Hi

Are there any UK based WWers who have chosen to send their MS to a US Agent? I ask because some of my favourite writers have the same US agent and I wondered if there is a good business (or other ) reason why I should stick to only UK based agents. I'd be grateful for any insights on this. S

Hi Shika

I never sent my MS to a US agent, but I did to two US publishers. I sent over there because I'd recieved about 30 rejections UK-side (most of which contained praise or encouragement) and an agent here suggested I try America.

The first publisher was into gay erotica and wanted to 'put the story on the back burner, bring the sex to the fore'. I wasn't interested and a good thing - shortly after they went bust. The second publisher offered me a contract which I signed.

I think in terms of sales or marketing, the US and UK are in the same 'bag' anyway, so you can find a lead in just as well over there. My US publisher is going to be finding a UK publisher for my book shortly after it's release over there in about a year (depending how well it does), so either way, you have the chance of touching home soil!

Personally, I am very excited at the prospect of being published in the US first. Initially, I wasn't, but as time's gone on, it seems a big deal. It means a free trip to Texas and there are that many more people to reach.

JB

Shika
I don't have anything helpful to add, but I would also really like to know about this!
I wondered whether you need to explain why you are choosing a US agent at the onset.
Can you tell me some of the examples of UK writers with US agents? I think I'm right in saying that you and I have quite a big convergence of taste in books, so I'd be really interested to know.

Shika, do these UK writers have US agents as well as or instead of UK ones? Many UK writers with a big US market would have an agent over there to do their US business, either found separately or through their UK agent, once they were established over here. If there's a US market for your book, any decent UK agent will know how to get at it one way or another.

If you're thinking of trying for a US agent instead of a UK one, because you think they're particularly likely to like your work I can't see why not in principle, though I know that the good submission guidelines are different over there, so you might want to nose around the US equivalents of WW. You also might want to think of a really heart-warming reason to tell them why you're not looking closer to home, (which wouldn't include 'I can't get a UK agent'!)A few other things occur to me:

You may have less 'appeal' to them for various reasons:

How 'English' is your work? There are more differences than you'd think - from syntax to drinking habits - between the two, and what appears neutral to you might seem terribly 'English' to an agent. Not that they would automatically reject you for being 'foreign', but it would be a factor in their judgement of the market for your work.

They would be aware that even if you get over there for the launch (and it may be in your publishing contract that you have 'make yourself available' for it) you won't be as on hand for continuing publicity as a local would be.

They will be aware that communicating with you will be more expensive and slower than with US authors, and the tax position will be rather more complicated for them to deal with, as you'll be an 'exception' in various ways.

From your point of view, some drawbacks that occur to me are:

All communications except email would cost more, from submitting onwards. I don't know how much it costs to post a full MS airmail by recorded deliver to the US, but there's almost always a point where you get down to hard copy and pencil editing, and the more established the agent, the more old-fashioned they're likely to be on this.

All money that goes through their hands would take longer to get to you and be subject to exchange rate fluctuations - which could mean significant differences on an advance.

If they sell you 'overseas' (including in the UK, presumably), agents take more - say, 20% instead of 10% - of that advance, which would be annoying, and I don't know how easy it would be to avoid being double-taxed on that money as well.

And I doubt if they'd take you on if you tried to avoid all this by not giving them your foreign rights to sell, including UK ones. You'd want to be very, very sure that they knew what they were doing in trying to sell you over here, or used a good UK agency to represent them, and you probably wouldn't have the choice of your UK agent if they did.

On the plus side, your US agent won't subtract VAT before sending money on as a UK agent has to (I don't know if there's a US equivalent, though), and (this is roughly right) foreign earnings don't count as part of turnover when judging whether you're going over the VAT threshold. And don't think 'I should be so lucky' because it's surprisingly how quickly you can get there, specially if you have other income as a freelance.

If you do get a US agent directly, after you've sobered up and recyled the champagne bottles, it would be a very good idea to join the Society of Authors so you can use their very impressive contract-checking service, and have their backup in the future. 'Standard practice' is very different over there, however honourable the agent, and even if there's nothing in the contract that really won't do, the implications of some clauses may need explaining to you.

But if you go for it, very good luck, and do keep WW posted on what happens!

Emma


<Added>

I realise of course that if they're already representing UK authors directly as opposed to via a UK agency, you won't be that exceptional to them, but the two situations are different and have different consequences.

JB, Caroline and Emma

Thanks so much for your feedback/insights. I have a lot to consider. My reason for thinking of US agents is mainly because like me, my favourite authors are all second language writers. I think that those of us who do not have English as our first language treat the language differently when it comes to writing. I would include the black or African American writers in this mould. I am talking here about the work that describes a completely new world with its own vocab, culture, religion, societal structure even. In the UK when this work succeeds it is almost by accident whereas there seems to be a more of an established market for this type of writing in the US. That is not to say that UK agents don't recognise this genre if one could call it that it just seems to me that it would make sense to include a few US agents in my list. Having said that after reading your post Emma the logistics would be very tricky. S

Shika, if that's where you're coming from in terms of your work, I think your idea makes a great deal of sense - certainly to the extent of adding some US agents to your list. I'm sure it's a more developed market over there, and even if they don't take you on, any feedback you get would be from an interestingly different angle.

Emma

Shika, I know what you mean. I submitted my first novel which deals with 'multicultural' issues to US agents because I thought they would be more open to my work - and by and large, I found that to be the case. Although my current agent is UK based, there's no reason why you shouldn't try for a US agent. Monica Ali has one and she hasn't done too badly!

Traveller

That's very interesting. Can you wwmail me his or her name? Interestingly, I just received a rejection from an agent who claims to deal with multicultural stories and it's the weirdest rejection yet. After giving me the reason for a delayed response that wasn't that delayed, she went on to say that her agency did not have the resources to represent my books (note the plural) effectively and that I should try a larger agency!

I would also be interested to learn, if you don't mind telling me, how you structured you initial query letter. Many thanks. S