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Jenee Arthur Agency (formerly Rellihan-Satterlee)

mbowman

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http://jeneearthuragency.com/

Because this forum has taught me to always check agent creds before querying, I'm wondering if anyone's heard of them. I couldn't find much besides the website and the publisher's marketplace page, so I thought I'd check.
 

DreamWeaver

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I looked for the book by the first featured author I saw on their website. His book was by BlueHead Publishing. When I did an Amazon search for BlueHead Publishing, I came up with exactly one book--his. That's not confidence inspiring.

If you read her manifesto, there is very little concrete about what she can do for you. A direct quote: "I believe our intentions equal our results." I expect the large number of well-intentioned agencies and small publishing companies that have gone under believed that, too.

In her discussion of "traditional publishing" (her words), she ends with "Sometimes it requires going at it alone."

Summary: if you're looking for an agent whose goal is to sell your work to a commercial publisher for good money, this may not be the agency for you.


ADDED: As a nitpick, she misuses the word "affects" on her welcome page. Not a crime, but not something one wishes to see from a publishing professional. Now I wonder which word karma made me misspell or misuse above :D.
 

Momento Mori

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Interestingly, Shane Valentine's THE BABY CUISINE COOKBOOK looks to have been self-published through Alina's Cucina and interestingly when you look up the company, Jenee Arthur's name is listed as the contact person.

That wouldn't fill me with confidence.

MM
 

apollo

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Not so fast....

I researched Jenee Arthur, too. It seems that her background is in marketing and publicity and that she's recently branched out into being a literary agent. I assumed that the authors on her website who are self published hired her to do their publicity and marketing, not to agent their books. Her website is a lot better than many agent websites that I've visited and it seems to reflect her energy and drive. The book trailer thing is cutting edge right now, and I was impressed to see that she uses them as a marketing tool. I am going to query her and see what happens.
 

batgirl

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For whatever it may be worth as a data point, I'm on a longstanding bookchat forum (meant for readers not writers) and I asked how many on the forum had bought books based on book trailers.
Nobody had.
A couple of responders had checked out trailers (especially for YA) after hearing about an interesting title on the forum, but since it was necessary to go and look for the trailers, on youtube or other site, they weren't a useful tool for discovering books one hadn't already heard of.

Mind you, that forum probably does skew older and less 'cutting-edge' than some other communities.

Apollo, do you intend for her to act as your agent or your marketer? As has been pointed out numerous times on the B&BW board, agent is not an entry-level position. She may be great at marketing an existing book, but does she have the web of connections and acquaintance and specialised knowledge that would help your book find the right publisher?
If you mean to self-publish and use her as a marketer, my doubts may be irrelevant.

-Barbara
 

apollo

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Lots to think about...

Thank you, Batgirl, for responding to my post. I am quite new at this, as you can surely tell. Book trailers are very popular with the teenage and young adult set- and language arts teachers have begun utilizing them to build interest in reading, especially with reluctant readers. So, it seems that, as you suggest, they might work very well in some markets and not in others.
I think that finding an agent is similar, in some ways, to meeting a future partner online- it's all in making the right match. This agent's webpage 'spoke' to me so I'm going to give it a shot. Most new authors are not in the position to choose their agents anyway, and if this agent felt as though my project was worthy of representation, I would definitely be open to what she has to offer. We all have to start somewhere. I have looked at older threads from some now successful agents, and have seen comments similar to the current comments about Jenee Arthur. Truly, everything here is heresay and guesswork-there is nothing concrete enough to disuade me. If I have a positive or a negative experience, I will certainly report it here.
 

DreamWeaver

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I'd appreciate it if you'd point me to some of those AW threads discussing now-successful agents who originally hung out their shingles with no agenting experience, no training as an associate agent at an established agency, no internship at an agency or equivalent direct agent job-related experience. I can't remember having read any of these, but I'm willing to be shown.
 

CaoPaux

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Your example of a new-agent-done-good is one who continues to "sell" her clients to questionable publishers, and most recently shopped a ms without a contract before trying to intimidate the author into signing a bad deal? Try again.
 

Giant Baby

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Apollo, did you read through that link you posted? To the end? There's some pretty damn recent WTF in there. Which part did you find encouraging?
 

apollo

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out of my league

Wow. I am clearly out of my league here. You are most definitely 'in the know' and I am not. It's my nature to be trusting and it seems that I may get eaten alive out there. As an elementary school teacher, it is essential that I invest in the untapped potential of others. However, this lack of skepticism makes me ill-equipped to participate in the savvy banter at the water cooler.
But as I said before, most new authors are not going to have the luxury of being picked up by one of those big time agents with lots of sales to major publishing houses. We may have to take a chance on someone who is willing to take a chance on us.
 

Momento Mori

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apollo:
But as I said before, most new authors are not going to have the luxury of being picked up by one of those big time agents with lots of sales to major publishing houses.

Not true. If you hang out here for some time you'll see that there are plenty of members here who are represented by respected agencies despite being new authors with no previous sales history. For example, I'm represented by Rogers, Coleridge & White in the UK.

Why would you want to take a chance on someone with no track record of sales when the whole purpose of an agent's job is to make sales?

MM
 

waylander

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But as I said before, most new authors are not going to have the luxury of being picked up by one of those big time agents with lots of sales to major publishing houses. We may have to take a chance on someone who is willing to take a chance on us.

This is absolutely not true.
Just about every week someone on this board reports getting representation by an agent who has a track record of sales to advance-paying publishers.
It happened for me.

Waylander (represented by Shiel Land Associates, London)
 

batgirl

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Hi, apollo, please don't feel that you're being lambasted. The thing is that if you read through those threads you mention, all too often you'll find that the hopeful writers who decided that they'd 'take a chance' on an untried and inexperienced agent (or publisher!) come back months later with their dreams smashed and their work tied up in limbo.
(I admit, I read those threads like a soap opera, it's my guilty sorta-pleasure)
So old hands on these boards can't help but groan and occasionally get snappish when once again a hopeful new writer says 'everyone has to start somewhere' and ties their dreams to a sinking ship.
Wow, my metaphors are all over the place today. Sorry.

Look, don't, please don't assume that a beginning writer must settle for a beginning agent. I don't have anything published but 4 stories to e-zines, and I have a reputable agent (at Liza Dawson Associates). It took several revisions of my query letter, and 30 rejections, but I can promise you that it can be done.
-Barbara
 

apollo

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Tail between legs...

Thank you, kind and friendly Batgirl. I should have read a lot more before diving right in. I'll take a break for now and will be prepared before I post again.
 

Saanen

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It's a jungle out there (to add to batgirl's metaphors). That's why this forum is so useful. And there's nothing wrong with being enthusiastic or even trusting--just make sure you do your research before you decide to query any given agent or publisher.

I like to check the threads even for well-respected, established agents before querying just to make sure there's not some recent information I should know (like "This agent is on maternity leave as of yesterday" or "This agent is looking for X material currently").
 

CaoPaux

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Currently on home page:

This site as it appears here is on its way out. New site launching in January 2013. My brand is morphing into something even more valuable to my clients and to you! Stay tuned, and check back here in the new year for a whole new experience of the agency.

Considering there's no sign of sales, and one of her clients is published by "Rellihan Satterlee", I think we can guess where her brand is headed.
 

CaoPaux

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Is now Jenee Arthur Productions (same URL), which ... no longer has anything to do with books.