Agent requested meeting but hasn't replied to fix time?

[catlady]

Hello,

an agent has had my full since September and got in touch to say she liked it a lot but had some thoughts, and would I be interested in meeting her to chat?
I have some intel that this agent likes to work with people before signing them, so I'm thinking this might be to discuss a possible R&R (which would be very welcome!)

This happened last Friday and, I know it's only been 5 days, but she hasn't replied to my email saying I'd love to meet and to let me know her availability. I'm going  refreshing my emails, and doing that thing where you wonder if they even received it. Or worse, if she's changed her mind.

How long would you wait before checking in?

Also, if she does fix a date - should I give the other agent who has my full a heads up about a forthcoming meeting?

impatiently yours,

cat lady

[jhartsock]

I would nudge after five business days. Obviously be polite and "I apologize if I missed your message" all that... but a week to reply to email is sort of the outside boundary of the expected response time.

[catlady]

Hey,

thanks for that. I'll give her a nudge on Monday if I haven't heard before then.

Phew - it's like every tiny step of this journey has to be torturous!

[jhartsock]

Hey,

thanks for that. I'll give her a nudge on Monday if I haven't heard before then.

Phew - it's like every tiny step of this journey has to be torturous!

This is so very true. As a GenXer, it seems to me like the publishing industry operates a whole lot like the music industry right before napster, and I'm not sure that's a very good thing for either writers OR readers.

[kaperton]

If I had a nickel for every time I've refreshed my email waiting for a reply from my agent... The last time I emailed, it took her six months to reply. Granted, it was just a "Hey, how's it going?" email that didn't require follow-up, but in the beginning of our relationship, when I was dying to get things moving, I spent a lot of long days staring at my email. Since then I have learned to abandon all sense of time.

[Tabris]

If I had a nickel for every time I've refreshed my email waiting for a reply from my agent... The last time I emailed, it took her six months to reply. Granted, it was just a "Hey, how's it going?" email that didn't require follow-up, but in the beginning of our relationship, when I was dying to get things moving, I spent a lot of long days staring at my email. Since then I have learned to abandon all sense of time.

If this is your own agent, signed and contracted, then call the agent and say, "I just need to establish some guidelines: how long should I wait on a reply from you before I bump it to the top of your inbox?" Because I had an agent like that, and after a while I realized--we are ostensibly in the communications industry, and this is a professional negotiator. If we cannot communicate and cannot negotiate a reasonable timeframe for something as simple as replying to my email, then why the heck are we contracted together?

Don't abandon all sense of time. Make it more specific and nail it down: the agent will reply to you within 24 hours or one week or one month. Before that, you will not expect a reply, and then after that, they are officially late and you will nudge them again.

[vivaviolet]

Hi, catlady. Maybe when you nudge, you can give her your availability and skip ahead a step.

[kaperton]

If this is your own agent, signed and contracted, then call the agent and say, "I just need to establish some guidelines: how long should I wait on a reply from you before I bump it to the top of your inbox?" Because I had an agent like that, and after a while I realized--we are ostensibly in the communications industry, and this is a professional negotiator. If we cannot communicate and cannot negotiate a reasonable timeframe for something as simple as replying to my email, then why the heck are we contracted together?

Don't abandon all sense of time. Make it more specific and nail it down: the agent will reply to you within 24 hours or one week or one month. Before that, you will not expect a reply, and then after that, they are officially late and you will nudge them again.

Thanks, Tabris. I was mostly joking. I have a good relationship with my agent. It's just an inherently unbalanced power dynamic--she's the person I most want to hear from while I'm one of hundreds of people vying for her attention. But you're right--I could be more assertive and direct with her.

[thesatanicverses]

I just posted something similar about this...agents can be notorious about showing tons of interest then basically disappearing. Everyone is busy, but that's the one agents will always lean on.