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Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency

gp101

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I queried Ethan Ellenberg in June via e-mail and still haven't heard back. Has anyone else queried him via e-mail? If so, how long did it take for a response? He says he accepts e-mail queries.
 

smallthunder

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EE and e-mail

gp101 said:
I queried Ethan Ellenberg in June via e-mail and still haven't heard back. Has anyone else queried him via e-mail? If so, how long did it take for a response? He says he accepts e-mail queries.

I sent him my query via e-mail, and received a reply the same day requesting the manuscript.

(At least, I think it was the same day -- I'm in Taiwan, he's in the US, and I'm not sure how my e-mail account handles the 12-hour time difference when listing dates!)
 

Kasey Mackenzie

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Do his guidelines state that you will get a response whether he's interested in the manuscript or not? Some agents who accept e-queries will only respond if they ARE interested, and if you don't hear back you should assume they're not interested. Of course, I would probably wait a couple months and then send a follow-up just to make sure they DID receive my earlier submission because things DO get lost in cyberspace.

At any rate, good luck!
 

Bufty

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gp101 said:
I queried Ethan Ellenberg in June via e-mail and still haven't heard back. Has anyone else queried him via e-mail? If so, how long did it take for a response? He says he accepts e-mail queries.

I believe the submission guidelines for Ethan Ellenberg state they will only reply to e-mail queries if interested. So, I guess they weren't interested in mine. :Shrug: But congratulations to those who have aroused interest.:Clap:
 

brinkett

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Your email could have been caught by spam filters. I've read a couple of interviews with agents in which they've stated that lots of queries don't even reach their inbox. You might want to consider querying by snail mail for agents that really interest you.
 

chicagogal

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QUESTION

As I read all of the fun and informative posts, I have a need to dress up my post when I make one. some of you have such interesting photos, etc. adjoining your posts. anyone care to take the time to clue me in on how to do this. may as well have some fun while trying to make it! thanks.
 

JennaGlatzer

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One thing, though-- you can't upload a custom picture (avatar) until you've made 50 posts. So hurry up and post some more. ;)

Back to Ethan Ellenberg...
 

Julie Worth

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James D. Macdonald said:
Nope. Start at the top and work down.

I say do it randomly. Your query will get better. If you start at the top, you’ll be matching your worst query with the pickiest agents. If you query randomly, though, you’ll have a few top agents left when you’ve finally polished your query into a bright and shiny gem.

 

HapiSofi

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Julie Worth said:
I say do it randomly. Your query will get better. If you start at the top, you’ll be matching your worst query with the pickiest agents. If you query randomly, though, you’ll have a few top agents left when you’ve finally polished your query into a bright and shiny gem.
Jim's right. You're wrong.

You're betting against yourself by assuming no one's going to accept you right off.

If you can't polish your query on your own, what makes you think the responses you get from agents will help you buff it till it burns with a gem-like flame? Make it good now -- if you're a writer, you should be able to do that -- and send it to the top of your list.
 

Julie Worth

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HapiSofi said:
Jim's right. You're wrong.

You're betting against yourself by assuming no one's going to accept you right off.

If you can't polish your query on your own, what makes you think the responses you get from agents will help you buff it till it burns with a gem-like flame? Make it good now -- if you're a writer, you should be able to do that -- and send it to the top of your list.

So everything I say is wrong, apparently. Well, it seems that people on this board, me included, are constantly fiddling with our query letters. Hopefully, they are getting better, and not worse.

As to sending them out randomly, that’s what Nicolas Sparks did: “I then sent the letter off to 25 agents, picked at random.” That’s not to say he didn’t do some research first, but still, you never know where the best fit is going to be. In fact, none of the 25 worked out. It was an unknown agent with no sales who picked up his ms and called him. And he only went with her after all the others turned him down.



 

Aconite

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Julie Worth said:
As to sending them out randomly, that’s what Nicolas Sparks did: “I then sent the letter off to 25 agents, picked at random.” That’s not to say he didn’t do some research first, but still, you never know where the best fit is going to be. In fact, none of the 25 worked out. It was an unknown agent with no sales who picked up his ms and called him. And he only went with her after all the others turned him down.
And when Nicholas told that story, was he wincing at his own naif stupidity and thanking God that things worked out well even though he'd been dumb as a brick? Because I very much doubt he was telling it as an example to new writers of how to go about getting an agent.
 

Julie Worth

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Aconite said:
And when Nicholas told that story, was he wincing at his own naif stupidity and thanking God that things worked out well even though he'd been dumb as a brick? Because I very much doubt he was telling it as an example to new writers of how to go about getting an agent.

I don’t think it would have mattered. One advantage Sparks had was his background in sales. He had a feel for what would get results. And he got them: 12 requests for the full based on 25 queries. Hard to beat that no matter how you select the agents.

But even then, he still had to get lucky.


The lucky part: one of the agents he sent it to dies and an assistant finds the query in the slush pile. It isn’t right for him, so he sends it to a young ex-attorney who started as a literary agent six months before, and has not yet sold a book. Appalled by this, Sparks keeps her hanging, but as no one else wants it, he signs. What else can he do? Well, she sends it out, promptly gets an offer for $500,000, and has the chutzpah to turn it down, saying she’s looking for seven figures. And she gets it!
 
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Birol

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That's a good question right now.
That seems one of those exceptions to the rules stories. How many times has a new writer been burned when they've chosen to go with a new agent with no track record compared to what happened with Sparks?
 

Julie Worth

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Birol said:
That seems one of those exceptions to the rules stories. How many times has a new writer been burned when they've chosen to go with a new agent with no track record compared to what happened with Sparks?

Absolutely! I would have said no thanks. Still...it wasn’t like she was on her own.

A few more tidbits: This agent had Sparks do a lot of work on the ms before she judged it ready to go, and then she submitted to several houses simultaneously. (I guessing that, since she had him send up 25 copies of the ms by second day air. Which would be an unnecessary expense if she weren’t sending out at least a few of them.). She got the copies on a Wednesday. On Friday she told Sparks she was expecting an offer, and by Monday had it up to a million. Jeez!
 

clara bow

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What's also mystifying is that editors wanted the story, too. Talk about timing and luck! It *is* a really high concept idea. The idea is what probably sold it. Weird to think an idea is worth that much to some editors/agents. Although, come to think of it, maybe the mediocre writing had something to do with the windfall of cash :tongue .

I don't mind (much) that some of these writers have such luck...what disappoints is that the wealth isn't more evenly distributed more often and among writers who deserve it equally. Heck, give me 5-10k and I'm a happy camper, I swear.
 

Marian Perera

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A question about a query

In 2003, I submitted a query to the Ethan Ellenberg literary agency and got a request for a full. The agent who read it asked the head of the agency for a second opinion and decided to pass on it; the agent concluded by emailing me to say, "This has been a difficult decision as I continue to think that you're writing shows a great deal of promise. With the right story, I think you'll write a great book. I remain open to read anything from you in the future."

Now I have a new novel ready to be sent out. I was wondering, would it be appropriate for me to contact this agent directly through email and submit the query, or would this not be OK considering that our email exchange was four years ago? Just wondering if that time period was too long.
 
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Pisarz

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Query anyone and everyone suitable for your genre. Requerying the same agent with a different project is fine.

Read the info on these boards and plunder the good things at www.agentquery.com (and various agent blogs, listed several threads above this one) for all you need to now about contacting agents.
 
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waylander

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Absolutely yes, contact him and remind him of your previous submission. When agents say they want to see more of your work they mean it.
 

Carmy

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Absolutely. I sent a query out last night and got a request for a partial today. The agent remembered my from October 2006 and said so in her mail.
I was amazed because I didn't even remember sending her a full on another project.

Because your first novel came so close, I'm sure the agent will remember your name. Go for it, and good luck!
 

GeorgeK

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I sent a snailmail submission to him almost three months ago and still haven't heard anything. His site says email submissions should get some sort of response around a 2 week turnaround. Why should snailmail be significantly more than a week longer? Maybe it's a good sign? Maybe I need to inquire if it ever arrived?