Could you share about the process between author and agent for the second (and all subsequent) books after their initial polished manuscript was accepted for representation by the agent? Is there more bouncing ideas off one another? Do you want to stay out of the ms development until first draft is done or even final draft? Is the relationship as different as the individual authors and agents themselves? Curious to how the long term author/agent relationship evolves. Thanks.

Sure, Mike! Thanks for asking.

First of all, basically, yes, each relationship is different based on how each author wants to work. I may work differently with each of my authors, depending on how they work, and what they want. But here’s a rough idea of things.

Because I want to work with my authors for their careers, while we sign retainers for a specific book at first, there’s room in the kt literary author agreement to add subsequent titles. For the most part, though, new books don’t go on the retainer until we’re about to begin submissions. Before we get to that point, I’ll often talk to my authors about what new projects they’re working on. If they have several ideas percolating, I might ask to see a brief synopsis, and share my opinion about which one I might be most excited to read. That said, if one of my clients said they HAD to work on a novel about vampire mermaids, no matter what I thought of the idea, I would wait to read it before I made any final determination of quality.

Some clients don’t share their new novels with me until they have a complete draft, which I’m always excited to read. Sometimes, I’ll admit, it takes me a little longer to read a client’s new manuscript than it should — though I’m trying to be better with that. And that varies depending on where the author is in their career, too. If an author under contract is sending me her new novel before she sends it to her editor, then I know I have to get to it sooner, so I can give useful feedback. Whereas if an author was only contracted for one book, maybe, and the option clause says we have to wait until 3 months after publication before they’ll talk to us about a new deal, then I have a little more time before it’s a high priority. Which doesn’t mean it goes to the bottom of the pile — the fact is, my clients’ manuscripts will ALWAYS get a higher priority that partials or fulls that I request from authors.

Where an author is on submission, without a contract yet, chances are I’ve already asked them about what others novels they’re working on, so while I’m submitting Book #1, they’re off working on Book #2, and I will read that when they think it’s ready, and make a judgment call with them if we want to keep Book #1 on submission (if it hasn’t sold yet), switch to Book #2, or talk about if maybe the next novel is going to be the one that sells.

Basically, it’s about communication. I base my relationship with my authors on what they want from me, and hope that I’m providing it.

Does that answer your question, Mike? Any follow-ups from other readers? Oh, and how do you guys like the new commenting system?

I’ve read conflicting information on what to do when an agent has a copy of your ms but since sending you’ve made changes to it. Is it okay to notify them of the changes? Does this irk agents? I’m sure I’m not the only writer to have experienced this.

Before you yell at me for sending an ms to an agent in the first place. Know that the ms is complete, was complete at the time. Because an unpublished manuscript is something that can always be improved upon, I did another round of revisions.

I think it depends on the timing. If you’ve *just* sent a manuscript to an agent, I wouldn’t send notice of a new version anytime soon. However, say you sent a partial a couple of months ago, and maybe haven’t heard back yet. In the meantime, you did your revisions. In that case, I think you could take the opportunity to check in on the status of the material with the agent reading, and let her know that, btw, you have a revised version, if she hasn’t yet gotten to the other version, should you send this instead? I think that certainly works for fulls, too.

I will add, however, that revisions while you’re in the process of querying and submitting make me wonder if you did the revisions at another agent’s request. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, since it shows some interest, but if you’re offering the revised manuscript to other agents, it makes me think about other agents saying no. Now, that may be all in my head, and not worth mentioning, but hey — you asked!

In other news, if you haven’t already, swing by Wednesday’s post about the blurbs for Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris to share your brand of nerdity for a chance to win a super-duper kt literary bookbag prize pack! I’ve got galleys of XVI by Julia Karr, bookmarks for Bad Taste in Boys, copies of Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, and more!

So, say you’re an author with multiple submissions out to agents — maybe a few queries, a couple of partials, a full or two — and you get the magic call. An offer! Someone loves your work enough to offer representation. Huzzah!

Before you sign on the doted line, know that many agents expect authors to take their time responding. After all, this is a big decision. And unless an agent has a policy of only looking at exclusive submissions, it’s common practice for them to suggest that the author get back to them with a decision within a set amount of time.

So, as an author, what do you do with that time? Well, you could just say yes, and do a happy dance about having an agent. But if other agents are looking at your work, the polite and expected thing is to notify them of the pending offer, and give them a deadline within your time frame for a response.

Now, I will admit that I usually don’t bother asking an author if anyone else is looking at their work unless I’m requesting a full. And maybe I need to be more clear when I ask for a partial, and specifically request that I be informed if there’s any movement on the material from other agents.

I think I place a lot of trust in the authors that query me, that they’re tech-savvy and follow not just me on Twitter and my blog, but also follow other agents. And while I think this is widely known and accepted etiquette, maybe isn’t as clear as I think it is. Thus this blog post.

I know that getting an offer is an exciting time. And I do appreciate being told not to bother reading a partial that’s no longer available — it’s much better than reading it, being interested, and contacting the author for more only to be told then that the manuscript is no longer available.

But here’s my perspective on things — if you queried me, hopefully that means you researched me, and found something that you liked about me and the way I work. And in the query process, at some point, you wanted to be represented by me, right? And then I said yes, please send me the partial. Given that you were interested in me, and I’ve shown I was interested in you, wouldn’t you want to give that a chance?

As I said on Twitter, I know I’m not everyone’s first choice, and I don’t expect to be. But if you only have one dream agent, maybe you should only send to them, and wait to hear their response before submitting to others. The other possibility is understanding that what may seem like a dream agent from one angle may change based on your perspective, and that the dream may not be found in a single person, but in an approach to your work.

I don’t want to make any author who gets an offer of representation feel bad about that fact. It’s a great thing, and you should celebrate it! Maybe I’m just a comparison shopper — to me, if I know I can get a great deal on an item at one store, I’m even more curious to find out if I can get a similarly awesome deal somewhere else — maybe with a better parking space, or points that get me coupons to use in the future.

But in the same way that we as agents hope that we get a chance to have an auction for a project, because we know that having multiple people interested means the chance of finding the best situation is even greater, I hope authors see the benefit of having multiple agents reading at the same time.

Does that make sense?

So, a primer on submission lists.

After I’ve signed a client and we’ve gone through the revision process on their manuscript to whatever degree is necessary, and the material is just about ready to go out to editors, I start thinking about which editors I want to send it to. Now, to be honest, I often think of some names throughout the previous process and take little notes for myself, but actually putting together the list usually happens when I’m getting ready to start making my calls.

I think about what kind of manuscript we have, and what editors and houses might do a great job with it. I check my notes for conversations I might have had in the past, where an editor asked for a great middle grade novel for boys, or a steampunk YA for girls, etc. I look at past submissions I made — if this editor liked Author A and was outbid, do I think they’ll like Author B’s novel, which has some similar features? I also check what submissions I have that are currently outstanding — if I’m waiting to hear from Editor Q at Publisher X on another project, do I want to send a second manuscript their way, or should I talk to their colleague Editor P instead?

I often also check the list of recent deals on Publishers Marketplace for editors or houses I may not think of myself, or just to see who else has bought titles in genres similar to the book I want to go out with.

So once I have these names, do I just send off the manuscript to everyone? Nope. I may still edit my list down, for various reasons. I may have found five people in the Penguin group who could be great editors for this project, but I’d rather send to one editor at a time in a group. Plus, I don’t like to have several dozen manuscripts go out at the same time — I find it easier to keep track of things if my rounds are 6 to 8 editors at a time. So I’ll decide who gets it on Round #1, and who I would send it to in round #2 if we need to go that far.

What’s up with “6 to 8″? Well, I find that number usually hits most of the big houses — Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan — and leaves me room to try some of my other favorite houses as well.

So now, with my revised list in hand, I call each editor and pitch them the book on the phone, adding more personal information about my reaction to the story, maybe, or about the author, than I might write in the covering email. After I’ve spoken to the editor and they expressed interest, I email the manuscript with my cover letter, sit back, and wait!

Any questions?

We are looking for:

• brilliant, funny, original middle grade and young adult fiction, both literary and commercial
• witty women’s fiction
• pop-culture narrative nonfiction.

That’s it. That’s everything. But every high-tech thriller, epic adult fantasy, or Vietnam-era sex memoir still gets a personalized rejection, and honestly, it’s beginning to drive me up a wall. I contemplated a query service or web form I can put on my website that would ask queriers to select from a drop-down menu of my listed genres, and if their books doesn’t fit, they can’t submit to me. But I KNOW people would just select something else and submit anyway, and in the meantime, I’ve made it more difficult for those of you who can and do follow directions.

I don’t want to make it more difficult for great writers who write in the genres I’ve chosen to represent to send me a query. I WANT to hear from you guys!

I don’t know if I’ve found the best answer, but for now, I think I’ve found *an* answer, at least. I’ve adjusted my form rejection letter to specifically include “I don’t represent this genre” for those queries that are entirely off base, and those won’t be personalized — they will just say “Dear Writer” and “regarding your book”. I hope this will give me more time to spend on those queries that get it right.

Oh, and since it also seems to need to be said, I don’t personally respond to anyone who asks for reasons WHY I rejected your query. I do give my reasons when I decline a partial or a full, but I can’t for queries. Anyone who asks will just see their email go unanswered. The ONLY queries I personally comment on are my weekly About My Query posts, and you can get more information about those here. That post is also permanently hotlinked on the main Daphne page.

So that’s my little rant for the day. Now back into the query pile!

No more! I want to focus our attention on the writers who follow our guidelines.

If I can figure out how to set up the filter, all queries that aren’t sent solely to me, but rather cc’ed to me as well as to multiple other agents will also be marked as spam. This is akin to a putting up a big poster on a sidewalk asking for everyone and anyone to respond, and I choose not to take the bait. Again, most of the writers who approach me know the proper business form of a query letter is a directed email to one agent at a time, but the ones that don’t take up time I’d rather devote to reading queries that get it right.

In addition, if you’re an author who is sending a new query, but who previously submitted a novel to me for which I requested chapters but ultimately declined, please do say so in your query letter. I have a good memory for names, but I appreciate the reminder.

Anyway, right now I’m looking at queries from March 12th and on. If you sent something BEFORE that date and have not yet received a response, please check your spam folder, confirm that you followed my guidelines and didn’t send an attachment, and do feel free to resend with a note that it is a resubmission. Thanks!

• Email both the queries@ktliterary.com address and my personal email address, so I can be doubly sure of receipt.
• Attach a photo of yourself so I know who I’m dealing with. (If you do not have an up-to-date photo, do feel free to send a picture of your dog, cat, or celebrity lookalike.)
• Send your complete manuscript as an attachment with your letter.
• Do be sure to use as many fonts as you feel is necessary in your query letter, so I can be sure to really grasp the importance of your query.
• Please let me know what other agents you are submitting to.  The easiest way to do this is to copy all of us on your initial email.
• Don’t worry about coming up with an original hook for your novel.  Please use the following formula: “My novel is [John Hughes movie] meets [WB series] with [supernatural creatures]!” Bonus points for including casting thoughts for the inevitable movie based on your book.
• Don’t include any mention of authors or books that readers of your novel might enjoy.  Instead, please be sure to tell me how most books being published recently are crap (use examples, ideally from my client list!).
• Feel free to disregard my previously stated preferences for YA and MG fiction.  I’m dying for a great military thriller, literary tale of a 30-something unsure of what to do with his life, or sex guide to the Far East. You never know until you try me!
• If you’re writing from prison, please let me know up front.  I love the idea of being pen pals, but not being able to gtalk at you at all hours of the night MAY put a crimp on our relationship.
• In fact, if you can’t email, just come on by my office to drop off your manuscript.  Maybe we can grab a cup of coffee and chat!

As always, do your research and make sure you check that all submission guidelines you use are the most up-to-date and comprehensive possible.  Doublecheck all dates — for instance, this one is posted on April 1, 2010.

Good luck!

Today I sent out a new manuscript by my client Kater Cheek to several editors. Hopefully, we’ll hear soon that someone loves it, and wants to make an offer. And though I call each editor before I send the material, when I send the manuscript, I include a cover note that looks a lot like a query letter.

Now, some editors don’t bother reading agents’ covering notes, which is fine. They’ve already heard me pitch the manuscript, and want to get right into reading it, not reading what I say about it. But I find that the covering note I write — if I do it right — gets used more than just once. I may feature it in my rights list for a book fair, like Bologna. It may become part of an editor’s presentation to an acquisitions board, or inspire their flap copy, or catalogue copy.

And it all starts here. In this case, with the author’s short synopsis:

A woman named Kit inherits a magic bindi from her famous witch uncle. Kit has to use this bindi’s powers to find out which of her uncle’s enemies is trying to kill her.

Kater also wrote a little bit more about the manuscript in a query:

Please find below the first chapter of Seeing Things, an 80,000 word urban fantasy set in a fictional city in the Pacific Northwest. The heroine is a young struggling artist and barista who inherits an unusual magical artifact, and has to deal with its powers while she fends off all the people who want to steal or buy it from her. Seeing Things has old folklore and New Age magic, mystery, romance, and a little humor.

Both of which are rather brief and to-the-point.

What I love about the manuscript, though, is how Kater mixes Kit’s sense of humor with some harsh situations and real emotions — even when dealing with vampires, witches, and people trying to kill her. You could take out every mention of magic or supernatural creatures, and still have a very tight mystery about a young woman trying to deal with an unexpected inheritance and the people who’ll do anything to take it from her. It’s a little bit noir, and I like that.

In coming up with the hook line, I’ll admit I had a little fun:

I’m delighted to enclose Kater Cheek’s urban fantasy SEEING THINGS. They say you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but when the horse is a magical jewel that allows its wearer to see things unseen, and people keep trying to kill you for it, well, wouldn’t you call a dentist?

Moving on, I gave a little bit more information about the characters and the situation:

Kit is a struggling artist and part-time barista, trying to keep a lid on her feelings for her sparring partner, who inherits a small bindi on her uncle’s death. Sure, it would have been nice to get the house, or some money, but Kit’s been told the small Indian jewel is worth more than any of her uncle’s other possessions – and when possible buyers start popping out of the woodwork, Kit starts to feel better about her inheritance.

The conflict comes quickly thereafter:

Except for the fact that she’s promised her tea-leaf-reading brother she wouldn’t sell it. And once she starts wearing the jewel – and sees for herself its magic – Kit decides to hold onto it.

Kit needs money, but made a promise not to sell it. And once she gets used to having the bindi, she sees why people are offering so much for it.

However, Seeing Things isn’t just about a thwarted financial transaction. There’s action, too:

But it’s not that easy. Kit is mugged at gunpoint, stalked, and hexed – oh, and the Vampire Guild seems overly interested in her problems. With nothing but a small jewel that lets her see magic, a werebear friend with benefits, and a dead witch of an uncle advising her, will Kit be able to survive through the pagan new year and keep her inheritance?

In one paragraph, we find out a whole lot more about the world of this novel, full of magic, witches, werecreatures, and a (hopefully) intriguing Vampire Guild that reads like a crime syndicate. With that on the table, there’s nothing more for me to add than some information about the author:

Kater is a graduate of the Clarion Writers Workshop, and a contributor to John Joseph Adams’ THE LIVING DEAD anthology, in such company as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Clive Barker, which was named one of PW’s best books of 2009. She has published fiction in Fantasy Magazine, Ideomancer, Big Pulp, and Coyote Wild, among others. Her short story “Voice Like A Cello” was named to Locus Magazine’s 2009 recommended reading list. SEEING THINGS is the start of a series of novels set in and around the fictional Pacific Northwest town of Seabingen. Her website, which features her art and writing, is www.catherinecheek.com.

You’ll note I also mentioned how the book has series possibilities, without going into too much detail. Also, by only mentioning it at the end, I hope I indicated that the book can stand on its own.

Intern Jenny read over my shoulder as I put this letter together this morning, and gave the highest praise: “I can’t wait to read it!” What do you think?

The guidelines aren’t that hard, and they’re there for a reason–to get everything organized and read correctly. It takes, what, a minute to read them? If you can’t correctly comprehend three lines of instructions, it calls into question your ability to read analytically and to handle the many complicated negotiations that a career in writing entails. If you can’t make sense of “do not send the full manuscript unless requested,” then what are you going to do when you get your fifteen or twenty or thirty or fifty page contract? Are you just going to ignore your deadlines because “who reads e-mails with numbers in them, anyway?”

Justine Larbalestier chimes in with her thoughts on her blog (addressing a specific comment that was made about not needing to follow the rules), and GalleyCat’s Ron Hogan added a tweet as well. In addition, Editorial Anonymous shares another agent’s example of someone who clearly needed the queryfail lesson, but refuses to listen.

As for me, well, I’ve said my part in the comments as well, and because I’ve always had a great reaction to my attempts to live-blog my queries, I will continue to do so. Maybe even next week!
One final thought — was it the term “fail” that seemed objectionable? Maybe if we’d called it #querylessons, or some such…