Signs you are close to getting a literary agent!
How do you know you are getting close to signing an agent? Let's assume you have queried widely, gotten the usual hodgepodge of responses including some Rs, some No-Responses, (more and more of these lately) some requests for Partials and Fulls, and a few letters saying that so-and-so "has left agenting to become a dental floss tycoon." (Ok, so I had a hankering to make a Frank Zappa reference; but I have received several letters indicating that so-and-so left agenting, and, in one case, that an entire agency closed its doors.) So far, so good, but you are still not close, unless one of the agents who requested a full calls you and offers. This can and does happen, but very few writers have this easy of a road. For the bulk of us, we will get a few "not right for me" notes, a few NRs, and, hopefully, a few personalized notes which document what is wrong with your ms. As agents have gotten busier and busier, there are fewer of these "helpful Rs," an