[Agency] Kneerim & Williams (formerly Kneerim, Williams & Bloom)

Vonangel - I found the same address you gave me on his twitter page, so all to the good, but see that he has his own agency called McWilliams Agency, but he's affiliated to KWB. Sounds like a busy man.

Guinea said:

Vonangel - I found the same address you gave me on his twitter page, so all to the good, but see that he has his own agency called McWilliams Agency, but he's affiliated to KWB. Sounds like a busy man.

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Extremely busy...as I still haven't heard anything.

VonAngel said:

Extremely busy...as I still haven't heard anything.

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Ditto, but then I only sent the query on 14 Jan, so early days yet. When did you submit? Would be nice to know if he's an agent that doesn't respond at all or one who takes a loooooooooong time to respond.

I sent a query to Rasheed McWilliams on 2/19, and got a request for a full today! That puts his response time just under the two month mark, if he's interested. He asked that I allow at least six weeks for him to read the manuscript.

paralith said:

I sent a query to Rasheed McWilliams on 2/19, and got a request for a full today! That puts his response time just under the two month mark, if he's interested. He asked that I allow at least six weeks for him to read the manuscript.

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Awesome news. Rasheed asked for my full on the 12/4 too. I had queried him on the 14 Jan, and had actually written him off. So nice surprise in my inbox. Let us know how you get on, Paralith.

I queried Rasheed McWilliams on 4/26/13
I received a request for a full on 5/25/13

After hearing nothing, I nudged on 9/27/13

I still haven't gotten a response. I'll nudge again in another week or so, but then I'm moving on. It's starting to sound he maybe he extends the whole "no response means no" philosophy to fulls as well as to cold queries.

My experience was this: I queried, he responded within two days with a request for a full. At the six month mark I nudged. He said it was on his desk to be read and that he would get back to me in two weeks. At two months I nudged, he responded that it was still on his desk. At the one year mark I again nudged, got the same response, then withdrew my manuscript.
Nice enough guy, but I didn't think he would be the agent for me due to lengthy response times. I still have no idea if he ever read the manuscript

FWIW - Queried Katherine Flynn on 10/14. Requested a full on 10/15. Awaiting her reply with as much alcohol as I can lay my hands on. ;P

What are their submission guidelines? I can't find them anywhere.

Christyp said:

What are their submission guidelines? I can't find them anywhere.

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I couldn't either. So I clicked on the links in the "Our Agents" area until I found an agent that sounded like they were looking for what I'd written.

Then I just e-mailed her a basic query with a one graf synopsis and she answered back the next day.

SportsScribe said:

FWIW - Queried Katherine Flynn on 10/14. Requested a full on 10/15. Awaiting her reply with as much alcohol as I can lay my hands on. ;P

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Well, at least she's quick about it. Got a no today from an assistant (I think): "There’s much to admire here, your premise is quite original, but ultimately we did not feel it was a good fit for any of our agents."

I hope that's not just the standard rejection letter and that they actually saw some positive things in my novel.

Lucy Cleland asked for my full today! She must be new, only 33 queries as of querytracker, 10 full requests with two offers coming out of those...

Emma Hamilton

I sent a proposal to Emma Hamilton at K&W on August 13, 2016. She asked for a chapter outline and sample chapter, which I sent 8/28. No reply. I prodded her in October. Still no reply. I think this is not only rude, but lazy, since it takes so little effort to send a stock email rejection. I have had lazy agents, and wouldn't want another.

She may still be considering it. 2 to 3 months is not long, in agent time.

Reviving this thread for the benefit of any else who may hear from Rasheed McWilliams. As I mentioned above, he requested a full from me in April of 2013. Mid September that same year, he responded with an offer of representation. I was of course thrilled. I responded right away. He did not. I sent another email a few days later in case the first one went astray. He did not respond. I sent another email four months later, just in case. He did not respond. I think most of you can imagine exactly how that felt, so I won't go into that, other than to say I was so upset that I didn't even want to update this thread.

Yesterday, six years later, he emails me and says he is still interested. I asked what happened. He said he stopped working with the agency he was with at the time but is now reviewing works he liked. I thanked him for the compliment of his interest, but since that did not explain or excuse why he couldn't do me the courtesy of letting me know his situation at the time, my trust with him was broken and I could not move forward with working with him.

In those six years I set the novel aside and have moved on to a new career, so I have become much less invested in becoming published. But if he had reached out again even three or four years ago I may still have jumped at the chance, since no one else offered me representation. So please be careful if he reaches out to you.

WOW. Not only did he offer no further apology or explanation for not responding to me six years ago, but he then turns around and says he doesn't actually want to agent my novel, but purchase the copyright to it. To quote, "I am interested in purchasing the copyright to the first book, as well as all associated characters, storylines, etc. for the publication of the first book and a series of [...] books to be drawn out of that world."

It's been a long time since I was an aspiring writer but I remember enough to know that this is NOT standard practice and is NOT in the best interest of the author. Please be extra cautious in any dealings with Mr. McWilliams.