be reaching that agent at a particularly busy time, or they may have moved on from your genre between this book and your last. They might have just signed up something that fills a slot your book could have filled. They might have just heard from ten editors that they don't want books with flying cars in it anymore and your book is about a fleet of sentient flying cars. (You know what I mean.) I don't mean for this list to worry or stress you out. It is just meant to illustrate that time passes and things change and that is normal and you can't do anything about it but write your book and shoot your shot. Heck, something might have changed with that agent in the intervening years and you don't want to work with them anymore. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm not saying any of this will come to pass. Maybe they will read this third book, love it instantly, and carry you off to Representation Land. I hope so. I can think of a few instances where a client I have signed up says to me you rejected my previous queries lol. And I hadn't remembered. I don't recall any current client having sent me many queries I rejected but I also don't keep track of that sort of thing. I can think of a small handful of writers who have sent me dozens of queries that I have rejected, but I only remember their names because it really has been dozens over the years and they should probably move on to another agent at this point. You may not want to send a four, fifth, sixth manuscript to this agent if they keep sending you nice rejections. That's ok. There are plenty of agent fish in the sea.

XOXOXOOX,

Kate