Red Fox Literary (formerly Karen Grencik Literary Agency)

She does seem to have sold books to proper publishers (Random, Henry Holt, Holiday House). The examples on her website look to be most often picture books rather than YA. A mod might move this to Bewares and Background Check, though?

I queried Karen and got a partial request today, along with this info:

there are some changes in the works. I’ve attached a press release for my new agency, which was launched yesterday. I’ve joined forces with ex Tricycle Editor, Abigail Samoun, and we’ve founded Red Fox Literary Agency at www.redfoxliterary.com. I will no longer be receiving submissions through the Grencik Literary site.

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Oh, also, they do seem like they're a lot of MG and picture books, but my submission is upper YA. So maybe they want to branch out?

Red Fox Literary

Karen Grencik and ex-Tricycle Editor, Abigail Samoun, have opened up their own agency:

http://www.redfoxliterary.com/

From the submission page:

"Due to the volume of queries I’ve been receiving, submissions will only be accepted from the 1st through the 7th of each month."

Interesting approach. Perhaps I'll query in two weeks.

I once queried Karen and she was SO sweet. Quick, too.

Ether...cool that you received a request because this was under Karen's name on the new site's submission page:

"Authors:
Due to my current focus on developing the illustration division of Red Fox Literary, I am only accepting middle grade and young adult novel submissions from authors who have attended conferences at which I’ve spoken. You can find a calendar on our blog with information about upcoming conferences. I am not accepting picture book manuscripts unless these are written by an illustrator I am interested in representing."

Did you cite a conference you attended? Or was this request due to the fact she hadn't merged yet?

Just in case others want to query her!

maracalone said:

Ether...cool that you received a request because this was under Karen's name on the new site's submission page:

"Authors:
Due to my current focus on developing the illustration division of Red Fox Literary, I am only accepting middle grade and young adult novel submissions from authors who have attended conferences at which I’ve spoken. You can find a calendar on our blog with information about upcoming conferences. I am not accepting picture book manuscripts unless these are written by an illustrator I am interested in representing."

Did you cite a conference you attended? Or was this request due to the fact she hadn't merged yet?

Just in case others want to query her!

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I hadn't seen that! I was going off of her last agency (Red Fox Lit only opened yesterday according to her email), which didn't say anything about that.

So, no. I didn't attend any conferences. The request was a partial (50 pages) to be snail mailed in.

Twizzle said:

I once queried Karen and she was SO sweet. Quick, too.

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Yes, her email was very sweet and enthusiastic. And it only took a few days from query to request.

That means she loved it enough to ask for a partial despite the new Red Fox guidelines/forming an agency. YAY GO YOU!!!!! Many good luck wishes being sent your way.

maracalone said:

That means she loved it enough to ask for a partial despite the new Red Fox guidelines/forming an agency. YAY GO YOU!!!!! Many good luck wishes being sent your way.

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Haha, thanks! I'm also surprised 'cause they seem to be mostly MG and not a lot of YA, but we'll see how it goes.

I met her not long ago when I visited a friend who is neighbors with her. Very nice lady. She and her new business partner (an illustrator in her own right) have been making the transition to Red Fox Literary for a couple of months (maybe Red Fox should be added to this thread title?).

We talked over a picture book idea; she mentioned some specifics regarding limitations on what she can submit to publishers (word count, etc), but didn't indicate she isn't willing to see them. Perhaps they're looking to grow the MG/YA side of things and she gets enough pb submissions through conferences, etc. But, since the guidelines are very new, it doesn't mean she won't consider things submitted prior to the launch of the new website.

ether said:

Haha, thanks! I'm also surprised 'cause they seem to be mostly MG and not a lot of YA, but we'll see how it goes.

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Since you're in CA, (as she is), you might be able to run into her through a SCBWI chapter meeting or something. I'd keep an eye on the local announcements.

Can we get someone to merge this thread with Red Fox?????

Umm...it was double posted (on different places for some reason...Karen Grencik and Red Fox...I just noticed the merge and commented). Not meant to be impatient. But thanks, CaoPaux! I'm sure you see my mistake.

Ether or someone else moved it so it seemed like double posted. How funny! I would hate for people to think I'm pushing it as I have not subbed here. Just trying to help.

Sorry if I annoyed you, CaoPaux, as it seems like I did by pointing out a merging thread because the subs overlapped (though I am sure I am reading you post wrong about the haste and seeming like it might be pointed at me). So sorry to have been annoying.

maracalone said:

Ether...cool that you received a request because this was under Karen's name on the new site's submission page:

"Authors:
Due to my current focus on developing the illustration division of Red Fox Literary, I am only accepting middle grade and young adult novel submissions from authors who have attended conferences at which I’ve spoken. You can find a calendar on our blog with information about upcoming conferences. I am not accepting picture book manuscripts unless these are written by an illustrator I am interested in representing."

Did you cite a conference you attended? Or was this request due to the fact she hadn't merged yet?

Just in case others want to query her!

Click to expand...

I just went and poked around the website and realized that this quote above is mistakenly attributed to Karen. This is actually from the section from Abi (Abigail) who represents illustrators. Karen represents authors and her submission information reads (in addition to the bit about accepting submissions from the 1st to the 7th of the month):

PICTURE BOOKS: Submit a query letter with the full manuscript.

FICTION: Submit a query letter, synopsis, and the first ten pages.

NON-FICTION: Submit a query letter, proposal, and one sample chapter.

I am not interested in:
Mass Market Board or Novelty Books
Activity Books/Workbooks
Self-Help
Science Fiction
High Fantasy
Dystopia
Memoir

Hope that helps clarify. (And points out the necessity of scrolling slowly when visiting an agency's website.)

THANK YOU, CAWriter!

Hubby must have misread (he looked up agencies for me today). I went to the site hoping to submit and was kind of bummed (as some of the blogs I follow--the authors--are repped by her...Julie Musil anyone? She ROCKS!). So happy I can query her! Usually I notice things like this but hubby checked because he was reading a blog we both follow. I knew I shouldn't try to cook killer shrimp (so good!) and have someone read agency info. Ah well, live and learn.

I am still super happy for ETHER!!! I am hoping everything goes well!

I received a great rejection from Karen today. (Great rejection? I know, you're laughing.) She said she loved what she read and it kept her on the edge of her seat, but while reading she realized how little she knew about the market for my genre and felt she couldn't represent it efficiently.

SUPER nice and easy to talk to. I encourage anyone to query her.

As today is the first of July, I queried Karen with my YA novel. We will see....

Received a very nice request for the first fifty, snail mail. Will keeop y'all updated. I love the name of her agency - very child friendly.

Queried Karen Grencik on the first when she opened for the month, rejection yesterday. I wish more agents would adopt a system that's so efficient. Unfortunately got a "great" personalized rejection like Ether's. So enthusiastic about the premise that she used an exclamation point! but in the end 'did not love it enough.'

Very civilized and this is how business should be done. But on the other hand, man, we complain about form rejections and "no response means no" but I have gotten several nice personalized rejections in a row now that basically say "this is terrific but it's not for me" and I am beginning to feel like that is even more crazy-making!