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Living Word Literary Agency (Kimberly Shumate)
- Thread starter LateNightLady
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Take a look at some of the CBA-focused publishers' guidelines, because there are likely to be things you haven't thought of (no card-playing, for instance, at some of the publishers, and there's at least one who doesn't want dancing).
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I was told as a child by one relative that card playing lead to gambling. sin.
Dancing meant that men and women, who were not married and were not engaged were touching each other. Temptation leading to sin
Dancing meant that men and women, who were not married and were not engaged were touching each other. Temptation leading to sin
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Different denominations caution their congregants against card-playing, dancing, and/or drinking--many CBA-facing publishers want to reach the broadest range possible of readers who self-identify as Christian, including members of those denominations.
After a few semi-strange e-mails with this agent, it was a mutual pass. Although she seems polite, the correspondence ran very hot and cold. I don't think she was the right fit for my manuscript to begin with. Lesson? Fully research the agency prior to the query.
On the plus side, I got a request for a full from an agent I'd queried and written off back in early September. So hope still floats. And just when I was ready to quit for the hundreth time now!
On the plus side, I got a request for a full from an agent I'd queried and written off back in early September. So hope still floats. And just when I was ready to quit for the hundreth time now!
Same here. She seemed a bit rushed with me. When I told her that I had other agents considering me, she seemed happy, but very T-ied off, and chose to pass, withdrawing her offer. I didn't mean to offend her at all, but she brought up the "no multiple submissions" rule that appears on her website. I didn't see that and must have glossed over it. Just be careful here--she's offering contracts on partials and I'm wondering how any editor/publisher can fully evaluate a book without reading the entire manuscript. It's obvious she can spot talent, but a book CAN fall completely to pieces mid-line or at the end.
Tri
Tri
Re - the "no multiple submissions rule"...IMHO any agent worth her salt would presume that most writers with a freshly finished manuscript in hand will be riding the query-go-round until they get dizzy.
I agree with the offers on partials, too. This sent little alarm bells off for me, yet I ignored them.
I think, Tri, that there was no great loss here on the offer withdrawl. Best to you with the other agent.
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I will never again accept a contract from an agent who hasn't read the full. Been there, done that, got thoroughly burned.
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Believe it or not- there are quite a few agents that require exclusive submissions. With Kimberly being an editor for 12 years, I am pretty sure she knows what she's doing.
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I've never heard of an agent who /requires/ exclusives, unless you mean agents who ask for the exclusive when they request a full. In which case just putting a note on your website isn't enough; you need to state, when you request the full ms, that you're asking for an exclusive and for a specific time period, and it has to be agreed to by the writer. My agent wanted an exclusive on the full but read it anyway when I said I couldn't give him one.
Most don't ask anymore, though. It's nowhere near as common as it used to be. I had seven fulls out when my agent requested it and he was the only one who asked for an exclusive, and it was only for a week.
Most don't ask anymore, though. It's nowhere near as common as it used to be. I had seven fulls out when my agent requested it and he was the only one who asked for an exclusive, and it was only for a week.
A recent guest article on GtLA: http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.co...+How+To+Create+A+Professional+Submission.aspx
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Sending out an update: Signed with Ms. Shumate in 2009 and after a year, I ended the contract. In the end, it bothered me that she never read the entire MS nor edited it. In fact, she suggest I get it edited elsewhere.
Lesson learned (which i was warned about on this site). Wrote a new book - not querying her again.
Aside from that, she is very polite and professional. The split was not due to anything other than my desire for a more in depth agent.
Lesson learned (which i was warned about on this site). Wrote a new book - not querying her again.
Aside from that, she is very polite and professional. The split was not due to anything other than my desire for a more in depth agent.
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Bumping this up looking for an update. I am getting ready to query her. I have had zero interest in my latest work, so if she shows great interest off a partial, I want to be cautious. LateNightLady's last post worried me at the part where she mentioned getting it edited elsewhere.
Any updates are appreciated. Not having any interest so far, I would be very excited to get an offer, but if the behavior I read in the previous posts is still going on, I may want to tone down my excitement.
Any updates are appreciated. Not having any interest so far, I would be very excited to get an offer, but if the behavior I read in the previous posts is still going on, I may want to tone down my excitement.
It's always worth toning down the excitement. As Uncle Jim reminds us, the only thing worse than not being published is being badly published.
Are the stats in your sig accurate? If so, you are a long way from worrying yet, but even so, run your query past the squirrels, run your opening through SYW. There are folks here who've sent out 250 queries before getting an agent/publisher.