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P.S. Literary Agency / PlainSmart, Inc. (fmly PlainSmart Publishing Agency)

TMeuretBooks

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Eric Smith 'liked' my #dvpit pitch, and after sending the query I've just now had a request for the full. Yay! Does anybody have anything they can chime in about him? Not sure whether my nails will stand up to all this chewing! :)

Girl, I am dying to hear your pitch. You are killing it!
 

TMeuretBooks

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But to answer your question, Eric Smith seems like a lovely agent, and he has decent sales
 

Pisco Sour

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Lol, thanks! I mixed up the Twitter pitches during the two contests. The lowest number of 'hits' I had from agents was 3, I think. I'm wondering if I should mosy on over to the successful queries thread (wherever it is, I think I saw it somewhere once) if I get an offer on this book, and share over there. :)
 

Pisco Sour

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If you don't want it revealed to the general public, you can post it in Share Your Work, under Successful Queries. That's where I put mine yesterday.

Like the others, I wanna see!

LOL! I'm going to put it up there for sure, as soon as I have signed with an agent--ha! Look at me, all sprightly and positive today. If there's one thing I've learned is that there are no guarantees in this querying malarky. People have to read and 'love' the book, or it's a pass. I've already had 2 passes on fulls and others on the query alone. So. Feet, on ground. But I'll post the query for sure after I've waited a while for things to die down. Anybody who wants to know my Twitter pitches can PM me. I did get loads of 'likes' for #pitmad and #dvpit. Something around 49 adding up after both contests, I think, but that includes publishers who liked. BAck to stalking my in box, lol.
 

PandaNinja

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Pisco, I tried to email you but it said your messages were full lol. Either way, I wanted to congratulate you on your full request from Eric! I also got a full request from him during DVpit. I’m really worried/anxious because this is my first full request and I’ve gotten 4 rejections so far, but this is also the year i got way more likes than i did last year and I am happy about that. Either way, I noticed you got a lot of notice during DVpit and I wanted to send some positive vibes your way :)
 
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Pisco Sour

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Pisco, I tried to email you but it said your messages were full lol. Either way, I wanted to congratulate you on your full request from Eric! I also got a full request from him during DVpit. I’m really worried/anxious because this is my first full request and I’ve gotten 4 rejections so far, but this is also the year i got way more likes than i did last year and I am happy about that. Either way, I noticed you got a lot of notice during DVpit and I wanted to send some positive vibes your way :)

Whoops, sorry Panda! Everything has been rather manic lately but I've done some housekeeping now and it should be okay to pop me a line now. I only saw your message bc I came back to report on Eric. Thanks for the positive vibes--right back at you! This business is tough and you have to persevere! Ask me anything you want and I'll try to get back to you asap. :)
 

Pisco Sour

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My experience with Eric Smith:

DVpit query request: 10.02.17
Request for full: 10.04.17
Nudged bc I had an offer of representation: on or about 10.10.17 (due to 'stuff' I didn't note down the exact date I told him, but it was about then.)
Polite step-aside: 10.12.17

Eric was lovely to deal with. He' was on a book tour and seemed genuinely disappointed he didn't have time to read the full before my deadline (new baby, the book tour for his own novel, and a conference scheduled the following week). We went back and forth a few times, and I really liked his relaxed and open communication style. I was disappointed he couldn't read within the time frame I set and I'd definitely query him again if the need arose.
 
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PandaNinja

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Whoops, sorry Panda! Everything has been rather manic lately but I've done some housekeeping now and it should be okay to pop me a line now. I only saw your message bc I came back to report on Eric. Thanks for the positive vibes--right back at you! This business is tough and you have to persevere! Ask me anything you want and I'll try to get back to you asap. :)


Its okay! I sent you a message :)
 

PandaNinja

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Question: Eric Smith requested my full back in October and I’ve yet to hear anything from him, but he recently tweeted that his inbox is at zero. I’m assuming he meant requested material and queries. Should I nudge or wait until his agency is opened again? He requested my material during DVpit. So I’m not sure if I should wait longer or go ahead and nudge? It’s the same for another agent as well.
 

Jeneral

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I'd give it a little longer. Two months isn't really that long for a full, and I think he's still on paternity leave?
 

PandaNinja

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Thank you! I only wondered because a few weeks ago on twitter he said that he was reading manuscripts. I assumed he meant the ones he requested and he also recently took on another author. I’ll be sure to keep this posted in case I do hear back from him.
 

Pisco Sour

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Thank you! I only wondered because a few weeks ago on twitter he said that he was reading manuscripts. I assumed he meant the ones he requested and he also recently took on another author. I’ll be sure to keep this posted in case I do hear back from him.

Good luck, Panda! Fingers and toes crossed for you!
 

EMaree

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From Twitter, a guidelines change for Carly Watters:

@carlywattersFollow Follow @carlywatters
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The industry is changing are so are my fiction submission requests: I'll ask for 5 comp titles from the past 5 years, a short marketing plan from the author, a description of your next WIP & a list of alternate titles for your current work.

This reflects the seriousness authors need to take when launching their career & it starts with you. I'm your business partner which includes marketing, too. I want to work with authors for whom this is more than a hobby.

That way you'll pre-emptively have the marketing wheels turning & if I sign you up, we'll hit the ground running!

There's been a lot of chatter about this in writing backchannels, and screw it, I'm going to say it out in the open:

These guidelines are ridiculous, and I think less of this agent as a businesswoman and agent for shunting all of this work onto writers in the query trenches.

The agency also provides zero guidance on how to format these special requirements.
 
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folclor

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Yeah, that seems a bit over the top. I could see that from a small publisher, I'll be honest. Especially the short marketing plan. But for the agent? I'm taken aback.
 

Anna204

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Based on what I've seen from this agency, her "requirements" don't surprise me. And I have to agree that this is asking a lot. I used to follow them on Twitter, but their posts were borderline nauseating.

I think they have a few star clients and that's gone to their heads.
 

JJ Crafts

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I've been researching agents to query lately and saw this on Twitter. It absolutely terrified me so glad to see others think it's ridiculous. They have a couple great sounding agents though and am wondering if this would be all of them at the agency and I should just steer clear completely? Any opinions?
 

quianaa2001

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Any more thoughts? Eric Smith seems really cool. Any info on recent sales?
 

quianaa2001

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I used to follow them on Twitter, but their posts were borderline nauseating.

I think they have a few star clients and that's gone to their heads.

What was nauseating about their tweets? Also who are their star clients?
 

Filigree

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Corvid

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Does anyone know how long Kurestin typically takes with full requests? She's had mine for several months now. Also, would it be a bad idea to offer her a revised manuscript as a nudge if I've made some edits?
 

Krista G.

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Does anyone know how long Kurestin typically takes with full requests? She's had mine for several months now. Also, would it be a bad idea to offer her a revised manuscript as a nudge if I've made some edits?

No idea on response times, but I'd be a little leery about offering her a revised manuscript. She might assume you don't know when to send work out/you sent this manuscript out prematurely. That said, if you made revisions based on another agent/editor's feedback, you could probably ask her if she'd like to see it, too. (Keep in mind, however, that she might assume the other agent/editor turned it down. She also might not want to poach another agent/editor's work.)

Hope this helps!