Christine Kelly Reads and Writes

I’m really excited to have an agent and I’ve been working on edits for DANIELLE’S NINE DATES FROM HELL. The future feels bright.

I want to share the good news, which is why I’m writing this. Don’t we all just need some content for our blogs? Ha!

But I also want to share what I’ve learned along the way. Until I got my agent, I would read the “How I Got My Agent” blog posts by other authors. And they were super insightful. I love how the writing community wants to share, especially since this is such a big deal! But I do want to point out one small thing… none of these types of posts will give you the one answer you seek. “How I Get My Agent” posts are fun to read, but they do not include a magic recipe of the exact way to get an agent.

Everyone will have a different path. There is no right or wrong (well there could be a wrong, but I’m going to think the best of all of us). If there is one thing I have taken away from the numerous posts I’ve read, and from my experience…getting an agent mostly comes down to luck, persistence and timing (le sigh, I know you all have heard it, but it’s true.). Which is why, you don’t need my full story. I was lucky. I persisted (this was my second novel I queried). And I buckled down to be sure this was the BEST book I thought it could be for the querying process (it is getting a major over-haul now, so it clearly can get even better!).

The point of this rambling post is that I want to offer what happened after the offer. My experience during the 2 week waiting period I believe may not be unique. But it seems to be rarely talked about. I connected with two other authors who experienced something similar.

Here is what happened. I got the offer and subsequently let the other agents with my QUERY and FULLs know. You want to be sure that agents fight over you, so notify people you queried that haven’t responded yet. I ended up getting 4 more full requests when I did that.

Then, slowly I started getting rejections. A few consisted of letting me know that they just didn’t have the bandwidth to read a full within two weeks. So let me say this now– when you get an offer, it isn’t a guarantee that you’ll get more offers. Many agents don’t have the time to read your work and may pass due to the two week period. You may lose out on agents, so don’t fake a offer, and all the more reason to query agents you really want to work with.

The day before my deadline, there were still three agents I REALLY wanted to talk to that I hadn’t heard from. So I nudged. THIS was a BIG debate internally for me. I wasn’t sure if I should. I wasn’t sure if it was allowed. I didn’t want to bother agents (this is my own internal thing that I need to work on). But I’m so glad I did. I ended up getting responses from all three. One was a “I don’t have the bandwidth, even though I love this.” Another was “not a good fit.” Then the last one came the day of my deadline asking for The Call.

It was down to the wire and in the end I signed with Megan Frayser at CMA. She has a wonderful vision for Danielle and Michael and I’m really excited where my revisions are heading.

TL;DR: (1) Tell ALL agents you have queried that have yet to respond and those with fulls that you have an offer. Be sure to tell them the two week deadline date. (2) NUDGE if you’re waiting on responses from agents with your full within the two weeks if you are close to the deadline. If you want to work with them, you have nothing to lose by letting them know that.

Hope this helps and good luck to all querying authors. Manifesting good things for you all!