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C&W Agency (formerly Conville & Walsh)

Wonderlander

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Hi there,

I've a meeting this week at this agency - thrilled as they seem a big agency with a good sales record.

I wonder if anyone has anyone dealt with them before and had any observations to share?

Thanks in advance!
 
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LindsayM

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Excellent UK agency. Latian, given their volume of queries, I would suggest waiting 6 weeks after you expect the package arrived to contact them again.
 

Martina

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Excellent UK agency. Latian, given their volume of queries, I would suggest waiting 6 weeks after you expect the package arrived to contact them again.
Thanks for your reply. Actually I sent the chapters ans synopsis via email. Initially I sent a query letter to an agent and his assistant replied immediately and asked for three chapters and a synopsis.
On an online forum, a poster had a similar experience. Query via email and immediately asked for a full and he was rejected two weeks later.
I guess that I have to wait and see...
 

KookyKat

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Conville & Walsh ask for 3 chapters and a synopsis as a query anyway. So it's not a partial request like it is in the US: it's just them saying 'as we ask all queriers, please send the first 3 chapters and synopsis'. I guess if they didn't like your premise, they could've just sent an R but in my experience, it's just them asking you to adhere to their guidelines.

They then take about 6-8 weeks to respond. But this varies, of course. In my experience, the more excited they are about a concept, the quicker they'll get to it.
 

Old Hack

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Conville and Walsh is still a great agency, staffed with lovely people who are passionate about the books they work with. It's part of Curtis Brown now, by the way. Well worth submitting to.
 

Pisco Sour

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I did their pitch contest back in June and got a 'like'. I sent them the material on 26.06. TBH, I don't expect to hear back if it's a rejection. They never responded to a query I sent last year, or the book I sent them the year before. HTH
 

TMeuretBooks

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I'm currently working on an R&R from Susan Armstrong. Spoke for about an hour on the phone two weeks ago. Very excited to see how this goes! She is wonderful!
 

arkady

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Maybe I'm being unusually dense, but I'm a little confused by their submission guidelines. They say:

You should send your submission (in Word.doc format) via email directly to the agent you would like to consider your work following the guidelines below. Contact details are listed under our agent profiles.

Does this mean they want you to submit a .doc of your entire manuscript? Or that they want the query to be in .doc format? Or something else?
 

Old Hack

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There should be more information there, telling you exactly what you need to send: but if there's not, send them your covering letter, a synopsis (two pages maximum) and the first three chapters.

ETA: This is on their submissions page:

[FONT=&quot]When submitting fiction, please email the first three chapters (or about 50 pages) and a synopsis. The synopsis shouldn’t be a blurb or a cover-style ‘teaser’, but a simplified explanation of the plot in one or two sides, listing the theme, setting and characters of your book, from the first to final chapter.[/FONT]
 
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arkady

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Thank you. I'll see what happens.
 

arkady

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KookyKat said:
They then take about 6-8 weeks to respond. But this varies, of course. In my experience, the more excited they are about a concept, the quicker they'll get to it.

Then they must really have hated my book. It's been over 2 months, and not a peep out of them.