Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Representation

Oh, dude, I'm gone a few days and so much happens! So sorry TereLiz and Rebecca! But good luck to Rowan and Epiphany!!!

I just sent Joanna the revisions she suggested to The Duff, and now I"m just waiting to see what she thinks. Then its off for a polish edit. "squeee!!"

That has to be so exciting Kody. I just finished draft 2 revisions and sent it off to my betas yesterday (ok so it was like 1am but so what! I had to rewrite the entire ending).

lol, I"ve had 1am breakthroughs before!

Yeah the revelation to change the ending (and remove the subplot) came the night before at like midnight. I think I ended up cutting about 25k total off the first draft (kinda scary). Now I get to focus on my WIP for a little while!

Oh, sort of a random question, was exactly is a "polish edit"?

Blind Writer said:

lol, I"ve had 1am breakthroughs before!

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I think those are the only kind of breakthroughs I have, lol.

Rose, a polish edit is for grammatical things--grammar, punctuation, word choice. Smaller than like adding a scene or revising a subplot.

And, yes, as writers, I think we all have some form of incurable insomnia.

Ah ok, that makes sense. I did some of that in my last revision. Now I just have to be patient til my betas get back to me.

Yep. Polish-polish. That makes i look shiny!

Blind Writer said:

Oh, dude, I'm gone a few days and so much happens! So sorry TereLiz and Rebecca! But good luck to Rowan and Epiphany!!!

I just sent Joanna the revisions she suggested to The Duff, and now I"m just waiting to see what she thinks. Then its off for a polish edit. "squeee!!"

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Thank you, Blind Writer! And congrats to you as well.

Thanks!!!

Its still so weird. I"m working on a new project now, and in my head I"m writing the query, then I"m like, "HEy, I don't have to do that anymore! I have an agent!" Its kind of surreal.

I think the revisions worked perfectly, BW. I didn't even know you'd added those scenes until you mentioned them, just because they worked so seamlessly with the rest of the plot. Good luck!

Blind Writer said:

Thanks!!!

Its still so weird. I"m working on a new project now, and in my head I"m writing the query, then I"m like, "HEy, I don't have to do that anymore! I have an agent!" Its kind of surreal.

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Man, I can't wait until this is the case for me. I started writing queries for the of my WIP's but I hope I don't need them! For now, I'm just waiting impatiently for the two awesome agents who have my ms to get back to me.

Rowan said:

Thank you, RoseColoredSkies!

Congrats and best of luck, Epiphany!

EveningStar: Are you in Salem??

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eveningstar said:

I am indeed, strangely wonderful city that it is. I've only lived here a couple years but I like it quite a bit.

Good luck with your full request! I'm planning on querying Joanna soon, once my manuscript is polished to a slightly brighter shine.

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I lived in Salem for a year and I miss it tons! Great "little" place to live. =)

Thank you, Red! I"m glad to hear it! I was afraid they were totally random-ish.

Good luck with your submission to editors, BW!

I've been revising my mss, and will hopefully be able to resubmit to Joanna in July.
I would never have made such progress if not for the good people here at AW.com

Blind Writer said:

Thanks!!!

Its still so weird. I"m working on a new project now, and in my head I"m writing the query, then I"m like, "HEy, I don't have to do that anymore! I have an agent!" Its kind of surreal.

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Are you working on the second in a series or something new entirely?
What was the first thing that went through your head when you got the call?

Kasey Mackenzie said:

I lived in Salem for a year and I miss it tons! Great "little" place to live. =)

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Why did you leave - work? It's a unique place! I want to go back someday.

I know it's probably in this thread somewhere but I'm feeling lazy...Is Joanna (or Nancy) your agent also??

Rowan said:

Are you working on the second in a series or something new entirely?
What was the first thing that went through your head when you got the call?

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OH, it's something new. Though the new project, The Outcast Society, does take place in the same high school as The Duff--kind of like what Sarah Dessen does with her books. But the plots and characters are compltely unrelated.

My first thought? Um...."Don't scream...don't scream..." Mostly. But the nervousness went away fast. She's just so nice and personable that it wasn't hard to have a conversation with her at all.

BTW, I love your signature! OMG, Lord Byron is my favorite poet EVER. I did a project over him in my high school AP Literature class earlier this semester. My teacher loved it! I was the only one who did a romantic poet. everyone else stuck with Steinbeck or Hemingway--both good, but I thought byron was pretty interesting. And his quotes, like those in your signature, are beautiful. His poems, "When We Two Parted" and "We'll Go No MOre A-Roving" are my favorites.

Blind Writer said:

OH, it's something new. Though the new project, The Outcast Society, does take place in the same high school as The Duff--kind of like what Sarah Dessen does with her books. But the plots and characters are compltely unrelated.

My first thought? Um...."Don't scream...don't scream..." Mostly. But the nervousness went away fast. She's just so nice and personable that it wasn't hard to have a conversation with her at all.

BTW, I love your signature! OMG, Lord Byron is my favorite poet EVER. I did a project over him in my high school AP Literature class earlier this semester. My teacher loved it! I was the only one who did a romantic poet. everyone else stuck with Steinbeck or Hemingway--both good, but I thought byron was pretty interesting. And his quotes, like those in your signature, are beautiful. His poems, "When We Two Parted" and "We'll Go No MOre A-Roving" are my favorites.

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I've never read Dressen but that sounds interesting! I love Byron too; Tom Holland's Lord of the Dead is an amazing 'adaptation' of Byron's life. Have you read it? I'm not sure I could pick a favorite poem...

Keep us posted on how everything goes with your revisions (The Duff) and of course, TOS. Sounds like you found the perfect agent in Joanna!

Ok, here's my dilemma that I hope you brilliant folks will be able to help me out with.

I received a request from Joanna for my 1st 25 pages on 5/8. I sent it the same day and I knew when I sent it that I was not 100% happy with the beginning, but after months and months, I knew I'd rewritten it the best I could.

I received a rejection from another agent with some really good specific feedback. I gave my beginning back to my crit group and they convinced me to cut the 1st 25 pages and sprinkle in any backstory in the form of flashback, as needed.

Well now I'm working on a new kick-ass beginning and I'm really excited about it. I still haven't heard from Joanna. The pages I sent her have all pretty much been cut.

I should probably just cut my losses and move on, chalk it up to a learning experience, right?

Or could I email her saying "hey I've done some revisions and if you haven't read my pages yet, can you read these instead?" Is that totally unprofessional?

What I'm really hoping is that somehow she never got my pages and I can email her in a month saying "oops, you never got them? Well here they are." And she'll be dazzled by my brilliance.

Sorry this is rambly. Thoughts?

First off BW, congrats! I have a partial with Joanna and am biting my nails to nubs waiting. I hate the waiting!

Senora Verde - this might not be the best advice but I totally would send her the revisions. I mean you aren't that happy with what you sent so you really don't have that much to lose. Besides, even if she likes it, if YOU don't like it then that's not good. You should love what you put out there and you should know it's the best you can do.

Send her an email. I don't think it could hurt. But again, totally my opinion.

Be honest. No agent likes to have read 25 pages for nothing, but if it's all backstory I doubt she read the whole thing anyway. Send her a frank (and short) email telling her what happened and ask if you can resubmit.

Don't ask if she saw the original. Since she requested off the query, consider pasting in the first 5 pages. If she loves it, the first submission will no longer matter (and she'll have to love it to overcome the thought that you submitted a ms that was not ready). If she doesn't like it, you'll save you both some time and trouble.

Also, I wouldn't stress that you revised off the feedback of another agent because that suggests the first 25's quality doesn't reflect the rest of the novel, true or no. My opinion. Luck.

Opened my mailbox on Friday and found a partial request from Nancy. I did a little dance on the spot, which possibly frightened my neighbors. It's amazing how that letter filled me with a combustible combination of hope and anxiety. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Congrats Cory! Keep us updated.

Hey, I grew up in the OC. (and called it that jokingly with friends WAY before the TV show)

Still waiting on my full with Joanna. No rush. I'm going on vacation this weekend!
Senora, I feel your pain! I had an MG author friend read the MS after I sent it to her, and she noted a bunch of stuff (mostly slightly mature language, ahem) that I subsequently changed.
But I'll bet Joanna can see around that.
Good luck, Cory!