How to land your agent of choice

[lovinlife83]

So I am waiting to query my favorite agents until I feel really confident.

Just wondering...what do you do if you receive an offer, but have yet to query your favorite agents? 

[bodwen]

Hmm... depends on the gulf between the offering agent and your favorites. 

If the agent doesn't appear on QT, is NOT RECOMMENDED on P&E, or has a weak or nonexistant salesrecord, I'd decline and keep querying.  The offer is your validation that you're ready for prime time.

 
If the agent has a good trackrecord, but you were really hoping for a superstar, I'd say shoot off a quick query, but plan on settling with the offering agent.

[KalenO]

I've actually been sitting on a similar problem.  I'm READY to query with my next novel, impatient even, but my dream agent isn't open to unsolicited queries right now.  Her whole agency is closed to them, and they do this regularly, stop accepting them for a few months until they get caught up with workload then open up again.  They've been closed to queries since February but there's still no sign of when they'll open up again, and the waiting is killing me.  I'm basically just wasting time as we all know the query process takes months anyways.  But everytime I think about sending off a query elsewhere to start, I just kinda go, crap, what IF I get an offer quickly, before the other agency opens back up and I get a chance to query?  I won't even be able to nudge them.  And so I hold off awhile longer.  Sigh.  It's driving me bonkers.

[lovinlife83]

So if you did send off a quick query like you said bodwen, do you say you've received an offer with it?

Sorry Kalen. That would be hard to wait.  Hope they open soon!

[Steph Campbell]

I've found that it's best to stay open minded. I think we all have one or two agents in the front of our mind that we deem the "dream agent", but in reality, there may be an even better fit out there. I also think that during the query process, your idea of what the dream agent is changes a bit. just my opinion, but I wouldn't halt all querying waiting for one agent to open up to subs... When I started querying my current ms, I sent out the first batch of 5, one was my absolute first choice agent, two were agents that I had heard good things about and liked the authors they repped and two were sort of just thrown in the bunch because they repped the type of book I was querying and thought I'd give it a shot. I got a partial or full request from 4 of them. And a form rejection from my "dream agent".... so, again, my advice- keep an open mind.... best of luck!

[KalenO]

Oh I absolutely agree, and its not like I'll fall on my sword and commit seppuku if I don't get this ONE agent - she's actually really new, with not a lot of history to go on, but she's at one of the premiere agencies for my genre and the interviews I've read with her are totally sympatico with what I'm looking for - but its by no means a given that I'd sign with her even if she did offer.  I just like my options, and I hate wondering 'what if' and she hits enough of the points on my Dream Agent check list that if I end up with a different agent, I want it to be because she rejected me/wasn't the right fit, or I ultimately clicked better with another agent - not because I didn't query her in the first place.  I'll give it til June probably (I've only had this MS query ready for a couple of weeks now) and then my natural impatience will kick in and I'll start querying anyways.

[B]

One of the things I've experienced is having an agent really high on my list and then having him/her change agencies. At least once it tremendously affected how excited I'd be to work with him/her, considering what agency they went to. It was a great reminder of all of the factors that go into it and why it's so important to query widely. Having said that, there *is* a dream agent in my book, though there are several who are a relatively close second. 

[Sarah Ahiers (Falen)]

i think it's funny that whenever i receive a full request, that agent suddenly skyrockets to the top of my dream agent list, no matter where they were on my list before. 

[violet]

i think it's funny that whenever i receive a full request, that agent suddenly skyrockets to the top of my dream agent list, no matter where they were on my list before. 

Well said!

[B]

Conversely, I think it's sad that sometimes getting a request is the only thing that really puts into perspective how (un)comfortable I really am with an agent. 

[lovinlife83]

I thought I read another thread recently that you can nudge on a open query if you receive an offer. Is that true? Do people send nudges on more than just requested material?

[meddyK]

I can't say for sure, but I think JennAlbin did this, and it worked (very well, I might add!).

[B]

I thought I read another thread recently that you can nudge on a open query if you receive an offer. Is that true? Do people send nudges on more than just requested material?

There have been a couple agents (like Rebecca Sherman as one example) who've been very vocal about wanting a nudge even on a query if you get an offer elsewhere. I know she's not the only one, but she's the one that stands out because she's said it on multiple occasions.

[Doc]

I've read a couple of other agents who want nudged, too.  If I were an agent, I'd want to know something was about to go off the market, rather than never knowing.  It's the agent equivalent of no response, and it doesn't seem fair to the agents.

[Sarah Ahiers (Falen)]

yep i've always heard you should nudge all agents you've queried who haven't rejected you yet