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Nelson Literary Agency, LLC (Kristin Nelson)

thefreshchuff

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Ack, just got a form rejection from them not a day after I sent the query. That's too bad. :\
 

CMP

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Nelson & Megibow

*waves hand* :D

Also, I'm curious, which agent are you all querying? Sara Megibow still reads the queries for the entire agency, right? And they're both looking for similar genres. So, pretty much you have to pick one or the other.


This is my first post so I hope I'm doing this right.

Anyway, I went to Ms. Nelson's website and thoroughly reviewed all her sample query letters of people that she chose to represent before sending my query. The letter that seemed most similar to my project was addressed to both Ms. Nelson and Ms. Megibow, so that's what I did. I haven't heard back (it's only been one day) but now I'm worried that I should have just picked one person to query, but I was trying to follow as much of what she had on her website as possible. Any thoughts?
 

Celandine

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I addressed my query to both of them and got a partial request a couple months ago.
 

CMP

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Thanks. That makes me feel much better. If I do get rejected, at least I'll know I earned it, and it wasn't just for a technical error.

Good luck on your partial.
 

Celandine

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Thanks for the partial luck, but it was rejected awhile back. I was actually very surprised they requested it. I only queried them because I like Kristin's blog, not because I really thought my novel seemed like anything they usually represent. And, alas, I was right! Good luck on your query.
 

Lydia Sharp

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Sent query for YA romance on Wed. 6/30
Received request for partial on Fri. 7/2
:D
I addressed the letter to Ms. Megibow. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere (probably on the blog) that Sara reads all the queries, and they both read the manuscripts before offering representation.
 

Lydia Sharp

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Got the big R from Sara Megibow today, but I was highly impressed with her response.

First, for being so quick. I sent the partial on 7/3, she got back to me in 10 days. Wow. Some agents don't even respond to queries that fast. (And speaking of which, she'd responded to the query in less than 2 days. She obviously means business.)

Second, she said she was close to requesting a full and so went on to explain why she didn't, and brought up some very good points. Personalized feedback on a partial is never expected but always embraced. I have nothing but good things to say about her and that agency. :)
 

Christine N.

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I sent a query late last week, got a partial request yesterday. I addressed the letter to both Kristin and Sara

I find that most agents are very cool with the first names, especially those that represent YA. Also those that are younger seem to be better with the less formal greeting. I don't mean to sound ageist, or genre-ist, just an observation. I think I've addressed all my recent queries to agents with first names. So far, so good.

Editors, on the other hand, I use the formal greeting :)
 

havefaith22

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On 7/26, my writing partner and I queried Kristin with a contemporary YA. I wish I'd known she was out of town all week for the RWA conference in FL. I'm thinking there are going to be so many queries waiting for her, that unless a query is amazing, she's going to be handing out a lot of R's. Anyone else query this week?
 

Princesstilly

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Request for Partial!

Hi!

I queried Kristin on July 26 for my YA novel and got a request for a partial on August 13. Fingers crossed!

Leanne
 

havefaith22

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Yes, I got a request for a partial on the 13th as well. Looks like they're catching up from the RWA conference.
 

Princesstilly

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Darn

Sigh. I got my rejection notice today from the Nelson Agency. The old "it's not right for us but don't give up hope because someone else might like it" routine.

Time to get back in the saddle.

Leanne
 

Hoovlette

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Current Query Stats: (just in case someone's lookin' for 'em!)

eQuery: 10/9/10
eReject: 10/11/2010

Two days is definitely not bad for response time. Now, I've just got to get through six more query responses.
 

Filigree

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Did anyone on this thread attend her recent webinar on pitching sf&f? I heard some great reviews of her process. But I was a little doubtful because the agency itself is more known for urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and she was showing folks how to pitch epic fantasy. Has Kristin sold any epic fantasies in the last few years?

I might either buy the notes when and if they come out on WD. Or I'll attend another webinar if Kristin organizes one, if I hear enough good and useful things about this one.

Filigree
 

Kmarshall

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I attended. It was awesome. Kristen didn't focused on all subgenres and didn't seem to show any favoritism. As promised, she did a query critique, which was invaluable!
 

OneWriter

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She has it split in installments in her blog archives, 2008 I think--not sure though, you'd have to look it up. I met her last month in Denver and the room was packed. She has you write your own pitch and then reads a few aloud. To mysteries and thrillers she'd say "This is not for me," but she does take fantasy and speculative fiction. I heard the webinar is pretty much the same thing.
 

CScottMorris

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Queried Sara 10/12, form rejection 10/14. Nice turnaround, but still sad at the rejection.
It is nice to see they do have a quick turnaround, which likely means my query and sample pages are not THAT bad...
 

Ineti

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Did anyone on this thread attend her recent webinar on pitching sf&f? I heard some great reviews of her process. But I was a little doubtful because the agency itself is more known for urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and she was showing folks how to pitch epic fantasy. Has Kristin sold any epic fantasies in the last few years?

I might either buy the notes when and if they come out on WD. Or I'll attend another webinar if Kristin organizes one, if I hear enough good and useful things about this one.

I attended the webinar and even posted about it right here on these forums as well as on my blog. I thought it was an effective and useful expenditure of time and money.

I sent off a query on my WIP to her for critique and rather than a crit, got a partial request. So I guess I picked something up from the webinar. :D I'm revising the book now and will send her the partial this weekend.

She mentioned in the webinar that she wanted to do more fantasy and sci-fi, but that many of the sf/f queries they were receiving weren't that good, hence the need for the webinar. I don't believe she's sold any epic fantasies yet, but someone's gotta be the first for her.
 
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Sushi

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I sent them a query yesterday. Keeping my fingers crossed.
 

aekap

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Thought I'd post my timeline, for those who are interested:

Q: 10/18
Partial request: 10/28
Full request: 11/15
R: 11/17

Pretty sad about this one, since I think they are a terrific agency. I've had 3 R's on fulls in the past few weeks, which are leaving me unsure if I should revise... the problem is that every agent says something different, which is making me think its just an issue of personal preference.

But it was a very polite, kind R, and it came fast. At least she didn't sit on it for 6 months!
 

ether

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Thought I'd post my timeline, for those who are interested:

Q: 10/18
Partial request: 10/28
Full request: 11/15
R: 11/17

Pretty sad about this one, since I think they are a terrific agency. I've had 3 R's on fulls in the past few weeks, which are leaving me unsure if I should revise... the problem is that every agent says something different, which is making me think its just an issue of personal preference.

But it was a very polite, kind R, and it came fast. At least she didn't sit on it for 6 months!

Do you have any betas or friends who have read the work? Or maybe even here. You could share what feedback you were given on the appropriate forum and people might be able to make some sense of it for you. :) Sometimes different feedback can be the result of one underlying problem not always easily visible, if that makes sense.
 

aekap

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Thanks! Yes, I've had a few people read it. They all disagreed with the agents, who all disagreed with each other!
 
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