It's awesome of you to give an inside look into the life of an agent. My writing partner and I are so entralled by everything you get to experience, we've thought of a storyline featuring you as the MC! "The Adventures of GK!" Kidding...or am I? :)
I'm actually writing because I was hoping you could answer a question for me. If someone were to have a full out with an agent, and they overhauled their first chapter, but not much else, would this be reason enough to send an updated version to the agent? Or do you think one chapter wouldn't make or break an agent's decision to offer representation?
Hi!
Yes, I think that's enough of a difference that you should resubmit. That's the first thing the agent sees--it's possible (though, one would hope, unlikely) that a full could get rejected after the agent reads the first few pages. And it's not like the agent will (as sometimes happens to me) sit there thinking, "I know this is a revision, but what's the difference?" The difference will be obvious. So, yes. Go for it. Make sure everything is just so and and follow the instructions here.
Now, if you had changed a chapter in the middle that wasn't a pivotal scene, I don't think you need to say anything. If you change the end, perhaps send an email that says you've changed the ending, give a short description (a line or two) about the difference, and ask if they'd like to see it.
It's not so much that I think you'll annoy an agent--though I suppose some may be annoyed; do a quick Google search to see if they're quoted saying, "I hate resubmissions more than rudeness, comma splices and phone calls put together!"--but I think this is unlikely. It's more a tactical decision. You only get one of these before you get into "start thinking about writing a very gracious email to smooth things over" territory, so use it wisely.
While we're on the subject, a writer submitted a revision to me this morning and gave me a list of page numbers where I could find the new passages. Very helpful. Gold star.
I think "The Adventures of GK" would be an excellent cartoon or comic strip. :) Can I have magical powers? I'd like the following, in order of preference:
- Safe, instant self-transportation
- Excellent psychic abilities--imagine how much more quickly query/manuscript reading would go!
- Flying, aircraft-free (though perhaps with free tomato juice) for fun and profit. I'd probably need a very thick sweater to avoid being flash-frozen.
All best wishes,
GK
4 comments:
Wow. Those stars are ridiculously cute. I'm a fan of marvelous.
Thank you so much for all the insight you give and the questions you answer. For those of us in the query process, its very helpful.
Hi
I just want to give my own experience on this subject. I had an agent request a full. I went back in and did a revision on the whole ms. I too wanted to send the agent the new ms and with advice from another agent I contacted the agent who had my full ms, long story short, she did accept the new ms stating that if she had already started reading she would have not but since she had yet to start it she would accept the new version.
I guess it just depends on the agent. Hope this helps. By the way, the agent is still out with my ms so keeps your fingers crossed for me! : )
I'm in the same situation. My first chapter has gone through significant revisions since I sent an agent my requested full. But what do you suggest we put in the email subject heading so the agent see there's a new version?
Also, the changes weren't due to feedback from an agent, but rather from someone who had gone through a similar situation to my mc. Her comments increased the authenticity of the first chapter. Should I tell the agent this?
Thanks for the timely post!
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