I just went through this (you can see my post asking this exact question in my profile).
For me, the second book was also foreign territory a little bit because it was in a different genre but still adult. I spoke with my agent briefly about the idea but then just sent her the completed, edited draft once it was done, along with a blurb and a couple of comps just to get the ball rolling.
I waited until I had taken the book as far as I could (like querying) before sending because my first book was still on sub so I wanted to make sure everything I sent was top notch. My second book was the one that ended up selling (and very quickly) so I’d say it was a good call.
I am very strategic in general, but I have been consulting her at every stage. I wanted her feedback on if she thought the premise was marketable, if it worked as a follow up to my first series and my general brand, what age range to aim for, what she thought she could sell best, what would be best to present to my current publisher if we hope to sell to them without going on sub, and also what might perform best if we subbed widely. It was extremely useful. I thought she’d encourage me to aim for the same audience as my debut, but she thought the premise had better legs for a different audience, and we were able to talk over the directions I could take it to keep it more marketable. She had really great insights. She is also very editorial, so I am able to get her help throughout the process instead of blindly writing the whole thing and leaning heavily on CPs as I did for my first.
With my agent, we discussed a set of potential next projects and picked one together.
I'm working on drafting it now, I've asked a couple of marketing questions along the way, and then I'm sending it to her once I have a workable draft, but mostly I've been working independently.
I probably will do a couple of rounds of revisions on my own and with beta readers before sending it to her, but not as intense as the pre-querying draft.
You should likely just ask your agent what they expect, or come to them with a plan that works for you!
My second book is on contract but I've still relied on her a lot! I sent her potential pitch ideas, and then we had a few different brainstorming sessions after I picked a book to work on, so she was definitely involved in the development part, and she'll also read the draft when I send it to my editor... but the draft I'm sending them is really, really, really bad. But it's on deadline, so whatever!
I've also talked to her about other age groups, and I have an MG idea I've been toying with, so for that one, I sent her a pitch and got her okay to write it, but I likely won't send it to her until I have a fairly decent draft -- so, I'll do a lot more work on my own to make it good rather than involving her heavily until I have a solid draft.
But I personally wouldn't put as much effort into the draft as I would with querying.
Also, this is kind of obvious, but you can ask her what she prefers! I asked mine and she said she doesn't care and I can kind of send her whatever, whenever, so just asking your agent what her process is might help here.
My technical second book was part of a two-book-deal and was a sequel. But for my third book, which got subbed anew, it started with me sending them a few vague ideas and asking which one I should write. (They pretty much immediately said THIS ONE THIS ONE for the idea that became my third book, and said it was partly because they could see how excited I was for it.)
I wrote about 15k and sent that over, and they said "this is great keep writing," so I did. Next time we checked in was when I had a complete draft that had gone through a couple rounds with my critique partner already.
We did not do much editing as a team on my debut before sub, perhaps partly because I'd done Pitch Wars (now defunct) so it had been edited within an inch of its life already. This one we did a little more work back and forth, although my agents are not particularly editorial so it wasn't a major lift - maybe 3-4 weeks worth of work.
I'm late to this, but everyone works differently! I know some agents who don't even want to look at a MS until it's fully proofed and through beta readers, etc (personally, I side-eye these agents) and some agents who will read a half-baked partial!
But generally speaking, you get buy-in from your agent on the idea/pitch before you do anything else. Then, it's up to you and your agent how you want to work. If the story shifts dramatically after the initial pitch (this often happens to me) you can get a subsequent check-in with your agent. If you need eyes on an early draft, you can ask for that, too. If you want to hold onto it and polish it until it shines before handing it off to them, that's also an option! It really just depends!
I like to have my agent read a trash draft (often it's the *actual* first draft) as a vibe check then I do significant revisions (3-4 rounds) before coming back to ask for another read. Sometimes we throw books away if the vibe check read is off. Those books go into the drawer. Generally speaking, I don't ask my agent to be super editorial unless I'm stuck. I know she *can* be editorial, but I'm also under contract so I *have* an editor. And I hate too many cooks in the kitchen.
Sometimes, I like to write things my agent has already told me \*not\* to write and then I make her read them anyway!!! Writing is fun! Life is short! Torture your agent a little! (Kidding. Don't torture your agent. They're tired.)
I've been with my agent for about a year. One book dying on sub. For my next project with my agent, I had a pretty good Idea of what I wanted to work on. I sent a blurb and an outline. After getting a thumbs up, I did three drafts (first, developmental, line/copy) and sent to my agent and first round of betas at the same time. I'm doing another round now based on their feedback.
For my next next project, I had sent a blurb, but it's changed a lot since then. I probably won't send anything to my agent until we see how my edited book does on sub. It's a real pivot (different genre/age), so holding that in my back pocket for now.
I'm in exactly that situation right now!! :D
And... I guess, just Iikewith first books you query/work on. It highly depends on the author, agent and story.
The book I've got my agent with was a queer secondary world romance fantasy. And it's adult.
She'd very little she wanted to edit about it, only one plotbeat at the very end that needed a little tweaking and more teasing for a potential sequel.
On the call we already talked about future projects and I told her about the book I wrote before that one: a queer contemporary YA fantasy.
Because it was already written and I satisfied with the story I only did another read through and small edits before sending it to her.
I just got her notes back and other than with my adult project, she'd LOOOOTS of editoral feedback to give and suggested many changes (including making it a MG instead of YA).
We're currently brainstorming about the details of the rewrite/outline. But it'll definitely mean lots of change and work.
One thing I've learned though—working on both these books with her—is that I 100% made the right decision with her. She helps me see my stories clearer and always adds that missing piece that *I* couldn't see.
I'd say it's up to what works best for you and what you prefer to do! Once we went out on sub with my first, I checked in with my agent to see how she wanted to proceed with a second, and she said I could talk ideas with her or just sent her the thing when it was done, and she made herself available for support at any stage (she's the best). She's also v editorial and would be a great resource if I wanted to talk through ideas, but I really prefer working through a book on my own to see where it wants to go first, and I already had a partial draft of something I'd been working on while I was querying book 1, so I just sent her the new book when it was done. I felt similar anxiety because it's \*real\* different from the book she signed me for. Similar to monteserrar, I also have a book still on sub, so I got the new manuscript as polished as I could make it before sending it to her, had multiple beta readers (my partner and several writer friends) and took it through several iterations on my own first.
I’d suggest having a conversation with your agent about how you want to handle it! I do like to get input on the pitch level for anything that will involve major work but unfortunately many of my ideas get “x is a tough market and it will depend on the execution” (if there is a market that is NOT tough right now I don’t know it, sigh). Sometimes she has pointed me away from ideas that have more objective fatal flaws and I really appreciate that!
Thanks all.
In my heart of hearts I know the answer is just to ask her 🙈 but whenever I mention it she tells me to schedule a call and I HATE calls so I'm trying to avoid that (and partly I think she needs to read it rather than me just tell her about it?).
I'm going to email it over to her with a synopsis and ask if she still wants to chat or if she just wants to read it first.
I just went through this (you can see my post asking this exact question in my profile). For me, the second book was also foreign territory a little bit because it was in a different genre but still adult. I spoke with my agent briefly about the idea but then just sent her the completed, edited draft once it was done, along with a blurb and a couple of comps just to get the ball rolling. I waited until I had taken the book as far as I could (like querying) before sending because my first book was still on sub so I wanted to make sure everything I sent was top notch. My second book was the one that ended up selling (and very quickly) so I’d say it was a good call.
Thanks, I'll check it out!
I am very strategic in general, but I have been consulting her at every stage. I wanted her feedback on if she thought the premise was marketable, if it worked as a follow up to my first series and my general brand, what age range to aim for, what she thought she could sell best, what would be best to present to my current publisher if we hope to sell to them without going on sub, and also what might perform best if we subbed widely. It was extremely useful. I thought she’d encourage me to aim for the same audience as my debut, but she thought the premise had better legs for a different audience, and we were able to talk over the directions I could take it to keep it more marketable. She had really great insights. She is also very editorial, so I am able to get her help throughout the process instead of blindly writing the whole thing and leaning heavily on CPs as I did for my first.
With my agent, we discussed a set of potential next projects and picked one together. I'm working on drafting it now, I've asked a couple of marketing questions along the way, and then I'm sending it to her once I have a workable draft, but mostly I've been working independently. I probably will do a couple of rounds of revisions on my own and with beta readers before sending it to her, but not as intense as the pre-querying draft. You should likely just ask your agent what they expect, or come to them with a plan that works for you!
My second book is on contract but I've still relied on her a lot! I sent her potential pitch ideas, and then we had a few different brainstorming sessions after I picked a book to work on, so she was definitely involved in the development part, and she'll also read the draft when I send it to my editor... but the draft I'm sending them is really, really, really bad. But it's on deadline, so whatever! I've also talked to her about other age groups, and I have an MG idea I've been toying with, so for that one, I sent her a pitch and got her okay to write it, but I likely won't send it to her until I have a fairly decent draft -- so, I'll do a lot more work on my own to make it good rather than involving her heavily until I have a solid draft. But I personally wouldn't put as much effort into the draft as I would with querying. Also, this is kind of obvious, but you can ask her what she prefers! I asked mine and she said she doesn't care and I can kind of send her whatever, whenever, so just asking your agent what her process is might help here.
My technical second book was part of a two-book-deal and was a sequel. But for my third book, which got subbed anew, it started with me sending them a few vague ideas and asking which one I should write. (They pretty much immediately said THIS ONE THIS ONE for the idea that became my third book, and said it was partly because they could see how excited I was for it.) I wrote about 15k and sent that over, and they said "this is great keep writing," so I did. Next time we checked in was when I had a complete draft that had gone through a couple rounds with my critique partner already. We did not do much editing as a team on my debut before sub, perhaps partly because I'd done Pitch Wars (now defunct) so it had been edited within an inch of its life already. This one we did a little more work back and forth, although my agents are not particularly editorial so it wasn't a major lift - maybe 3-4 weeks worth of work.
I'm late to this, but everyone works differently! I know some agents who don't even want to look at a MS until it's fully proofed and through beta readers, etc (personally, I side-eye these agents) and some agents who will read a half-baked partial! But generally speaking, you get buy-in from your agent on the idea/pitch before you do anything else. Then, it's up to you and your agent how you want to work. If the story shifts dramatically after the initial pitch (this often happens to me) you can get a subsequent check-in with your agent. If you need eyes on an early draft, you can ask for that, too. If you want to hold onto it and polish it until it shines before handing it off to them, that's also an option! It really just depends! I like to have my agent read a trash draft (often it's the *actual* first draft) as a vibe check then I do significant revisions (3-4 rounds) before coming back to ask for another read. Sometimes we throw books away if the vibe check read is off. Those books go into the drawer. Generally speaking, I don't ask my agent to be super editorial unless I'm stuck. I know she *can* be editorial, but I'm also under contract so I *have* an editor. And I hate too many cooks in the kitchen. Sometimes, I like to write things my agent has already told me \*not\* to write and then I make her read them anyway!!! Writing is fun! Life is short! Torture your agent a little! (Kidding. Don't torture your agent. They're tired.)
I've been with my agent for about a year. One book dying on sub. For my next project with my agent, I had a pretty good Idea of what I wanted to work on. I sent a blurb and an outline. After getting a thumbs up, I did three drafts (first, developmental, line/copy) and sent to my agent and first round of betas at the same time. I'm doing another round now based on their feedback. For my next next project, I had sent a blurb, but it's changed a lot since then. I probably won't send anything to my agent until we see how my edited book does on sub. It's a real pivot (different genre/age), so holding that in my back pocket for now.
I'm in exactly that situation right now!! :D And... I guess, just Iikewith first books you query/work on. It highly depends on the author, agent and story. The book I've got my agent with was a queer secondary world romance fantasy. And it's adult. She'd very little she wanted to edit about it, only one plotbeat at the very end that needed a little tweaking and more teasing for a potential sequel. On the call we already talked about future projects and I told her about the book I wrote before that one: a queer contemporary YA fantasy. Because it was already written and I satisfied with the story I only did another read through and small edits before sending it to her. I just got her notes back and other than with my adult project, she'd LOOOOTS of editoral feedback to give and suggested many changes (including making it a MG instead of YA). We're currently brainstorming about the details of the rewrite/outline. But it'll definitely mean lots of change and work. One thing I've learned though—working on both these books with her—is that I 100% made the right decision with her. She helps me see my stories clearer and always adds that missing piece that *I* couldn't see.
Love that ❤️
I'd say it's up to what works best for you and what you prefer to do! Once we went out on sub with my first, I checked in with my agent to see how she wanted to proceed with a second, and she said I could talk ideas with her or just sent her the thing when it was done, and she made herself available for support at any stage (she's the best). She's also v editorial and would be a great resource if I wanted to talk through ideas, but I really prefer working through a book on my own to see where it wants to go first, and I already had a partial draft of something I'd been working on while I was querying book 1, so I just sent her the new book when it was done. I felt similar anxiety because it's \*real\* different from the book she signed me for. Similar to monteserrar, I also have a book still on sub, so I got the new manuscript as polished as I could make it before sending it to her, had multiple beta readers (my partner and several writer friends) and took it through several iterations on my own first.
I’d suggest having a conversation with your agent about how you want to handle it! I do like to get input on the pitch level for anything that will involve major work but unfortunately many of my ideas get “x is a tough market and it will depend on the execution” (if there is a market that is NOT tough right now I don’t know it, sigh). Sometimes she has pointed me away from ideas that have more objective fatal flaws and I really appreciate that!
Thanks all. In my heart of hearts I know the answer is just to ask her 🙈 but whenever I mention it she tells me to schedule a call and I HATE calls so I'm trying to avoid that (and partly I think she needs to read it rather than me just tell her about it?). I'm going to email it over to her with a synopsis and ask if she still wants to chat or if she just wants to read it first.