(This question is part of a larger subseries called Perpetual WIPs: Mid-Career Authors. For the remaining questions, see here.)
What sort of material did you use to search for a new agent? (That is to say, did you sign on a manuscript your last agent shot down, a new proposal, a new manuscript, just “I have a lot of balls in the air and I need an agent,” etc.)
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I used a current series that I would like to sell more books of to search for the new agent and a small sample of an adult book that is outside of my current genre. I gave them samples of both and we had discussions.
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I queried with a new proposal (about 5000 words and a synopsis of the project) plus a brief description of other ideas I was working on. I don’t think I would have gone with this approach if I hadn’t already been published, but as I had a proven track record and didn’t want to go a long period without representation while I finished a full manuscript, I took a chance and it paid off.
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It’d been such a long time since I’d had an agent, and also a long time since I’d finished writing a novel, so I wanted to be sure I was really ready to kick off a new relationship. As such, I queried with a whole brand-new manuscript, exactly the same as I’d done in the past.
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I was in an awkward place, contracts-wise, when my agent left the business. My third book was in copy edits, and we had yet to decide on my fourth contracted book. I’d been working on a proposal to send my editor anyway, so I queried new agents with that.
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My new agent read my sample based on a trusted friend’s reputable recommendation. That is to say, I got lucky in that aspect. He read my first 50 pages plus a synopsis and called me a day later.
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I wrote a new manuscript! I spent the better part of a year working on and polishing it. I know that I probably could have gone with a proposal, but stories can be wildly different from their proposed synopsis and I wanted any prospective agents to really get a feel for how I handle a book in its entirety.
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I used a new manuscript, but I mentioned the wide variety of projects I had done, and that I had other projects in various stages of completion I was happy to share.
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For my new agent, I did not query traditionally. Ultimately, a friend of mine reached out to their agent and referred me. After the agent read a couple of my published books, they asked to set up a phone call to talk about what I wanted for the future. The agent wanted me to take risks and would not agree to take me on unless I was willing to push harder and think more expansively, as my career had sort of plateaued. I immediately agreed, because pushing myself to write bigger, better books is what I was after in the first place. I was grateful my new agent was willing to take me on mid-contract, because it would likely be a few years before I was ready to sell a new project. My new agent stuck by me until that happened.
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I was sort of in the “I have a lot of balls in the air” category. I’d just signed a multibook deal with my publisher for novels that pivoted away from the kind of books I’d been writing; I have a bit of a complicated film rights situation; and I was receiving interest from some places/publishers that I wasn’t sure I should accept with my current workload.
I didn’t have a new manuscript to query, as I was currently working on a book I’d sold on proposal.
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With my first switch, I queried the manuscript that my agent had refused to go on submission with.
With my second, I actually chose to stay with my agency and just moved to a different agent within the agency, so it was a matter of “I have a lot of balls in the air…”
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I fired my agent when I was between book releases, but I had a lot of things going on and really wanted to have an agent at my back. I knew that this round would be different because I had several books to my name, so I spent a few weeks developing the first chapter and a synopsis of the next book I planned to write and that’s what I went out with.
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The Daily Dahlia 