So far, Agent Ted and I have worked on two manuscripts together. One being my first contracted YA novel, and the other being my MG mystery (that is hopefully going to go out to editors soon). I've come to the conclusion that I will never EVER pass to him a complete manuscript that needs little to no revisions before an editor looks it over.
Ted is the best kind of agent. He sees the strengths of my writing, and asks for me to give him more. He doesn't just say, "Yeah, this is really good. Let's see what an editor thinks now." He works with me on everything from tightening the plot, to developing characters just a little bit more, to developing an satisfying ending. He doesn't want to send out my work to editors and risk getting rejected because a character's motivations were weak, or because the resolution at the end was shaky.
With EVERLASTING, we went back and forth for 6 solid months before we both finally agreed the novel shined. A week after it went out to editors, we had mega interest, lots of offers, and ultimately, an auction ending up in a six-figure deal. I have no doubt that those results would not have occurred without tireless revisions.
After a multiple page revision letter addressing very specifics requests, Ted made notes inside each version of the manuscript we worked on, asking questions that helped me narrow in on a problem. Mostly, the romance aspect was severely lacking and I had a very, VERY difficult time injecting the kind of lusty romance he knew would make it sell fast and hot. Now, of course, I'm hooked on romance :-)
Anyway, that's my agent/author revision story. Thanks for asking, Sus!
