Strachan Literary Agency

Maprilynne said:

I also know that she is (or was) Gerald Jone's literary agent and "Ginny Good" was one of her first sales.

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The agent for the guy that made the complaining-est writer's page I've ever seen? Wow. I'm not sure what that means, but it's something to think about. It could mean that she'll put up with an awful lot.

She's got my partial. Responded very quickly (next day) to my query and apologized ahead of time, stating that she's buried under reading and will read as soon as humanly possible. My first interactions with her have been very pleasant.

I queried her via email today, and she replied in less than 30 minutes. Asked for four chapters based upon the query letter. Apologized that she might take a few weeks to get back to me as she is swamped. Hope she likes what she reads.

Mike, have you heard anything from Laura? Just curious as to what her turn around time on partials is looking like right now.

Thanks!

She's still got my partial from November, so I'd also love to hear if anyone's had any turn around from her on pages!

I equeried Laura Strachan in March, and I believe she requested a partial that same week. I sent her a partial on March fifth. Yesterday, April thirtieth, I got a request for a full on that partial. Both times she warned me that she takes a long time responding, but I don't really think a little under two months is "a long time." It's not quick, but it's quicker than some agents who still have my material.

She also has my first fifty pages and warned me that she'd take a month (at least!) but to feel free to nudge! Extremely personable in her emails. Congrats on the request of a full now, Tomothecat!! Keep us posted. Just curious, what genre it is??

Thanks. She pretty much said ver batum what you just said. Literary Fiction. You?

thequotegal said:

She also has my first fifty pages and warned me that she'd take a month (at least!) but to feel free to nudge! Extremely personable in her emails. Congrats on the request of a full now, Tomothecat!! Keep us posted. Just curious, what genre it is??

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Hmmm...I had written her off when I didn't hear back after my initial "nudge." did you nudge her, Tomo, and did you hear anything back?

Congrats on the full!! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

I did not nudge her. I might have if it had been a month longer. She said the same thing about "feel free to nudge" when I sent along my full yesterday.

finewritingfinewine said:

Hmmm...I had written her off when I didn't hear back after my initial "nudge." did you nudge her, Tomo, and did you hear anything back?

Congrats on the full!! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

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No discsussion of this agent for a while - wondering what if anything folks heard about their partials/fulls? Has anyone signed with her? Any updated info much appreciated. FYI, her website says:

PLEASE NOTE: I WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING NEW SUBMISSIONS FROM JULY 1 THROUGH LABOR DAY IN AN EFFORT TO CATCH UP WITH A BACKLOG. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING.

I'm assuming this is current-?

Dear Author said:

No discsussion of this agent for a while - wondering what if anything folks heard about their partials/fulls? Has anyone signed with her? Any updated info much appreciated. FYI, her website says:

PLEASE NOTE: I WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING NEW SUBMISSIONS FROM JULY 1 THROUGH LABOR DAY IN AN EFFORT TO CATCH UP WITH A BACKLOG. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING.

I'm assuming this is current-?

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In my experience, Laura Strachan was courteous and professional. She liked my partial, but passed on the full. Very reasonable TAT. Here are my stats:

5/10/09: Query
5/10/09: Requested three chapters
7/11/09: Requested full
7/15/09: Rejected

I got my query in before her temporary cut-off 7/1. I'd assume she'll post an update when she's caught up on her backlog and ready to take new queries and submissions.

Dr. Johnson said:

In my experience, Laura Strachan was courteous and professional. She liked my partial, but passed on the full. Very reasonable TAT. Here are my stats:

5/10/09: Query
5/10/09: Requested three chapters
7/11/09: Requested full
7/15/09: Rejected

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Thanks, Dr. Johnson, for sharing your stats. I'm sorry it wasn't good news in the end, but glad that your interactions were pleasant. You certainly weren't hung up waiting for long! Best of luck to you.

Dear Author said:

Thanks, Dr. Johnson, for sharing your stats. I'm sorry it wasn't good news in the end, but glad that your interactions were pleasant. You certainly weren't hung up waiting for long! Best of luck to you.

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You're welcome. And good luck to you, too!

Laura might not be accepting queries at the moment, but she hasn't closed herself off completely. She is very approachable through Twitter, and allowed me to send her a query after I asked if she was going to tweet her status when she was open.

A half hour later, she asked for the full. It's been about a month, but I'm not pushing her. We just talk about other stuff like kids and bill paying.

In the meantime, another Twitter pal just announced she is a new client of Laura's, and Ms. Strachan also did.

Today, after a flurry of Twitter messages and emails back and forth about the endless pile of manuscripts and misbehaving attachments, I think Laura's reading my MS. I am now back to checking my email every five minutes.

She read my full, and I got the kindest, most encouraging rejection from her. She had a lot of wonderful things to say about my novel, just that the sweet ones are getting pushed out by big concept novels. I thought as much but I'm not discouraged.

Sorry to hear she passed, Chumplet. Don't give up!

For those who are interested, there is an update on her website dated January 2012:

"Here's the good news: Strachan Literary Agency is now accepting queries, but will be taking on new projects very, very selectively. We are most interested in high-end literary fiction and strong, compelling narrative nonfiction from authors with solid platforms. Here's the bad news: We have moved to a new computer and have had to make a clean break. With a few limited exceptions, queries and material submitted prior to 2012 were not transferred and are no longer under consideration."

She had agreed to see my YA version of my submission (totally revamped) and I sent it early last year, but I had to nudge around November. She apologized and asked me to resend after Christmas, so hopefully she'll accept it when I'm finished running a comb through it.