Barron’s Literary Management (Adele Barron-Brooks)

Would that be this thread? <snipped>
Hold onto your hat, we'll probably be merged with that one at some point. They like to keep things together, here.

[ETA: Beaten to it by MM!]

In answer to your question: Definitely ask for the list of client sales and books published (and by whom they are published). Then check those.

To be really blunt, I can count on the fingers of one foot the number of times I've seen a questionable agent/publisher make major changes and become amazing, over any length of time. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen, but there are myriad posts in BR&BC that start with "I've read bad things about this agent/publisher but they're all old posts...". It almost invariably turns out the old posts were right.

But, as I said, almost invariably. If you're interested, be sure you do your due diligence.

Leopards rarely change their spots and her reputation will have got around the publishing world

Momento Mori said:

The last comment on the Barron's Literary Management Thread is from July 2010, at which point Adele (surprise surprise) still didn't have any sales.

Original thread is here: <snipped>

A mod will port your comment into it.

Essentially, if an agent doesn't have a published client list, doesn't have a list of books on Publisher's Marketplace then why are you bothering to query her? There's no such thing as a stealth agent and every agent worth their salt will have details of their sales available (even if it's just on a Google search).

Her responses on the thread were (IMO) less than professional.

Personally, I'd recommend you move on to someone more deserving of your time and effort.

MM

Click to expand...

I blew it by querying her. I was multitasking and didn't look at how long she had been in business. Since I'm so new, I figure I can't rule out new agencies, but of course I want to make sure it's a good new agency. I assumed she was a new agent when she had so little info. Then I did my homework after the fact when she asked to see 20 pages and said Yikes! I sort of already knew the answers I would get here today but I'm one who wants to exhaust all options before making a decision, so I thought it couldn't hurt to ask just in case.

I will decline her request to see more of my work. It's not worth wasting anyone's time. She sounds a little "off."

Thanks so much for the responses. I will focus my attention elsewhere. A bad agent isn't going to do me any good.

A new agent may not yet have established a track record, but there should still be info you can obtain--most important, you need to know about the agent's work history. Agents have the best chance of success if they've previously worked in publishing or trained at another (reputable) agency. People who come to agenting without that kind of background are at a severe disadvantage, and rarely manage to make a go of it.

As a general rule of thumb, an agency that's going to be successful will start making sales within a year or so of starting up. Any longer suggests a lack of contacts and/or expertise (both essential--agenting is a skilled profession that's heavily dependent on networking).

Ms. Brooks has been in business since 2005, and there's no sign of any sales for her. Independent of anything else, that speaks for itself.

- Victoria

Update

Well here's an update. Apparently it's the same leopard and the same spotty spots.

Since I queried her without checking first I figured I at least owed her a reply and a chance to share her sales and clients. I was hoping I would have some good news to report on this thread. Call me Polly Anna.

I sent her a polite email thanking her for her interest in my work. I said "While I prepare my manuscript to send you, I would love to see a list of your clients and work you have gotten published."

She responded that she is a small agency and that if I want a long list of sales I should look for a larger agency. She gave me no information that I asked for.

Then I said that it wasn't a long list of sales I wanted, but there was no information at all on her listing and generally agents share their leading clients and works they have gotten published.

She said that she didn't know what listing I was talking about. (It was Publisher's Marketplace.) She reiterated what she has said in the past that she is overrun with submissions from people who don't have "any talent" so she doesn't have very much published.

Oh well. I tried. It's unfortunate because she must spend a lot of time reviewing submissions.

Sandsurfgirl:
She reiterated what she has said in the past that she is overrun with submissions from people who don't have "any talent" so she doesn't have very much published.

Click to expand...

A bad workman blames her tools. She's been in business since 2005 so she should have sold something. The fact that she hasn't reinforces the suggestion that she's shit at her chosen job.

Sandsurfgirl:
It's unfortunate because she must spend a lot of time reviewing submissions.

Click to expand...

A good agent knows within a page if a project has promise. The fact that Adele doesn't ...

MM

Sandsurfgirl said:

She reiterated what she has said in the past that she is overrun with submissions from people who don't have "any talent" so she doesn't have very much published.

Click to expand...

I suppose good agencies only get submissions from writers with talent, and that's how they manage to sell books?

I almost want to query her just to see what ridiculous things she'd say, for amusement sake only.

The whole thing is sad and even a little bit pathetic. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again thinking you'll get a different result right?

Does she even really try to get anything published? I can't imagine being in business that long with zero success and then keeping it going.

I learned my lesson this one that's for sure.

In other industries, we look at fiscal performance like that (in business since 2005, and no real sales) and wonder if it's a money-laundering operation. But even Mafia laundromats have cash-flow. I know of several 'small agencies' that have been around since 2005, and have a verifiable sales record. Small can be mighty.

This sounds more like a vanity operation than anything else. She's not even on my radar.

Filigree

I already liked this site, but now that I'm making my first foray into the agent search in over ten years, I keep finding more reasons to appreciate AW. This BRBC subforum, especially.

Thank you, everyone, for taking the time to relate your experiences.

And to top it off, Writer's Digest's "Novel and Short Story Writer's Market" (an annually-updated guide which boasts as its subtitle as "The most trusted guide to getting published") actually has the incompetence/laziness/? to repeatedly list such agencies as this one. It would take -- what -- them hiring a college kid all of two hours to weed through the more-than-dozen bad apples in their guide instead of inexplicably leaving them in each year. Personally, I'd be embarrassed if I were WD's editor who put their name on said guide. It's hard to imagine that WD truly thinks it's justified recommending its readers to have their manuscripts needlessly sabotaged. So, then, short of WD getting a kickback from these agencies (?) I suspect it's sheer laziness and inexcusable lack of resources in cleaning up their guides. I've even alerted them several times, showing the proof of several of those agencies lacking sales, etc. yet WD does *nothing* about it.
It's enough to make this otherwise Humble Scribe not so humble in his ire. If anyone has the inside scoop why WD seems so asleep at the wheel on what's a rather obvious disservice to its readers, I'd love to know.