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[Agency] Marly Rusoff & Associates Inc.

montecristo42

Hello all:
First time poster here.

Has anyone had any contact with this agency? If so, good, bad, indifferent?

I was scammed by one agency in the past and almost scammed by another recently, and wanted to do a little more homework this time.

I have a good feeling about this agency, but wanted to see if anyone else had had any contact/feedback about them.

Thanks for your help and happy writing!
 

icerose

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Welcome to the boards!!

You would get better responses on the Writers Beware and Background section. It's down, I think 3 sections of the forum? Check there, they have an index, you can use search if you know how, but if anyone has had experiences with it, you'd find them there.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=22

Good luck. :)

Edited to add:

I couldn't find anything on it, so you will want to either ask the moderators to move this post to the background check, or repost it there. If there is anyone who would know it will be Dave, or Victoria.

You can also check preditors and editors forum to see if they have anything on them. Visit:

http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/pubagent.htm

They have this to say about that agency:

Marly Russoff & Associates: $ Highly recommended. a literary agency.

Hope this helps.

Sara
 
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montecristo42

Thanks!

You can tell I'm a newbie here.

I liked P&E's comments on the agency, since it came highly recommended. I'll check the other forum out as well.

I figured I'd come to a place where I could discuss the publishing process with those more experienced and industry savvy than myself.

I think I've found a good place for that.

Thanks again!
 

icerose

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Good luck with your submission. I'll cross my fingers for you. If they ask for a query in the submission guidelines be sure to post it in the Share You Work forum and get feedback before sending it off. It can help out so much.
 

finewritingfinewine

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Has anyone had any further experience with them?

They request a general "dear submission" for equeries, to which I complied. Since then I've had dealings with one of the agents (they have my full now), but know nothing beyond her first name. All my Googling has been unable to turn up a full list of agent names. Does anyone have anything more?

Thanks!
 

popmuze

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This is the agency that represents one of my favorite current writers, Adam Langer (very literary, very funny, very readable). My impression is they're quite exclusive. Of course, I base that on the fact that I sent them a query once and got no reply other than a form saying they got the query.
 

finewritingfinewine

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Good to hear...good to hear. I'm curious as to what clues led you to the "exclusive" conclusion?

One thing I forgot to ask: in their submission guidelines they say they accept multiple submissions, but please let them know. It was a complete oversight but I forgot to include that info when I sent the mss. I have since promised someone else who requested exclusives on the partial that I would not send it any further (I couldn't promise exclusives because it was already out when the agent asked). Should I write to MR and let them know that it's out with a few other agents as well or at this point should I let it be until I hear further?

Any idea on response times from them as well?

Thanks so much!
 

lostlore

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They seem pretty prompt. My experience is about 3 weeks on a partial.
 

LittleGinaT

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Should I write to MR and let them know that it's out with a few other agents as well or at this point should I let it be until I hear further?

If the sub. guidelines say "please let them know," then I would.
GT
 

WendyNYC

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It's been a long time since anyone has posted here.

Does anyone else know anything about Marly Rusoff? (Aside from the PM data, which looks fantastic.) She doesn't seem to request much, at least according to QueryTracker. Any idea about response times?
 

Quincy160

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They reviewed our material very quickly and gave us some very helpful feedback. I think we heard back on our partial within a week. My impression was that they have a pretty full client list (and they rep Pat Conroy!!), so I think they're very picky about what they take on. We had a fantastic experience with them and I think you would be VERY lucky to get an offer of representation from them. Good luck!
 

Psyche

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Recent experience

I queried MR in mid-Feb, got the automatically generated email stating receipt of my query, and then heard back 4 days later with a request for the partial. I kind of forgot about it and then just got another email today with a request for the full. Seems like they are still doing some major deals despite the climate; keeping my fingers crossed!
 

simplyaven

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It seems this agency is not very popular among us. :))) However, I got a request for partial over three weeks ago and was just wondering if anyone has recent experience with response time and if they will respond at all? Should I send another e-mail and ask when one month has past? Any advice?
 

simplyaven

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Ah, thanks, Perks! I'd love them to be my agents. I'll wait till the end of this month probably. I just wondered if after requesting a partial it is the norm to accept the no response as a rejection? I thought after a partial has been requested most agents send a response, either positive or negative but I'm not 100% sure they all would do that.
 

Psyche

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Strange experience

I have had a rather strange experience with the Rusoff Agency.

Last February (09) I sent my query, and Marly responded very quickly wishing to see pages. We had a nice exchange about whether I knew someone she knew at the university I had attended. Of course I was excited and sent her my partial.

I didn't hear from the agency again until the first of April, when Julie Mosow contacted me and was apologetic that it had taken that long to get back to me. Several of them there had read the partial and liked it--in fact she praised my writing and story, and said it was something that would be easy to pitch to editors, and they were excited to read more. So I sent the rest of the ms as requested, really pleased with the response so far.

A few weeks later I had another email from Julie, who said that it had been a very hard decision and that they were torn about offering me representation. The current economy, the difficulties in selling women's fiction, and their obligations to current clients were not going to allow them to take me on at that time. But, she said, they didn't think I was going to remain unagented for long, and she went so far as to say that they may end up regretting their decision. She invited me to get back in touch in 6 months' time to see if things might have changed there.

So I thanked her and penciled a note to myself to contact them in October. Then I finished my second novel and had a baby. By the time October rolled around I had not been able to query more agents (you know, baby), and so I contacted Julie again. In the meantime I had done some searching online and found that Julie is one of the agency's readers, I presume to vet mss before passing them to Marly (she is not mentioned on their web site that I can find). I let her know of my continued interest and also attached a pitch and pages from my second novel, thinking she might like it as well. I received the usual auto-reply confirming receipt and also a message asking me to resend my pages in a different format, which I did. When I didn't hear back for several weeks I messaged her at a different agency email address which she had also used in our previous correspondence, but I still heard nothing. A few weeks later I picked up the phone to call, and the rather gruff gentleman who answered did not seem disposed to help me, but did say he would pass on my message to Julie. I still have not heard back.

I'm left wondering why, after such an enthusiastic initial response and an "almost" offer of representation, I would get no response at all after being invited to get back in touch--even if the answer is still no.
 

Artemus

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Rosoff

He invited me over the phone to sbmit a query. I did so. Got back an automated message thet my e-mail was aborted after one second.
 

simplyaven

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Oh, they have had my partial for over three months now. I forgot about it already! LOL And the book changed so much since then!
 

Chumplet

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I checked their site and they keep changing the email address because of spammers. They post the most recent on the submission page, so earlier emails won't work.

I sent off a query and got the automated confirmation of receipt.
 

Hoovlette

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Just a note: The agency is currently closed to unsolicited submissions. Website says to check back at end of 2010. :)
 

Laura Droege

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I queried this agency last week and received an autoreply that they received it but would be unable to respond unless they liked the manuscript. Understandable, and so many agents take this no-response-means-no route that I've come to expect it. I was thankful to receive the autoreply, since I often wonder if my query even made it through cyberspace.

They seem legit, and I queried them because they represent one of my favorite authors, Lisa Tucker.
 

Laura Droege

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I queried this agency last week and received an autoreply that they received it but would be unable to respond unless they liked the manuscript. Understandable, and so many agents take this no-response-means-no route that I've come to expect it. I was thankful to receive the autoreply, since I often wonder if my query even made it through cyberspace.

They seem legit, and I queried them because they represent one of my favorite authors, Lisa Tucker.

Just an update: They've never replied, so I guess this means "no". That's okay. I appreciated the courtesy of the autoreply.
 

pavtbr

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I sent an email query this afternoon. I didn't get an autoreply email back, but will be patient and wait a few minutes. I will post back to let you know if I get that and/or any other response.
Bryan

I did get a confirmation email. It took about half an hour though.
 
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