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[Agency] Sobel Weber Associates, Inc.

Blueridge

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I just posted the following in response to another thread, but thought it would be more useful here:

Hello, writer friends. I have been a silent visitor to AW for a long time, and decided it was finally time to officially join you all, since I have been the recipient of so much helpful information.

I am one of those writers who was fortunate to be approached by Nat Sobel after he read one of my pieces in a literary journal. He said he was a fan of my work and invited me to contact him if I happened to be seeking agent representation for a book. Lucky for me, I was just finishing up the revisions of my book MS. We exchanged e-mails and he asked for a full, which I mailed last week.

Crossing my fingers!

The original thread in "Short Fiction," referenced the recent interview with Nat Sobel in Poets and Writers. Sobel really does read literary journals and approaches writers that he thinks might be worth pursuing for representation.

What pleases me so much about this is that I put my book on hold for 2 years while I built up my publishing credentials in literary journals. Mr. Sobel's invitation validates the appropriateness of this approach.
 

j.s.cutler

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Their form rejection is somewhat insulting (and I've been rejected enough times to know.)
 

Blueridge

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j.s. cutler - I received a personal rejection which, though I wouldn't quite call it insulting, did take the wind out of my sails. I licked the sore spot for, oh, about 24 hours after I got the Big R. Fortunately, I had other agents lined up and ready to query and have moved on. Good luck to you!
 

billyf027

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Do you know what literary journals he looks in?
 

Blueridge

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My sense is that he reads widely. i.e. many lit journals. Check out the extended interview with him in a recent issue (available online) in Poets & Writers.
 

nicolesingslave

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Nandi

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Yes, defiinitely a major player. His assessment, and ultimate rejection, of my MS was brutally honest, but I wouldn't call it rude. He took the time to indicate where he thought the weaknesses were. He's certainly worth sending a query to. I would have been thrilled to have received representation from him.
 

egtalbot

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One other note - this from their submission guidelines:

"We only consider material submitted to us exclusively and will respond within one month. "

So submission to them means tying up your query for a month, which may be fine for many, just something to remember.
 

kaitie

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Just writing to say that I got an unusual (and mildly frustrating, to be honest) message from them after submitting via snail mail. I followed the guidelines on the site, but didn't notice the note at the bottom of the page until I came here and found it just now. I sent the first fifty pages as requested, and got a response back that sounds interested, but saying that they won't look at it unless they're the only ones looking at it. At the query level.

Color me frustrated. I've got quite a few queries out there that are non-responders that I'll have to wait at least a few months to officially close out, other queries that are people known not to respond for six months, and potential interest that I can't possibly do anything about (they requested more material, but only in the event that it was an exclusive query). So now I have to just close this out or wait months and see if I happen to get through the rest of my list without getting an agent (though in that case, I'm not sure if it's even worth trying).

Has anyone else gotten this response from them? They only wanted my synopsis as well, but maybe they do this for everyone who queries them. I've had other agents send me revised guidelines rather than an outright rejection, but that didn't indicate interest, it just meant that their guidelines had changed and to submit different stuff.

I don't know if this is the same sort of thing, or if they actually care and might consider it.

In any case, I'm absolutely amazed anyone really expects an exclusive query. It seems almost unfair to me.
 

Dessie

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I got a personal rejection letter from Kirsten Carleton at Sobel Weber today in response to my first 50 pages, which they had requested. Although I had hoped for better news, I found it refreshing and useful to get a real rejection letter that actually said something. She explained the specific weaknesses that led to her declining to request the rest of the manuscript. This I can work with, as opposed to cookie-cutter rejections like "not right for us" or "can't feel strongly about."

By the way, the 30-day exclusivity applies only after they ask for your first 50 pages, not the initial query.