First of all: congratulations! Multiple offers is something to be excited about. I know it seems like a hard decision, and it is one. Choosing an agent is choosing someone who’s going to be your partner, who’s going to manage your career and help you on your way to get published.
After the calls and after you’ve gotten all your questions answered as well as talked to their clients, it’s time to sit down and think. about the answers you’ve been given. If you’ve got more than two offering agents, I highly recommend using a spreadsheet system to lay down their suggested edits, as well as reading everyone’s agency agreement. See if they are an agent that represents only one book or your whole career, their plans for the future and their submission timeline. All those things should help you make an informed decision on who to choose.
And if you have any doubts, don’t hesitate to e-mail. Offering agents will be more than happy to clarify points for you, and talking to them again might help when making a decision.
Make sure you have talked to their clients and seen their page on Publisher’s Marketplace. All those help you weight this difficult decision. Take your time to sort through the offers, and talk to your friends about the offers and the feelings you have on them. Good writing friends will help you sort out through those feelings, and really choose the agent that is best to represent you.
Still in doubt between agents? Here are things to take into consideration:
- BOOK DEALS. Has their agency had any book deals recently? How well have their books fared? Any agency books with the big five? Any agency books have hit the NYT?
- NEW AGENT vs OLD AGENT. Are they new? If they are new, are they with an established agency, who has had other successful book deals for their clients? If they are an established client, can they assure you that they’ll have time to read your work and you won’t get pushed behind? New agents can have all the time in the world to dedicate to their clients, while older agents may put you on queue. Make sure you choose accordingly.
- FOREIGN RIGHTS. Does the agency and agent work with a foreign rights agent? Do they have someone responsible for selling you overseas? You want to work with someone who can sell your book both in the USA as well as in Europe and other countries. An agent who can do that will not give up the rights to the publisher, which means more money for you.
- WHAT IF YOUR BOOK DOESN’T SELL? This is something you want to be aware of. You need to ask other clients what happened, if they have shelved manuscripts before. You want to work with someone who’s invested in your career as a writer, not just one single book.
These are all good questions, as well as asking about film rights, moving agencies, etc. The first offering agent gives you two or three weeks for a reason, so you can take your time with your decision and choose wisely what’s the best fit for you. Agent Janet Reid has a post on what to ask as well when you have multiple offers which you can read here.
Now it’s time to choose. Once you choose the agent, make sure you e-mail them first to say that you’re accepting their offer of representation.
And now it’s time to tell all the other agents that you’re not accepting their offers. A simple e-mail will do, thanking them for offering. Here’s an example:
Dear agent,
Thank you so much for the time you spent considering me as a client. I appreciate your enthusiasm for my book, and for all the notes you’ve given me.
After much thought, I’ve decided to incline your offer. I ended up with more than one offer, and I had to make a difficult decision. Your enthusiasm for my manuscript as well as <something you like about them> have made it especially hard.
Thank you so much for the offer, and I wish you all the best with future projects and furute clients.
That’s pretty much all you need to do! Some agents will reply to this e-mail, some won’t. Don’t take it personally. But now you have an agent! And your journey ahead of you is wonderful!