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Soper Literary Agency / textnovel

Gillhoughly

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Getting blitzed at Gillhoughly's Reef, Haleakaloha
It's too new and he's got no experience as a literary agent--which is quite different from being "an experienced lawyer and entrepreneur".

Most literary agents that I know have worked for other agents before breaking away to form their own agency. Mine worked at Spectrum Lit. Agency for years prior moving to another agency.

It is important that an agent have actual experience selling books. He may know a bit about literary contracts, but jack about how to sell a book to the right editor.

The website is not reassuring. While it is great that he secured a 3-book deal to St. Martin's, it is NOT great to show a title "in submission."

I've never seen that before. You show books you've sold, not ones you're trying to sell!

He is not specific about what he represents, beyond "fiction/non-fiction". Most agents are clear about what they're looking for in terms of genre or subject. Is he after non-fiction family drama or a how-to book on building tool sheds? He mentions YA and literary fiction, but not on the submissions page where it belongs.

Back off, give him a year to get established or go under.
 
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stansoper

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Thanks Gillhoughly for the recommendations on the website. I removed the reference to books in submission and moved the information about genres to the submissions page as well.

I also agree that authors should try to work with the most experienced agent they can find, although I would add that there can be certain benefits to working with a newer agent. In particular, in my case at least, I spend quite a bit of time working with my clients -- free of charge -- to help them improve their book to get it ready for consideration. Some agents might not have the time or patience for that. But then again, some authors don't need that kind of help (it tends to be more important for newer authors).

Gillhoughly asks a legitimate question: can I as a new agent actually sell a book? Well, I have had no problem getting editors at national publishers to look at my submissions so far, but then, I have had to be very careful about the works I represent. I hope to announce some new deals soon!

Anyway, thanks for the feedback and best of luck to all of you in your writing careers...

Stan Soper
www.soperagency.com
 

ILSinTexas

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Bumping up this thread. Anyone else have a recent experience with this agent?

I'm thinking about querying him.

Cate townsend - what happened when you queried him?
 

ILSinTexas

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Okay, dang it! I queried him. It just felt right to me. Know what I mean?
 

honeysock

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I queried him in January and got a super-fast request for a full, which he read . . . super-fast (maybe 3 days?). Rejection with excellent feedback, had a bit of a correspondence going with him as he was curious about my non-genre.

Did I mention he was super-fast? Very nice also. No nonsense type of guy.
 

ILSinTexas

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And...

A request for the full.
 

Daddyo

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Yep--if it feels right, ya gotta give it a shot. Congratulations and remember to report back with updates.
 

Maddie

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I sent a query yesterday based on this thread, and received a request for the full this morning from Stan Soper. I'll let you know what happens....
 

ILSinTexas

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Thanks for your good wishes, everyone.
 

ILSinTexas

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Congrats, Maddie!

What genre do you write? Mine was a YA fantasy.
 

Maddie

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Adult fiction, interwoven (and very sarcastic) stories about small-town life, based in the county of my present home address. Real places, and fictional people (no really, I swear my neighbor would never recognize himself!).
 

Katrina S. Forest

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It is an added benefit, if you consider that some agents do not spend time with their clients developing their project into a better book. Some offer little or no editing at all.

I'm sorry, what I was trying to emphasize was that doing it "at no charge" is not an added benefit. I understand that some agents do more editing than others, and I definitely think an agent that spends more than average time with each client is great. But it was claiming to do that and adding that it was free (as if others agents would charge for the extra time) that threw me off.

Maybe I completely misread things, and if I did, I apologize.
 

ILSinTexas

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It's okay, Katrina. I understood what you meant.
 

Miss Plum

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I'm sorry, what I was trying to emphasize was that doing it "at no charge" is not an added benefit.
Beating a dead horse here, but . . .

I think Stan's doubters might be over-reading a tad. He doesn't have a lot of experience yet, but he needs to assure agent-seeking writers that he's got something to offer.