Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Earlier today, I was at a book signing for one of my favorite authors, who's written several bestsellers. One of the people I was with mentioned I'm working on a book, and the author gave me some very helpful advice and told me the name and agency of an agent he's worked with, whom he said I should contact when I was ready, and to feel free to say he'd recommended it. So, first of all, yay!

However, I went onto that agent's website afterwards and saw that the agent was not currently accepting submissions. This may change by the time I'm ready to submit the manuscript (which may actually be fairly soon) but if not, I was wondering - since one of the agent's former clients recommended I contact him, would it be appropriate to send a query along the lines of, "While I realize you're not accepting submissions at this point, so and so spoke very highly of you and recommended I write to you..." etc., or should I just realize that, although the author was being incredibly nice, he probably didn't know that the agent wasn't accepting submissions, and that it would be rude to go against what it says on the site?

I'd appreciate any advice you guys can give; I'm kind of lost here.

Just be genuine and polite. Email the agent saying you met an author friend/client of theirs. Email the author to remind him/her that met them and you are going drop their name. If it's meant to be, it will be.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice That'd probably work--I mean, the worst the agent can do is say no, it's not like he's going to shoot out my kneecaps--but I'm still hoping that, but the time I'm ready, he'll be open to submissions again. *crosses fingers*

First off, congrats on getting the referral! Second, you're actually probably better off querying while the agent is closed. Since you are able to say you're writing at the recommendation of someone, you're not breaking the "no-cold-submissions" rule of subbing to someone who's closed. And without a ton of queries pouring in the agent might have a few extra moments to give consideration to yours, a query that is coming at the suggestion of someone he/she has worked with in the past. If you didn't have the referral, clearly you'd have to wait, but since you do, don't hesitate! Once the agent re-opens he/she will be swamped with people who were waiting for the chance to sub and checking the site every day to see when it opens again. I'd say go for it as soon as you're ready and hope for the best. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice, and I think I will go for it *gets to work on query*

Go for it. You have nothing to lose