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Jeff Mariotte · 05-12-2012, 09:42 AM

I've been with my agent for years and years and dozens of books, so haven't had to seek one out lately. But when he goes out with a book, he takes it to ten or twelve publishers at once, and nobody expects that they're the only one in the running.

That being the case, I can't imagine that agents would object to being treated the same way. The old argument against multiple subs to publishers was that if you accept an offer from one, then the others have wasted their time reading it (if they have) and you might have burned your bridges with those other publishers. That's a fairly lame argument to begin with--you're better off letting the others know that you have an offer, and if they want to beat it they'd better step up. But worst-case scenario, you've pissed off an editor or two.

In the case of agents, though, once you have one you don't need the others, at least, unless your agent doesn't pan out, in which case you'll be searching again. But that could be years from now.

So really, you've got nothing to lose with multiple subs to agents.

05-12-2012, 09:42 AM	#8
Jeff Mariotte Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2012 Location: SE AZ Device: laptop computer	I've been with my agent for years and years and dozens of books, so haven't had to seek one out lately. But when he goes out with a book, he takes it to ten or twelve publishers at once, and nobody expects that they're the only one in the running. That being the case, I can't imagine that agents would object to being treated the same way. The old argument against multiple subs to publishers was that if you accept an offer from one, then the others have wasted their time reading it (if they have) and you might have burned your bridges with those other publishers. That's a fairly lame argument to begin with--you're better off letting the others know that you have an offer, and if they want to beat it they'd better step up. But worst-case scenario, you've pissed off an editor or two. In the case of agents, though, once you have one you don't need the others, at least, unless your agent doesn't pan out, in which case you'll be searching again. But that could be years from now. So really, you've got nothing to lose with multiple subs to agents.