Following Up With An Agent

How quickly will an agent take to decide whether or not to take me on?

The literary agents should be pretty decisive after they've met you about whether they want to continue the relationship and sell your books. It shouldn't take long at all. Once you've had the positive signal that the book is good, you should know within a week whether a literary agent will take you on.

Does persistance pay off?

There's one story persistence about Adele Parks, who is a very successful commercial women's writer. She sent me a book in which I turned down. She was so determined and I did send her a couple of notes about the book because she was very good, but it just wasn't for me and then it was. Then she rewrote it, and six months later resent it to me and it was fantastic; and so in a way I'm glad that she had the persistence to come back.

What can I do if I can't get an agent?

If you can't get an agent, you should go back to the drawing board and think about whether you should go into a creative writing course that may get you access to other writers, to tutors, and if you shine there, one of the tutors might talk to one of their friends to tip them off. That might be a way in. Another way in is perhaps trying to find other kinds of journalism writing to get noticed. Write short stories and get them placed in interesting anthologies that some agents will look at. It all depends on the level of your determination.