From what I understand the whole damn book is a mistake [edit: I mean having it finished before approaching the agent]. The agent wants to shape it. But they do want an outline and indication that you can finish the book.
For the most part, this is not true of the industry as I know it. Agents want to find AUTHORS, not books, and they want authors who will keep producing books they can sell. Editors are more likely to want to shape a book than agents, especially when it comes to nonfiction.
While you should never SEND an agent a full manuscript without being asked to do so, the only proof you have that you *can* finish a manuscript is that you have, in fact, finished it. In the market right now, especially, it's only going to help to go in with a finished product.
Not trying to rain on your parade, MM. Just wanted you to be clear on what expectations are in my experience.
Just an FYI-- a lot of agents don't have TIME to shape books. And editors, they want to know that an author can actually finish a book. No better proof of that than an actual finished book.
I probably wouldn't have sold Adiós on proposal if an editor at the same house hadn't seen a completed manuscript of mine and been able to reassure the buying editor that yes, I could finish a book.
Just my .02
X-posty goodness with Amy.
Interestingly, I was just reading an agent's blog where someone asked the question, "I was asked for the full manuscript, but I only have a partial. What do I do?" Basically, she said what Amy did. "Oops, you should have finished the manuscript first. Confess fast and get it done."
More x-postiness!
I once asked for a manuscript from an author after reading her adorable partial. (It was lighthearted paranormal romance, so cute.) She confessed she hadn't finished it, although she said she had in her letter AND when I met her at a conference. I saw red, explained to her why that was a very, very bad idea, and asked when she might be finished. She said a month or two at most. Never heard from her again. If I had given her a contract based on that partial, I most likely would have been screwed.
But non-fic is different for reasons unknown to me. Vampire People was sold with the proposal, and then I was given x months to finish it by the editor.
Sometimes it's different, Allyson. Not always. And the market is really tight right now.
And MM, you can give it a shot either way. But I wouldn't be surprised to hear that you need a completed manuscript, is all I'm saying.
Yes, the market is making me queasy right now.
I wish some publishers would come out and be uber frank about what they're willing to buy in this market.
They just know it when they see it. And by that I do mean porn.
