Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Representation

Anthony, that's great news on the St. Martin's contract and potentially working with Nancy/Joanna! Congrats.

As an update to my posts, I have now heard from Joanna on my full sent to Nancy, and I'm working through a few suggested rewrites. Joanna also requested my YA fantasy in the meantime, which I sent on Friday. They seem like a great team to work with.

Joanna Stampfel

Just wanted to take a minute and share our experience with Joanna Stampfel. We had originally sent Joanna our full manuscript back in November, and because of her job change, wedding, holidays and etc, we ended up getting a very kind rejection from her in February. Joanna takes a lot of time writing her rejections for full manuscripts and provides very specific feedback, which I know we can all appreciate.

By the time she responded to our original MS, we had written another book, so we ended up sending the new book to her. She read it in a week and immediately offered representation. We were absolutely thrilled. She was incredible to talk to on the phone and really knows her stuff. We had other agents considering our work, and she graciously gave us a week to make our decision. In the end, another agent presented some specific revisions that really resonated with us, so we made the VERY difficult decision to sign with another agent. Bottom line, query Joanna with confidence. She's an amazing agent with a ton of enthusiasm and industry knowledge.

For those of you who have queried Joanna: Does she always request a 2 page synopsis with a partial/full? I know the chances she'll ask for a partial are slim, but I want to be prepared and my synopsis is 3 pages. Thanks in advance for the info!

QGMOM,

I have a full with Joanna right now, and she did request a two-page synopsis with the partial. Just from experience, I always have two on hand - a short one (1-2 pages) and a long one (3-4 pages) that way I'm prepared for whatever the agent's preference might be.

Julie

Thanks, Julie. I also have a one page synopsis done. So I have a one page and a three page, but not a two page! Aaargh! Does the synopsis hell never end?

Short answer: no.

The synopsis I sent was two pages and two lines long. I figured she'd forgive me for the two lines.

Hello to all. I, myself, am still waiting to hear from Joanna and Nancy on my manuscripts. They are both reading them. They only have them a week so I know there's still time to go. I only have 9 months until my book comes out though so time is kinda important to me right now. I don't want to wait till gametime for an agent to be working with me. I'll give them a little more time and then move to the next name on my target list. But Nancy Coffey's agency is still my top choice from the experience I've already had with them and the research I have done since. Good day to all!

QGMOM,

I wouldn't sweat the synopsis so much. It's about your writing and your story's marketability. If she loves the chapter(s) sample, then a half-page overage of synopsis won't stop her from requesting the manuscript. If the synopsis is brilliant but she doesn't dig your writing/story/characters/whatever, then you both move on.

I didn't have a synopsis when Joanna asked for one with a partial. I hate the damned things. I wrote one that night and sent the package off the next day. The synopsis probably sucked but, well, she's my agent and she's terrific. Good luck with your submission.

What a difference a day makes. Got the call from Nancy today saying she would love to represent me. Very good news. She said she really loved the manuscript and the first 30,000 words I have written so far on the sequel. Joanna even jumped in with a congratulatory email. I am looking forward to working with this agency. They seem very involved. To comment on the above posts, I absolutely HATE the synopsis writing. No matter how much I write, I never feel I was able to capture the plotline and message of my books. I despise sitting there trying to encapsulate 80,000 words into a page or two. It really does get frustrating. But I guess it has to be done. ANT

Congrats, Anthony!! That's super news.

Thank you Erin! How's it going with your submission? Can just email me direct if you'd like. ANT

I just want to chime in about how great Joanna is. I queried her last week, and she responded within a day with a few helpful tips for future revision and an offer to look at my work again when I implemented the changes. She would be awesome to work with, I think.

Hey Funidream. Thank you for the peek into what it's like to work with Nancy. I hope I am able to achieve some of the success you have had. I am very excited to be represented by her. It almost makes me feel like my next novel, which she has read the first 30,000 words and loved, has a much stronger possibility of getting published. That would put 2 under my belt. The only thing that sucks is that I have 2 other manuscripts already completed, but in the sci-fi genre. I see in her profile that she doesn't do sci-fi. So, I will have to consider those dead for a while. Shame too because the concepts in them are pretty cool. Writing is a strange game, I have found. Mystery writing isn't really my thing. Sci-fi is. But my 2 mystery books are the ones that have hit the bullseye. Not that I am complaining. I have been blessed with an opportunity that most would cherish. I just love the way things come out of the blue sometimes. And, congrats to you. Berkley is a big-time house. Always have titles in the top-10. I will look for yours there in the spring and summer. Good luck! And thanks for the reply. ANT

Wow congratz Anthony, I'm curious; how did you get an editor from such a big house to look at your MS without an agent?

Hi Soulcascade. It was actually a one-in-a-million shot. A friend of mine mentioned me to Ruth Cavin, a senior editor at St. Martin's. Ms. Cavin said I could send her the first 3 chapters by email. I figured it was just a nice gesture on her part and that my email would be deleted soon as she got it. I sent it and forgot about it. About 2 months after sending it, I got a reply from her saying she really enjoyed the first 3 chapters and would love to see the rest. I printed the whole thing out and sent it. A month after that, she wrote back saying she wanted to buy it. I was flabbergasted. No agent would take me so I did the contract by myself. Pretty standard stuff. Now that the book is coming out, I figured I would try the agents again and went for the #1 on my list, Nancy. She reread the book, after I had made the changes suggested by Ms. Cavin, and really liked it and decided to represent. So, there you go. One email by a friend looking out for me led to all this. Never underestimate the power of networking! ANT

Hi all - I've been following your posts every day as I just sent a partial to Joanna a few days ago. Since I couldn't find much information originally, it was great to see so many people with positive experiences from the agency!

Thanks to all the posts and helpful advice!

Wow, that's amazing. You must be very excited Anthony. When you get the final title of your book, you will have to post it here so we can read it!

Soulcascade, the final title of the book is Luck of the Draw. It is now in production and will be out in December 2009. If you'd like to see the cover and get some info on it, go to my blog. You just might be the first to ever see it. I am the only one who knows about it. Anyhow, here is the link http://luckofthedrawstmartins.blogspot.com/. Check it out if you'd like. Let me know what you think of the cover they came up with for me.
For JJPIE, good luck with the partial. I hope it works out for you. I am just getting my feet wet with Nancy and Joanna so I don't have a lot I can offer in the way of experience with them. Hopefully positive stuff soon. ANT

I'm not soulcascade, but I popped over to your blog. Nice cover! Congrats.

Thanks ANT. I checked out the cover - looks great. Definitely captures the tone right off the bat.
Will keep you guys posted...

Thank you Cyia, and thank you too JJPie. Please do keep in touch. I am more than curious to find out what happens with the submissions. One thing is for certain though, the publishing game is a VERY slow process. An offer was made to me last June, contracts signed in July, final manuscript submitted in August, and book not to come out for 9 more months. That's like a year and a half. Amazing. Sure doesn't happen overnight. ANT

Nice site Anthony! I liked your cover, I thought it would definitely make a reader want to pick the book up to find out more
I'm curious (and possibly nosy) since you sold your MS yourself, does that mean your agent won't get a percentage for this book? If that's a personal question, I appologize, I only ask because I was always curious about books an author sells themselves and then gets an agent a little later on down the road...

Just curious.. According to Agent Query she only takes snail mail? Is that still the case? I'm still trying to find a place for my Fantasy novel and she seems like she might be a good fit.

I believe that's right. I queried Joanna electronically but I believe Nancy is snail mail. Someone else can answer that better.