To spend a month on 14k words for a literary agent?

[coralpinkduckegg]

Bit niche but any advice appreciated from people in the know about non fiction writing for a general audience.

I got some interest from a high end literary agent who wants a fuller synopsis - 800-1000 words per chapter and there are 16 chapters. In haste/ panic and not really knowing what to do, I replied to him and said great yes I will get that over to you.

It's now 9 days later and I have only made a dent in it. It will take me a good few weeks, on top of my full time job, to do it justice. I could knock something/ anything out in a week, and send that over instead. I don't really want to email the guy again as it feels a bit "Hi! Me again!" when all he asked for was a fuller synopsis to consider.

What to do?

If you do it, you have a really well developed synopsis to send out further if things don't progress with this agent. I would set an achievable and reasonable deadline and let him know you will send the synopsis by that date. Definitely do not 'knock together anything' to send - make sure what you give him is polished and high quality. This is work you will have to do at some point anyway to get the book written. Right now, the agent has no meaningful deadline - you aren't working towards a publication schedule, so work out how long you need and let him know.

If you are fortunate enough to have the interest of a high-end literary agent, then yes, you should definitely do this. It is absolutely worth the time and effort.

Can you email back and ask what kind of timeframe he'd like you to work to? Explain that you don't have this ready right now, but can get it to him by X date (which is realistic and not over-optimistic).

Thank you!
I think emailing him back with a realistic timeframe is the best option, it's what I would want (as a lecturer from my students). I'm completely new to this world and was wondering more about what the expectations are in this field.
Is telling him 'Hi me again, I'm working on it and it will be done by the end of the month' too keen/ too long a timeframe?
Does an agent expect you to knock up 14k words in a week regardless of whether you have a job or kids?
I would expect that kind of 'get it done asap' work culture from some sectors, particularly journalism/ media/ politics etc. Wasn't sure if this fell into that.

My experience of literary agents is not a 'get it done asap' mentality - that does come from publishers for sure, but agents want to see your best work and there's no reason for him to need it by the end of the month. He'll have a huge workload of his own, he won't be in a rush for this but if you intend to have a long term working relationship with him then you need to be able to communicate honestly and effectively with each other. Don't over-promise and under-deliver. Just be clear and realistic with what you can do.

For all the agent knew you might have already had this ready so it’s fine to say ‘great I’ll get it to you end June…’ I wouldn’t make it too long - they just need a good idea of what it’s about.