Q. My literary agent has failed to return my emails and phone calls and it has been six weeks since we last talked. I don’t want to appear desperate but all I think about each day is — is my book going to be published, or not? Any suggestions? — Name and address withheld
A. A little research on your agent’s website will reveal publication dates of forthcoming books by his other clients. Attend the launch party of one of these. In this way you can stage a casual encounter with your agent and make progress inquiries in a dignified manner. Meanwhile, other writers about to submit manuscripts will benefit from this helpful advice supplied by the literary agent Caroline Dawnay: ‘Be sure to ask your agent in the first place what the strategy is going to be about the offering of a book to publishers. This will habitually involve a single or multiple submission, to a deadline.
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