4 Steps After an Offer of Rep
So you’ve been querying your novel, and finally it happens - you get a full request that turns into an offer!
Now what do you do?
Step 1: Talk With the Offering Agent
The first thing you should do is set up a call with the agent who made you the offer to get a sense of whether you work well with them. There are a number of good resources for what questions you should ask an agent on “the call.”
If you feel like you and the agent would work well together, then great! Proceed to step two.
Step 2: Notify Other Agents
If there are other agents with your full manuscript, and you want to know whether they would be interested in representing you, you should email them (or send them a QueryManager message, or whatever) that lets them know you received an offer.
To do this, either use the QueryManager message tool to send a “received an offer of rep” message, or send an email. If you send an email, reply to your emailed query but make sure you change the subject line. My subject line was “OFFER OF REPRESENTATION: Title, Age Range, Genre.” This is because many agents have inbox filtering set up, and offer of representation notification emails get sent to a special folder for immediate review.
It’s industry standard to give other agents with your materials two weeks to look at them and make a decision. If the offering agent is legitimate, they should have no trouble with giving you at least two weeks to respond to their offer. (If they try to rush you into signing a contract...be wary.)
You may also choose to notify agents with your query who haven’t requested materials yet, letting them know you have two weeks to do so. And if you’re querying in batches and you haven’t yet sent queries to all of your “perfect fit” agents, you might also choose to go ahead and send that query, and then follow up right away and say you have an offer but would like to give them the chance to consider your material.
When you do this, it’s important to understand that some agents won’t be able to review your materials within your time frame. Still, notifying them is a courtesy and you should give them the chance to jump on your manuscript if they read it and fall in love!
Step 3: Pick Your Agent!
When your two weeks are up, and you have offers in hand, pick your agent! Congratulations!
Step 4: Withdraw Outstanding Queries
This is a professional courtesy. If you haven’t heard back from agents who have your query, withdraw it. This can be done via email, again replying to your original query with a new subject line. QueryManager makes this really easy, because withdrawing a query can be done at the click of a button. This way, agents don’t waste time reading queries when the author has already signed with an agent.