I really love the point you make here about junior agents. When I was choosing between two agents, one was a seasoned pro at a major agency and the other, at a smaller boutique agency, told me I would be her first official client. I hadn't even queried her--she reached out to me to say the person I did query just stopped taking clients but she read my book and loved it, and would I be willing to talk to her? Because the other agent was asking about big changes I didn't feel great about I agreed, and I could tell that she just *got it* in a way the other agent didn't. I went with my gut and I'm happy to say it was happily ever after--we were both young and hungry and we've been together ten years now. So I'm walking testament to the fact that taking the risk sometimes pays off big time.
Thanks for a really insightful post! Given I have zero experience in professional publishing, I'd always wondered how I would choose if this situation arose. So thank you. Now back to draft four of that manuscript... 😅
This is very interesting, thank you. What’s so hard is that you never actually know what their working (and communication!) style is properly like until after you’ve been working with them for some time. Although, when choosing my agent I did email with a follow up question which took agent an hour to reply to, one agent a couple of days and one agent nearly a week - even though she knew I’d had other interest. Stupidly, I didn’t take that into consideration when making my decision! Wish I had.
A fabulous read. I'm currently deciding between working with a book coach (paid upfront, with a promise of assisting in many of the areas usually reserved for agents + raving testimonials from his many clients), or writing without a coach and then pitching to agents. Your article was wonderfully clarifying, thank you!
I really love the point you make here about junior agents. When I was choosing between two agents, one was a seasoned pro at a major agency and the other, at a smaller boutique agency, told me I would be her first official client. I hadn't even queried her--she reached out to me to say the person I did query just stopped taking clients but she read my book and loved it, and would I be willing to talk to her? Because the other agent was asking about big changes I didn't feel great about I agreed, and I could tell that she just *got it* in a way the other agent didn't. I went with my gut and I'm happy to say it was happily ever after--we were both young and hungry and we've been together ten years now. So I'm walking testament to the fact that taking the risk sometimes pays off big time.
Thanks for a really insightful post! Given I have zero experience in professional publishing, I'd always wondered how I would choose if this situation arose. So thank you. Now back to draft four of that manuscript... 😅
Thanks so much for this article Katy, it is exactly what I need at precisely the right moment, serendipitous and then some 🙏🏽
This is very interesting, thank you. What’s so hard is that you never actually know what their working (and communication!) style is properly like until after you’ve been working with them for some time. Although, when choosing my agent I did email with a follow up question which took agent an hour to reply to, one agent a couple of days and one agent nearly a week - even though she knew I’d had other interest. Stupidly, I didn’t take that into consideration when making my decision! Wish I had.
A fabulous read. I'm currently deciding between working with a book coach (paid upfront, with a promise of assisting in many of the areas usually reserved for agents + raving testimonials from his many clients), or writing without a coach and then pitching to agents. Your article was wonderfully clarifying, thank you!