Okay, so you’ve got through the agonising wait and now it’s the day of the call. If you’re anything like me, phone calls freak you out a bit. I don’t like talking to people, and especially if I’m nervous I worry that I’ll ramble or not make sense.
That’s why I made myself a mini-script, based on questions I wanted to ask, that I could have in front of me. I probably over-prepared, but it made me feel better to have them in front of me.
I should also mention that these questions won’t always be applicable, or you might be able to find the answers online, so pick the ones that work for you!
Here are the questions I prepared to ask:
My Current MS:
What do you think of my work?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript?
Do you think it will stand out in the marketplace?
How ready is it? What revisions do you suggest?
Current MS Submissions:
Do you have a plan for submission in mind already? What’s your expected timeline?
Which houses/editors do think will be a good fit for this project?
How many editors do you plan to submit to initially, and how many do you plan to submit to overall if it does not sell as soon as hoped?
I know it varies, but what is the expected turn-around time for an editor during the submission process? How long will you allow a project to languish before you’ll nudge?
How open are you with information during the submission process? Will you keep me updated as rejections and offers come in? Will I know exactly who you’re submitting to at all times? Are you willing to share the rejections with me?
Agent Philosophy:
Are you an editorial agent?
If so, to what extent?
How collaborative are you? How hands-on are you?
Will I be working solely with you, or will there be times I’ll work with an associate or assistant? If so, please elaborate.
What would you expect from me as a client?
Clients:
How many clients do you have?
Are you confident you have enough time and energy to add another client to your roster?
If it’s not already full, how many clients do you wish to have on your list eventually?
Do you represent clients book by book or on a career basis? Are you confident that we have a great chance of making a career-long match?
How much of my genre do you handle?
Future:
Will you work with me on career planning and marketing? Do you work with a publicist?
What happens if you can’t sell this manuscript? What if you don’t like my future projects and ideas?
Would you still support and represent me if at some point I wrote outside of my current genre?
How do you work with clients when generating new ideas?
What if another client and I approached you with a similar idea? How would you move forward in that situation?
Communication:
What is your preferred method of communication? How often are you in contact with your clients? How soon can I expect an answer to any given e-mail? How about a revision or new project?
What are your business hours? When do you prefer to be contacted?
How does the agent keep clients informed about their activities on client’s behalf?
Legal/Contracts:
Do you have a verbal or written contract?
What do the terms and agreements include?
What is the duration of the contract?
If it’s written, would you be willing to go through it word-for-word with me if I felt that was necessary?
Are there any situations where you’d make decisions on my behalf?
If for some reason we need to part ways, how will this be handled? Are there any stipulations I should be aware of? How would unsold rights for the works you represented be handled?
For what reasons would you terminate a client?
If a situation should arise where you are no longer able to represent my work, do you have a plan for me? Or will I need to seek new representation on my own? What if I’m in the middle of the submission process? How would I proceed?
How are subsidiary rights handled within your agency? Would you say your agency is strong in subright sales? Do you see potential for my project in this regard?
(Note: for this section, I’d strongly recommend you do some research on standard contracts.)
Financials:
What are your commission rates? Are they the standard 15% domestic and 20% foreign/film?
What is your procedure for processing and disbursing client funds?
How soon will I receive my share when payments are received?
Does the author receive payments directly from the publisher, or do payments go through the agent first? How long after the agent receives advances and royalties will they send them to you?
Do you keep different bank accounts for author funds and agency revenue?
Will I receive a 1099 at the end of each year? Will I have full fiscal disclosure upon request?
Will you be billing me for any submission costs (supplies, etc)? If so, what should I expect? How will those costs be charged to me?
Okay, that was a lot of questions! You will probably find that a lot of them come up organically as part of the conversation, and if there’s anything you forget at the time I’m sure the agent would be happy to answer via email.
I should add here that it’s also worth doing research on what the standard/accepted answers are for these questions, so that you know if you hit a red flag or something you should be wary of.
Other than having the questions prepared, my best advice is just to take a deep breath, have some water and a notepad ready, and don’t overthink it. Remember, agents are humans too–and probably also a bit nervous as they also hope it’ll go well!