Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Alright, I just read the post by Nathan about when to follow up with an agent on submitted material. I have a partial with an agent, and her website says to expect a response within 4-8 weeks. It's almost been 9 weeks, so I'm not growing impatient, but at what point should I double-check to make sure she received it? I emailed the partial to her, so there shouldn't have been any problems (unless her spam filter got it). Nathan said to wait 60-90 days, but is that from the time of sending the partial, or from the end of the estimated time the agent expects to take on a manuscript? I planned on waiting about 4 weeks passed the agent's time-line (making it a total of 12 weeks), but if I should wait longer to be polite, I can do that. I just don't want to step on anyone's toes, here. Thanks :D

I would err on the side of caution because you certainly don't want to irritate a prospective agent. I've only ever had 4 requests (full or partials) and three came back pretty quickly. The fourth I never heard back from even though she made me print and mail her the first three chapters. I emailed her exactly 3 months later and she never even replied. It was pretty weird.

I recently received a very nice rejection from an agent that I submitted to in October. Her promised 6-8 week response time meant nothing -- it took her 5 months to seriously consider my partial. (And by the note she sent, she did seriously consider it.)

Don't press agents, they're very busy.

I assume that any agent that has not replied in 3 months to be passing but too busy to send out rejections, but that's just for my own sanity. Just send the queries out and hope (but don't expect) that you'll get some word back.

I agree about not pressing agents, but there is also the issue of whether the agent received the information. E-mails are notorious for not being delivered correctly, potentially ending up in spam folders, accidentally deleted, etc.

As long as you are sure this agent does respond, even to rejections, then I would probably stick with the course you're planning. Give an extra month past her stated time frame, to allow for unexpected delays. Depending on where this agent is located, there were quite a few on the east coast that lost somewhere in the vicinity of a 1-2 weeks of office time, due to the tremendous snowfalls last month.

Then I think you should be fine with following up. Just my thinking, but if an agent is going to get highly irritated with you simply for checking to make certain they received your partial, a month or so after their own stated timeline, they may not be an agent you would want to work with anyway.

On the whole, I agree with everyone's advice. You can follow up if you choose, after a decent amount of time has passed (your extra month sounds reasonable). (Keep in mind, though, that when you follow up with an agent - about anything other than to inform them you have an offer of representation - you're basically hanging a big cardboard sign around your neck that reads, "Nobody else is interested, and I'm desperately hoping you are!")

However. I have a small argument with this idea that agents are busy people that you don't want to bother. Yes, agents are busy people, and you don't want to bug them - just like you wouldn't want to bug anyone. Because the fact is, agents are no busier than the rest of us. At the end of the day, they're just people, with grocery lists and a sinkful of dishes and a pet and maybe a kid or two, just like the rest of us.

When you're looking for an agent, you're looking for someone with whom you can share a (hopefully) lifelong business partnership. And if you go into that relationship feeling somehow beneath them, your partnership is probably not going to be as successful as it otherwise would be.

I tend to agree with Krista. You certainly want to be respectful and polite with agents, as you are looking to enter into a business relationship with them, but authors aren't the inferior beings in the relationship. I definitely know why it feels that way, since they seem to have so much power and to hold the key to the gate, but overall I'm sure agents are likely to be receptive to professional inquiries. It's true they don't want to be badgered or deal with unprofessional, whiny authors, but if you're not acting that way, then I don't see a problem.

I mean, really, you're not *bothering* them by sending one polite email after several weeks or months. And if that one polite email is enough to make them go "OH, OKAY BUDDY, YOU WANT TO PESTER ME? HERE'S A REJECTION!", than they weren't who you wanted to work with anyway. If you were acting impatient or annoying, it would be different, but I say send the email when you feel its appropriate. The worst that can happen is that they'll say "Oh right, sorry, I forgot/have been so busy/am not done yet." Or possibly "not for me, thanks," which would suck, but at least you'd know.

Great advice, everyone. The agent DOES say she'll respond to all partial requests (though no promises for queries), so my email would simply be a VERY polite "Hey, I just wanted to make sure you received my email." I'll definitely check with all of you to make sure the e-mail sounds courteous before I send it off :)

And whatever you do, spell "etiquette" correctly.

I personally would err on the side of following up (very politely, via e-mail, after 6-8 weeks, then once a month). Some agents are more receptive to this than others, but would you really want to work with someone who's going to get angry at you for sending a very polite check-in after you've been waiting two months?

And the oracle speaks! Thanks for the advice as always, Nathan.

I actually have another question along these lines. I have my ms with an agent who asked for a two week exclusive that ends this week. I wasn't actually planning to give any exclusives, but two weeks is no skin off my back, and I really want this agent, so I said yes. If he doesn't reply within the exclusive time frame, what should I do? I know that two weeks is a really short time for this business and that he's incredibly busy, and I want him to take as long as he needs to consider it. But I don't want to hold off on querying anyone else for too much longer. He may well get back to me before the exclusive is up, but I wanted to ask while this was on everyone's minds.

Thoughts?

CafeCliche wrote:And the oracle speaks! Thanks for the advice as always, Nathan.

I actually have another question along these lines. I have my ms with an agent who asked for a two week exclusive that ends this week. I wasn't actually planning to give any exclusives, but two weeks is no skin off my back, and I really want this agent, so I said yes. If he doesn't reply within the exclusive time frame, what should I do? I know that two weeks is a really short time for this business and that he's incredibly busy, and I want him to take as long as he needs to consider it. But I don't want to hold off on querying anyone else for too much longer. He may well get back to me before the exclusive is up, but I wanted to ask while this was on everyone's minds.

Thoughts?

Keep querying in the meantime - the two weeks exclusive just means that you can't send your manuscript to anyone for that two weeks. If someone asks for it during the period of exclusivity just say that another agent has it exclusively for x amount of time but that you'll be happy to send it when that period is up. Even though it's a two week exclusive I'd still stick to the 6-8 week period for following up. Presumably the agent is keeping track of the calendar and you couldn't possibly be blamed for sending your manuscript out after those two weeks are up.

Nathan Bransford wrote:I personally would err on the side of following up (very politely, via e-mail, after 6-8 weeks, then once a month). Some agents are more receptive to this than others, but would you really want to work with someone who's going to get angry at you for sending a very polite check-in after you've been waiting two months?

Is that 6-8 weeks after I've sent in the partial, or 6-8 after the time-frame posted on her site?

And I don't think she'll get angry...I just don't want to be a pest :)

gilesth wrote:

Nathan Bransford wrote:I personally would err on the side of following up (very politely, via e-mail, after 6-8 weeks, then once a month). Some agents are more receptive to this than others, but would you really want to work with someone who's going to get angry at you for sending a very polite check-in after you've been waiting two months?

Is that 6-8 weeks after I've sent in the partial, or 6-8 after the time-frame posted on her site?

And I don't think she'll get angry...I just don't want to be a pest :)

Oh - if she says she'll respond in 4-8 weeks, wait until after those 8 weeks are up. It's 6-8 weeks unless the agent otherwise states the expected response time.