So You Got an Agent Offer. What Next?

It’s every querying author’s dream: after weeks/months/years of putting your artistic heart out there, you finally get the agent offer you’ve been waiting for.

As a writer friend told me when I giddily confessed that I had a call coming up, this is one of the rare times in the publishing process when we writers have power.

How do you make the most of it?

By making sure that the agent you choose is the best person to represent you, ideally not just for the project but for your writer career.

5 most important things to remember when you get a literary agent offer

Looking for a quick guide to the post-offer period?

Here’s what you should do if a literary agent offers to represent you.

1. You don’t HAVE to give everyone the chance to represent you. Sometimes it’s better if you withdraw from agents who have your query who aren’t a great match!
2. Don’t take it personally when some agents decline because they don’t have time to read your materials before the deadline. That’s just how it goes!
3. Manage your stress. This is a chaotic period of time, so take care of yourself.
4. The due diligence is a lot of work. But having other calls with literary agents, checking client references, and reviewing the offering agent’s track record and sales in your genre will help me to make the decision with confidence.  
5. Read and review your contract carefully so you know what you are agreeing to! Ask any questions you have before you sign!!

Notifying Other Agents Who Have Your Query

The first step is notifying anyone else who has the query/pages, which I did the day after my offer came.

I withdrew from some agents who I didn’t feel as excited about.

I let everyone else know and set a deadline of two weeks to get back to me.

For fiction authors, I think 3 weeks is a better idea given the current lengthy wait times in the industry.

Some agents got back to me with passes right away, saying they didn’t have time to read on a tight turnaround. Some said they’d take a look at my proposal and let me know by the deadline. Some wanted to hop on a call.

Here’s an email template I used for this:

Subject: Offer of representation re: [Project] 

Hi [agent name],
I realize you may not yet have had the chance to review the query/pages/full/partial manuscript. I wanted to let you know I’ve just received an offer of representation from another agent! I’d appreciate a response by [time – I said 5 pm] on [day, date] that I may make decisions.

All best,
[Your Name]

Due Diligence: How to Research the Offering Agent

I reviewed my agent’s Publishers Marketplace deals to check for alignment during the querying process.  If you haven’t done this, I strongly recommend doing it now.

Forget what’s on their MSWL, PM shows you what they have actually sold.

Here’s what to look for when you check out their Publishers Marketplace profile:

• Have they sold books in your genre, from authors with your identity?
• Would you read the books they’ve sold?
• Do you know any of the authors they represent?
• Can you see your book on the shelf with those books/authors?

in my case, it was a huge HELL YES to all of the above. Trinity has amazing taste and (bonus) represents other LGBTQIA authors, so I wouldn’t be an “only.”

This is also when I asked to speak to a couple of her current clients.

I reached out via email with a brief list of questions drawn from this Writers Block Party blog and BookEnds agency.

Both clients got back to me with rave reviews.

Review the Agency Agreement

While you’re waiting for people to email back, review the agency agreement for red flags.

Make a running list of anything you have questions on, so you can get answers before you sign.

Since we didn’t talk about it during the call, I wanted to know whether my agent would represent my fiction, or just nonfiction.

I used the Authors Guild and literary agent Kate McKean’s Substack to vet my agency agreement.

Both of these resources lay out what is standard industry language in these agreements, and what language to avoid.

Navigating Other Calls and Requests

Notifying agents of an offer speeds things up.

I had one request for a call within the first 48 hours of notifying agents.

Another agent expressed interest, then said they had some changes they thought the project needed to be sellable. Those weren’t changes I particularly wanted to make, nor had anyone else thought those changes were necessary, so I decided not to pursue that agent.  

I had a call with a new agent at an agency I liked, whose lead agent had requested and ultimately passed on one of my previous manuscripts.

I was excited at the possibility to be adjacent to that lead agent, but less enthused about a new agent with one sale of a medical TikTok nonfiction book.

I went ahead with the call, and I’m glad I did.

That agent was nice, connected to my book, and was very excited to be a part of putting it into world. But my gut told me they didn’t have the experience or the vision to actually sell my book. And my now agent did.

After the call, they discussed my proposal with the agency and realized they didn’t have a vision to sell it. They decided not to offer.

Since I’d reached the same conclusion, I was relieved.

This journey is so different for everyone. You might wind up with multiple other offers, none, or somewhere in the middle. In the end, how many other offers you get doesn’t matter. What matters is finding an agent who gets your work, is compatible with your working style, and feeling trust and confidence to move forward.

This is part 3 of a series of how I got my agent blog posts. Check out the full recap of how I got my agent, or my favorite querying resources. Posts like this get sent to newsletter subscribers, then added here when I find the time. If this is the kind of resource that you find helpful, please consider subscribing.