Getting serious about this agent thing…

So after e-mailing with another LJer (You know who you are! Thanks again…), I decided I liked what she had to say about her agent. So now I have queried a THIRD agent. I have never in my life had queries out to THREE agents at one time. But I don’t think I’ve ever been as convinced I actually want an agent before, either.

I still can’t really choose between the three…not on what I know about them now. I’ve heard nothing but good things about each one. I think the key is how well I click with any of them. Assuming any of them is even interested in representing me. We’ll see…in an ideal world, I will have an agent before I need to negotiate the next contract.

I’m terrible about negotiating contracts. I know just enough to be dangerous. In other words, I know what’s a good deal and what’s not…but I don’t necessarily know how to choose my battles. So contract negotiation tends to go on A LONG TIME with me. I even had one publisher rescind their offer to publish about 8 years ago…because I “asked for too much.” Coincidentally, I have another manuscript with this publisher right now…and that manuscript has gone to committee. It’s a long story, but basically I talked with an editor from that house at ALA last summer (after much urging from a friend of mine who was at ALA with me and who actually works with this publisher!) and found out that 1) the original person I negotiated with is no longer there, and 2) they would actually still be willing to work with me. So if a contract actually comes through again…believe me, I DON’T want to handle it myself (even though I have managed to handle quite a few other contracts on my own without ticking anyone off!).