Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency

Krista G. said:

Thank you, hester, and good luck with yours!

Ether, I believe she is (as is everyone at Sandra Dijkstra). However, her request made it sound like she hadn't even seen the queries I sent during the same time period you sent yours, so you might consider re-querying, if you feel good about it.

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I've completely reworked my query (and some on my first few pages), so I guess it couldn't hurt to requery . I know for a fact my Q has fallen into a few spam boxes, too. So, worth a try! Thanks.

Initial query sent to Ms. Martindale on 11/1/2010
Second query, first follow-up, sent 11/29/2010 (I know, I know, I didn't wait very long, but I couldn't help myself)
THIRD query, second follow-up, sent 1/18/2011
Partial request (first 100 pages) received 2/3/2011
Revision request received 2/24/2011

YA science fiction

She may take a while to respond to queries, but she's quick on requested material!

Krista G., I can't keep up, is that three or four revision requests today? Dang!!

augusto said:

Krista G., I can't keep up, is that three or four revision requests today? Dang!!

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Four R&Rs, augusto, but don't worry, I only reported them today I picked them up over the last couple of weeks.

Good luck on those R & Rs, Krista! Just curious: are you going to try to compile them all into one revision, or try to juggle four separate requests with four versions? (I've played that game--it'll drive you nuts, I tell ya, NUTS!)

Just sent a query to Jill, will update if I get a response.

honeysock said:

Good luck on those R & Rs, Krista! Just curious: are you going to try to compile them all into one revision, or try to juggle four separate requests with four versions? (I've played that game--it'll drive you nuts, I tell ya, NUTS!)

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Thankfully, most of their feedback is complementary, so I should be able to knock it out in one revision. I may not pick up every smaller suggestion recommended by every single agent, but I figure so long as I'm pleased with the result, that's the best I can do. Then I'll just have to let the chips fall where they may.

Equeried Taylor Martindale on 4th March. Nice, personalised rejection received on 7th April.

Does anyone know if Taylor Martindale is still with them? Just wondering because I don't see her bio on the website ... her Twitter account still says Sandra Dijkstra, but her last tweet (as well as her Guide to Literary Agents blog) were both from June ...

Taylor is no longer with SDLA.

Taylor Martindale is transitioning to a new agency that she'll announce in the fall. She just attended the Williamette Writers Conference and the info can be found in her bio here: http://www.willamettewriters.com/wwc/3/inf-38b.php (a little more than halfway down).

Queried both Natalie M. Fischer and Taylor Martindale at different points. No response from either.

Natalie Fischer is no longer with SDLA, either. She's been with Bradford Literary Agency since February, according to her blog.

Taylor was one of my agents on my wishlist. Oh well, I guess I'll have to skip this agency until there's more information about Thao Le.

I queried Jill Marr on 15 Aug. Website says to assume they're not interested if you haven't heard back in three weeks.

Anyone got a positive response after longer than that?

Thanks in advance.

Shaba said:

Taylor was one of my agents on my wishlist. Oh well, I guess I'll have to skip this agency until there's more information about Thao Le.

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You can still query Taylor! She's at Full Circle Literary now. Here's her latest interview.

I queried Jennifer Azantian on 10/3/11, who handles YA at Sandra Dijkstra- I did get a helpful rejection of my "upper MG" supernatural mystery today 10/14 :

Dear Karen,

Thank you so much for sharing ____________with me. I appreciate your professional query. I think you have a great story here, unfortunately though, there are two major things that would keep me from the taking this on. The first is that it features a protagonist who is younger than those in the stories I would like to represent. The second is the present tense style that rarely works for me. I know both of these are completely subjective reasons for passing on a project, but when I have concrete reasons, I try to pass them along because I know how hard it is on the writer's side of things. I'm sure another agent will feel differently and wish you the best of luck in your search for representation.

Warmest,

Jennifer (best Rejection, yet) She is exceptionally involved and attuned to writers-it appears

How long should I wait, full of patience and fragile hopes, after an enthusiastic full request from Jill Marr?
Query: 2 Aug
Full Request: 2 Aug
Full sent: 2 Aug
"Thanks! Looking forward to this!": 3 Aug.

Is it too early to touch base with her now?

Thanks for any advice,
Dev

Dev said:

How long should I wait, full of patience and fragile hopes, after an enthusiastic full request from Jill Marr?
Query: 2 Aug
Full Request: 2 Aug
Full sent: 2 Aug
"Thanks! Looking forward to this!": 3 Aug.

Is it too early to touch base with her now?

Thanks for any advice,
Dev

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Most people say it's best to wait three months before checking in on a partial - and four months on a full. I think that's fine advice, but in the end, you have to go with your gut. You might look up-thread a bit or check out a site like QueryTracker to see what average response times are like right now for Ms. Marr. If she's been responding to manuscripts that were sent after yours, then you might check in sooner. If she generally takes three or four months to respond, then your manuscript's probably still working its way up the queue.

Best of luck, Dev. Waiting's the toughest part.

Queried Thao Le on an adult sf mms today. Her guidelines are a little unclear on where she'll take adult SF&F, or just YA.

Just wanted to share my experience with you guys. The author I ghostwrite for sent a query to Elise Capron on 10/21/11. He received a personal and encouraging rejection from her on 11/27/11. Really, this was the nicest rejection I've read so far; basically she loved it but doesn't have a lot of publishing contacts for a memoir. She seemed genuinely sorry she couldn't take on the project. If all of the communication with Ms. Capron is that warm and professional, I highly recommend her as an agent.

No reply from Thao Le, so I'm calling it a rejection.

Filigree said:

No reply from Thao Le, so I'm calling it a rejection.

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Probably a safe assumption. Thao Le got back to me 4 weeks or so after I queried in October. She asked for fifteen pages.

Got my rejection letter today. At least it was personalized.