TriadaUS Literary Agency

Tiffanie said:

Laura only has one deal (the one with Sky Pony), but Uwe has a bunch with Big 5 imprints. I know someone represented by Uwe, and his book was sold to Delacorte/Random House.

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She's the only one listed who takes fantasy, so if I sub to them, it will have to be her. Not sure if the success of the senior agent in his preferred genres means the junior agents will be as successful with the ones they rep or not.

Wow--just saw the twitter feed.

Oh, my gosh. I've never, ever seen a rant like that from Uwe. You'd need a lot to get him riled like that. Somebody really pushed him way, way too hard. I know that he was one of the hardest and fastest working agents in the industry. My best buddy was with him too. Truth be told, the reason we both left him was because he couldn't sell fiction to save his life for three-four years. I mean NOTHING. His non-fiction sales hit the roof and he truly excelled there. I don't know what his fiction sales are today--he must have made some inroads. If not, it wouldn't surprise me.

I wish him the best. And I'm glad that he finally got some assistants to help him through the massive slush I know he received. I always had the feeling that Uwe (back then) gave up hope for a book after a short or medium first round. I also remember him rejecting my following four books in a row, which just sent me through the roof. All of those books sold and one of them copped me my third agent. I think Uwe should take a long vacation and come back with a calm and clean slate. Therapy. He deserves some off-time.

Tri

Now I'm wondering if Uwe will respond to me. I didn't get any "vacation" message, but queried (nonfiction) about 10 days ago, and, based on his rather meagre submission guidelines, figured I'd hear by now. I guess I'll give him 4 more days then re-submit? Or maybe not, he seems kinda angry and that's not what I'm looking for in an agent.

While everyone should strive to remain professional at all times and keep personal issues from bleeding into work, sometimes you just fail at it. I believe Uwe is under a lot of stress, and a final straw set him off. He's a very kind person from what I've met, and I think those tweets came from a pressure-cooker moment, not from his usual attitude.

Yes, this seems very out of character for Uwe. The wrong person pressed his buttons, and he struck back. Professional or not, not everyone is infallible. I had email problems with him in the past, and he even came on to this forum to find a solution. I eventually used a different sending address, and everything worked out fine.

Take care of yourself, Uwe!

Yes, I hope he recovers and feels better. He's a wonderful person, but takes on such a workload that it would knock out any other agent. I know he was going at it single-handed for a very long time. Agents need to be treated right, given some consideration and respect. Mostly Patience and Understanding.

I don't blame him. Just because he was fast with a few people, now people seem to think he SHOULD be fast with them. Everyone's mileage varies so to send a submission then a week later be posting that an author hasn't heard and is thinking about resubmitting... After a week? And then maybe someone does? I sure can see why he'd be a bit peeved. If you can't be patient, then self-publish and get things going on your timeline. If you don't want to self-publish, then learn patience.

Dear Writers,
I want to apologize for my twitter outburst last night. Yes, it was not professional. I since deleted the tweets, but of course I cannot take them back in the world of the Internet where things are forever.
Recently, I have been harassed by someone, and last night it reached a point where I lashed out, against my my better judgment. This does not excuse my overreaction, but it won't happen again.
Triceretops, I am fine, and I thank you for your kind words. I am also very happy that your novels sold. Great job!
I am very happy with my fiction sales and also very happy with my assistants who are doing an amazing job.
Onthefence, please, re-query me if you would like to do so. As far as my submission guidelines go, I personally just want to see the query. If the project sounds as if it may be a match for me I will ask for the complete novel (fiction) or the complete proposal (nonfiction).
TalanaRay, you are right, as well, I have had a lot of loss in my personal life recently, so that played a role as well, but the bottom line is that I should not let personal and professional things bleed together, no matter what.
Again, please, all, accept my apologies.
Best wishes,
Uwe

I think we should all remember that agents are people too and have feelings and flaws, just like the rest of us. Uwe's "outburst" wasn't even that bad, in my opinion. Agents get slammed day in and day out and while it sucks to be part of the slush pile, we writers should try and see things from their perspective. I don't want to justify rudeness, but just to give it some perspective.

I'm glad you're doing better, Uwe. I'm super glad you garnered some assist help. Dear God, you needed that so bad. Just Jim and I were a tremendous burden on you because we had something like 10 books between us. That didn't count the other workload in your stable. We had no hard feelings at all, and all of our books sold. We knew they would eventually, albeit to the smaller guys. No harm, no foul--ever.

Now, if people in this thread took any of my comments that Uwe was faster than greased lightning, I want that straightened up RIGHT NOW. I did not mean, ever, that you should submit and nudge this agency beyond normal parameters. He was faster than other agencies--that's all that was meant. Abide by this: QUERIES--3 TO 4 WEEKS--CHAPTERS--A MAXIMUM OF THREE MONTHS--EXPECT THAT A FULL COULD TAKE AS MUCH AS SIX MONTHS AND MORE. These numbers are realistic in this glacial business. This means these types of rules are typical of TriadaUS. He is allowed that! If you nudge this man two or three within a week or two, I'LL PERSONALLY COME AFTER YOU AND SET YOU STRAIGHT. (With a dignified PM, of course."

Carry on,

Chris

Dammit, I kept meaning to post after the Twitter feed, but the past few days have been crazy.

As someone who was once repped by Uwe, I just have to say that my experience with him has been nothing but good. He's a really great agent and was friendly and professional whenever we corresponded. He answered any questions I had promptly and was very patient, considering how many frikkin' questions I threw his way.

The book he offered me rep on (YA Fantasy) did not sell, but not for lack of effort on his part. I think we just subbed at a really bad time because the market was so over-saturated (many editors said they felt it was too dystopian, and they didn't want to buy more YA dystopias). The main reason I decided to part ways was because, well, the second book I wrote was in a genre Uwe didn't rep...and then I got an idea for a third book, and AGAIN it was in a genre Uwe didn't rep. So I thought, meh, I don't want to waste our time. Of course, after we parted ways, I ended up writing something in a genre Uwe DOES rep, because I'm dumb like that.

Anyway, this long rambly post is simply here to say that I highly recommend Uwe as an agent. When I was repped by him he was just starting to make sales in fiction. As far as I know, he has since made even more sales in fiction and now has a decent number of sales to reputable publishers under his belt. None of that comes as a surprise, as Uwe is a dedicated agent.

So to recap, Uwe is awesome and definitely worth querying.

triceretops said:

Abide by this: QUERIES--3 TO 4 WEEKS--CHAPTERS--A MAXIMUM OF THREE MONTHS--EXPECT THAT A FULL COULD TAKE AS MUCH AS SIX MONTHS AND MORE. These numbers are realistic in this glacial business.

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Hear, hear, Chris! This advice applies to all agents and editors. Unless they tell you something otherwise in their submissions guidelines, this is a good schedule to follow.

Cassie Knight said:

Hear, hear, Chris! This advice applies to all agents and editors. Unless they tell you something otherwise in their submissions guidelines, this is a good schedule to follow.

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Yes, Cassie. Unless they state otherwise and usually follow their own specific time frames, even then it's best to give them the benefit of the doubt. And yes, agents and publishers alike.

Sent an e-query to Dr. Stender. He replied back in less than an hour! Said, "what an engaging email," but suggested I send it to Laura Crockett as it would better fit her list. It is a humorous historical mystery. I thanked him and sent it on to Ms. Crockett.

A post above mentioned Dr. Stender as "one of the hardest and fastest working agents" but he can sell fiction. Has he sold any? Would it be best to only query him with non-fiction?

Amelia Appel recently joined Triada. What I can find on her sounds interesting, but I can't find much. (Nothing on her in the McIntosh & Otis thread, where she worked previously.) Anyone got any info, interviews, or experience with her?


quianaa2001 - The agency's news page (http://www.triadaus.com/news.html) lists some recent fiction sales, though at a quick scan it looks like the other Triada agents are mostly handling that side.

Hi Liz_V
I was just looking up Amelia the other day in Publisher's Marketplace. She has a sale at the end of July and another at the end of June, both non-fiction/sciencey things. According to querytracker, looks like she's about 30-45 days out on query replies.

Thanks, starfish15!

I was hoping to find some more information on what she's like personally, her working style, etc. -- all that "good fit" stuff. But it may be that she's too new for much of that to be out there.

I had a 'like' from Laura Crockett during Pitmad. Does anybody have experience working with her? She's an associate agent, I believe. Thanks!

ETA: queried 09.12.17
Form rejection 09.22.17 'did not connect with voice'.

Dr Stender does better with non-fiction--hands down.

Thank you for your interest in Triada US. I welcome you to check out the News section on the Triada US website for who sold what. As an FYI: 7 of my recent 10 sales were fiction.
All best,
Uwe

Uwe, I'm so glad you are doing better on the fiction side. I've been away for a long, long time. You are still one of the best agents out there, hands down.

Just so you all know...it still says on this agency's website that they will respond to queries within two weeks, and if they do not respond, please write them again. More than a year ago, I sent a query and after a month with no reply, I queried again. No reply. I am a pro writer with many published books, and I know how to write a query and follow the directions on the website. I also recognize false advertising when I see it.

ditto the post above. I queried two of their agents previously (separate occasions, obviously) and had almost the exact same experience as you, Seikei.

I'll have to check QueryTracker for my actual stats, but I believe I got a rejection from Uwe within three weeks, this last July or August. Disappointing but quick, and I had a publishing offer within a few weeks after that.

I do notice the agency seems somewhat uneven about its response times.