Foundry Literary + Media

I've mostly moved on from the experience now (though occasionally I think I might still hear from said agent), but it's made me very skeptical about any agent enthusiasm I've experienced since. I mean, just a simple respectful rejection would have been better than nothing.

Yes, a boozy smoky club would be perfect!

I am sooo there. Count me in! A book club with you guys would rock!

Radio silence stinks. I'm not liking the no response = no that is becoming so popular. I know they are busy, but we are kind of people... right?

On 3/30/10, JJPie asked:

I was wondering the same thing...did you end up querying another agent?

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Sorry, JJ. I just read your post. Actually, no. Since I still have a long list of agents to query, I put them at the bottom. I figure enough time will have passed that it shouldn't make a difference.

I've started a new thread in Rejection and Dejection entitled "Horseshoes and Hand Grenades" if you want to share your betrayal/sort-of-like-getting-jilted stories. There are margaritas and nachos over there if you're feeling social . . .

Cool, honeysock!

See you there...

Late to the party, but great idea honeysock!

Gr...I sent a query to Stephen Barbara on Friday and still no response. I guess I should give it time but since he's a fast responder I was hoping for something by now. I guess I'm just being impatient though.

rejection from HGB - after a six month wait.

Katpaws,

I don't know if you should give up yet. Hannah has been to all the major book fairs in the last few months and has been swamped. I spoke to her briefly in early May and she said she wasn't doing the "fun" part of her job at the moment, which she defined as working with her authors and finding new ones to represent. She said she'd get back to me sometime in June. She emailed me last week to say she was still trying to catchup and that we'll talk soon. We have a call scheduled for tonight.

I guess my point is that sometimes it is easy for writers to assume that the agent has moved on when in actuality the agent is swamped in another area of their job. It doesn't make it any easier, that's for damn sure, when you're waiting.

Just my two cents.

Roly, I sent Stephen Barbara a query on Saturday morning and got a rejection about twenty minutes later. It might be a good sign that he hasn't gotten back to you yet!

Beckstah said:

Roly, I sent Stephen Barbara a query on Saturday morning and got a rejection about twenty minutes later. It might be a good sign that he hasn't gotten back to you yet!

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Guess not. Got my R

Thanks for another perspective, Rhiannon. There's a part of me that still wants to believe she's just swamped and your message definitely fired that part up. I don't want to think she's the kind of agent who would go silent after going so far as a phone call, but I've heard this isn't the first time it's happened and I certainly don't want to get my hopes up again. That said, I'm willing to follow up with her again. What I really don't understand is why she wouldn't just shoot off a quick email to tell me she's swamped. Regardless, I do appreciate your two cents and may reach out one last time.

RhiannonFrater said:

Katpaws,

I don't know if you should give up yet. Hannah has been to all the major book fairs in the last few months and has been swamped. I spoke to her briefly in early May and she said she wasn't doing the "fun" part of her job at the moment, which she defined as working with her authors and finding new ones to represent. She said she'd get back to me sometime in June. She emailed me last week to say she was still trying to catchup and that we'll talk soon. We have a call scheduled for tonight.

I guess my point is that sometimes it is easy for writers to assume that the agent has moved on when in actuality the agent is swamped in another area of their job. It doesn't make it any easier, that's for damn sure, when you're waiting.

Just my two cents.

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A good agent only spends 5% or less on looking for new clients. If she has a dozen or more clients she will definitely be swamped with them.

If she gave you a call, then that's good. Just continue to submit to other agents and keep on writing.

Thanks Terry!

Submit to other agents? check
Other agents asking for the full? CHECK!
Keep on writing? check

TerryRodgers said:

A good agent only spends 5% or less on looking for new clients. If she has a dozen or more clients she will definitely be swamped with them.

If she gave you a call, then that's good. Just continue to submit to other agents and keep on writing.

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I referred another writer to Hannah and she said she would look at their work, but her clients come first so it would take some time before she got back to her.

Which makes sense.

You want an agent who puts her clients first.

But she also said she's getting back to reading, so maybe you'll hear from her when she's done with your manuscript.

I have my fingers crossed for you.

Thank you Rhiannon! I appreciate that! I sent her a 4th follow up email yesterday (originally we were supposed to touch base again in April after that first phone call back in March). I'm not very optimistic, but maybe the 4th time's the charm?

RhiannonFrater said:

I referred another writer to Hannah and she said she would look at their work, but her clients come first so it would take some time before she got back to her.

Which makes sense.

You want an agent who puts her clients first.

But she also said she's getting back to reading, so maybe you'll hear from her when she's done with your manuscript.

I have my fingers crossed for you.

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Just as a heads' up -- I sent my query to Hannah Brown on February 1, and received a request for a partial about five minutes ago (five months later). I guess they really are just very behind!

In August 2009 I queried McGuigan and got a response within one month from Hannah Gordon asking for a full. I sent it in. A few months later she got back to me and said that McGuigan had asked her to pass it on to another agent within their agency who had more experience with the type of book it was (crime/mystery). They put me on to Lisa Grubka who was extremely nice. She read the whole book and said she found herself thinking about the characters weeks after she had read it. She asked me about myself and wanted to take "baby steps". She was going to put together a list of editorial concerns but because of her busy schedule she didn't have time. (I'm guessing since I was not a client, I was way on the bottom of the priority list) Although I emailed her once a month to remind her and she was always EXTREMELY nice and apologetic. She felt terrible for making me wait so long and so she referred me to another agent. Unfortunately that agent didn't take on my type of book (which would have been nice to know beforehand) but I found my experience with Foundry to be extremely positive. Everyone was very nice, professional and they always responded to my emails very quickly.

Partial request from Mollie!

Yay, Roly! Good luck!

Brandi Bowles

Krista G. said:

Just posted an interview with Brandi Bowles on my blog today. It's got a lot of helpful information if you're thinking about querying her. Here's the link:

http://motherwrite.blogspot.com/2010/04/interview-with-agent-brandi-bowles.html

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I'm interested in querying her, but not sure how to find her e-mail address. She says all over the place she only accepts e-mail queries, but all I can find is her old Morhaim address. It's still on her LinkedIn profile, and there seems to be nothing for Foundry. Maybe the Morhaim address still works and she's just kept using it?? Any info much appreciated!

bbowles @ foundrymedia.com

She's on QueryTracker.

I wanted to post about Brandi Bowles and praise her patience. I sent my query a few weeks ago with attachments. She was unable to open my attachments (because I probably have a different version of word) and instead of just rejecting me she was nice enough to send me an email requesting for me to send them again. I did. A couple of weeks later I wanted to make sure she had received them. She answered my email (to my surprise) saying she did receive the email. A few hours later she sent me an email saying she could not open them. So I resent and then again a few weeks later sent a touch-base email to make sure she had finally been able to open them. She send me a nice response saying she got them and could open them...

...I usually don't pester agents like this and was very surprise of how patient she was with me. I would have expected agents to be like...can't open it...tough>rejection.

According to the Foundry website, "Brandi also represents fiction in the categories of literary fiction, women's fiction, urban fantasy, and YA."

After asking for a partial, she just rejected my YA/Urban fantasy saying, "Though I enjoyed reading your material, on further reflection I've too many hesitations about the market for this to pursue. Sorry to disappoint you, but I do wish the best of luck finding an agent with a firmer foothold in fantasy."

I'm very confused.


In our correspondence Ms. Bowles was never less than professional. I'd go so far as to say that she was warm and welcoming. I am, of course, disappointed.