L. Perkins Agency (Lori Perkins)

Vomaxx said:

Here, for example, is a rejection I received in October from the Cherry Weiner agency: ".... I have had to institute a policy of not looking at any new work unless it comes to me from someone I personally know;"

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According to Jill Nagle, who has written a book on it, it all comes back to the authors. She says you should pick the agent you want, find out who she represents, contact her clients with some bogus or semi-bogus request for an interview (or suggestion for collaboration, etc.) thus starting a correspondence that you can manipulate so that they finally say, “Hey, why don’t you check out my agent?” To which you innocently reply, “Is she any good?”

going out on a limb here, but this whole scenrio sounds like a pay to get read--similar to the pay to publish. conferences are good, but why should i have to pay someone to read my work? couldn't this system be deemed an indirect reading fee?

Annessa

Yes, but it gets real tricky quite fast with these kinds of circumstances.

For instance, let's say that the conference sponsors invite various agents to speak and asks that they also be available for limited one-on-one meetings. The agents are being paid by the sponsors.

Writers choose to attend the conference because they like the program, they hope to meet some agents, and whatever other reasons they might have. Regardless, they're paying the sponsors. So, are they paying for a reading or review by an agent? Indirectly, but there's a limit to what can be prohibited by the AAR and anyone else without throwing away the whole idea of conferences or reducing what they can offer to where it's no longer enough to interest participation by enough writers to make it economically feasible to hold.

Julie Worth said:

According to Jill Nagle, who has written a book on it, it all comes back to the authors. She says you should pick the agent you want, find out who she represents, contact her clients with some bogus or semi-bogus request for an interview (or suggestion for collaboration, etc.) thus starting a correspondence that you can manipulate so that they finally say, “Hey, why don’t you check out my agent?” To which you innocently reply, “Is she any good?”

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I'm going to assume you aren't joking. This is a horrible and irresponsible suggestion. I can tell you what my response would be to someone who did this...well, actually, I can't, because the forum's automated censor won't let me use those words.

- Victoria

Julie Worth said:

According to Jill Nagle, who has written a book on it, it all comes back to the authors. She says you should pick the agent you want, find out who she represents, contact her clients with some bogus or semi-bogus request for an interview (or suggestion for collaboration, etc.) thus starting a correspondence that you can manipulate so that they finally say, “Hey, why don’t you check out my agent?” To which you innocently reply, “Is she any good?”

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I've heard that happen once, with nasty results. The agent turned around and did everything to drop her client. Turned out the "person" the Author personally recommended was a loon.

-Elaine

Vomaxx said:

Here, for example, is a rejection I received in October from the Cherry Weiner agency: ".... I have had to institute a policy of not looking at any new work unless it comes to me from someone I personally know;"

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A lot of the time, a statement like this is just a way of avoiding having to say "I didn't like your query letter" or "I hated your sample". Agents don't like saying these things any more than anyone else does. Policy or no policy, if an agent gets an interesting query she probably will take a look.

- Victoria

brinkett said:

As I cruise the world of agent web sites, I've been surprised by how much time some of them spend at conferences.

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Many agents who are serial conference attenders are marginal or even questionable. Many, many conferences are not nearly as careful as they should be about checking people's reputations.

- Victoria

victoriastrauss said:

I'm going to assume you aren't joking. This is a horrible and irresponsible suggestion. I can tell you what my response would be to someone who did this...well, actually, I can't, because the forum's automated censor won't let me use those words.

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No joke. I've emailed you the advertisement for her book.

I send Galen an e-mail yesterday, and he replied today asking for a complete MSS. Of course, I had to come here and check him out--sounds like I should be excited!

Perkins sent me a card saying that they are no longer reading new MSS.

Vomaxx said:

Congratulations! You should post your query letter--it must be excellent.

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Thanks so much! But if you knew the number of agencies that have rejected this out-of-hand, you might rethink calling it "excellent." Although I suppose by this point it might qualify as "well-honed," or at least, "frequently revised."

I'm not comfortable posting the whole letter on a public forum, but one piece of advice that I followed was to focus more on who you are in the letter, as opposed to giving a plot summary (which you'd be doing in the synopsis anyway). Since Galen didn't want a synopsis, his letter has a bit more about the book in it--but even that is more about the themes and the setting than the plot. And I'd done some research on him beforehand, so I was able to say with some credibility, Here's why I think you'd be good for this.

I don't know about Scovil or Chichak, but as of the last couple of days I can vouch for Russ Galen answering letters and phone calls.

Russ Galen is as real as an agent can be: smart, insightful, canny as all get-out, and quick to learn new things. I've seen him answer professional correspondence via email from his hospital bed while he was recuperating from surgery. I've also seen him go to considerable effort on behalf of a grass-green author with no prior history of publication, just because he liked the manuscript. If I had to get myself a new agent, Russ would be my first or second choice.

I have no idea what's going on with Amy Stout, and I'm not brave enough to ask.

I wouldn't push Lori Perkins out the airlock, but neither would I go out of my way to have dealings with her.

Jerkitude is not a fatal flaw in an agent. In that respect they're like hiring a lawyer: "Yes, he's an @ssh0le, but he's your @ssh0le." Some agents are charming. Some are jerks, or egomaniacs, or quiet alcoholics. Some have the social acumen of a naked mole rat. Doesn't matter, as long as whatever-they-are doesn't keep them from being a good agent.

If it comes down to a choice between a polite agent and an effective agent, choose the latter.

Amy Stout

I received a rejection from Ms Stout stating that she thought my fantasy was marketable but that she was not taking on new clients in the foreseeable future. This was in response to a synopsis she had asked for when I spoke to her at a writers conference. It took several months before she responded via email. But, I did get a response.

Hope this helps,

Jenny Rappapport new home

Jenny Rappapport, formerly of Folio Literary is now here:

L. Perkins Agency
15-9 Interlaken Court
Freehold, NJ 07728


Information courtesy of AgentQuest

Hmm. That's really interesting since Folio was only formed four months ago. I wonder if things are not going well there.

Maprilynne

Do you know what genres she reps? I can't find anything.

From her blog

http://litsoup.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Big News!



So, good news time! =)

I am officially going to continue agenting, and I'll be working with Lori Perkins of the L. Perkins Agency. Lori has been in the publishing business for twenty years, and represents such clients as Tim Lucas, Ray Manzarek (keyboardist for the The Doors), John Skipp, Cecilia Tan, Anna Benson, Joey Bishop, and Jeanne Cavelos, as well as many, many other equally interesting people. Lori is very well-respected within the industry, and I'm very happy that I get to work with her.

My new business e-mail address is [email protected], and any snail mail stuff, such as queries or manuscripts, can be sent to me at:

Jenny Rappaport
L. Perkins Agency
15-9 Interlaken Court
Freehold, NJ 07728

I prefer snail mail queries, although e-mail ones are fine as well, especially if you live outside the USA. With your query letter you should only include a synopsis of your project, as well as any other pertinent information. I don't want to see manuscript pages, unless I ask for them in the form of a partial.

I'm actively acquiring in the genres of science fiction and fantasy, horror, and romance, and I'm particularly interested in novels that excel at storytelling. At the moment, I'm not very interested in straight contemporary romances (I already have several clients doing those), but I'm open to historical romances and paranormals of any type.

Be sure to read the link posted by Clara Bow if you submit.

I queried the agency quite a while ago, and after a 4 or 5 month lag, received a request for a partial from an associate there, whose name I sadly don't remember. After several emails back and forth about exactly how he wanted the submission, I was told he would get to it in a week or two. I never heard another word.

To be fair, I never emailed back asking about the status of the partial since by that time I had another agent interested, one who I was very high on. I figured since I had received other emails from him at the L. Perkins agency, it wasn't due to a bounced email, but I really didn't care one way or the other. Perhaps he used different email accounts at different times and it didn't get through. Although there's no reason it wouldn't. In any case, make sure you can receive your email from Ms. Rappaport.

I queried her yesterday and received a form rejection response this morning.
So she's quick, anyway.

hmmm

I still haven't heard back from her.

Maprilynne said:

Hmm. That's really interesting since Folio was only formed four months ago. I wonder if things are not going well there.

Maprilynne

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I wouldn't try to read too much into it. Agents change agencies all the time, for any number of reasons.

Does anyone know if she represents any YA?

FOLIO is doing amazingly for their first year in business. They have a couple of authors with NYT bestsellers and seem to have a fine collection of authors.

Jenny did part with them on good terms...as mentioned on this list...agents move on for a lot of reasons. She is still very young and probably has more moves yet ahead of her in the future.

Good luck to you all.

does anyone has any recent info on Amy Stout? Litsoup only told me about Jenny rappaport and lori perkins. I've not been able to find anything else.

CELIA

Another said:

This thread started on L. Perkins "not taking new ms." However, posts are quite dated. Another thread on Perkins (index to agents thread) also a bit dated:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35258

Any more up to date info? Taking queries now? Responding in what amount of time?

Thanks.

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I queried Jenny Rappaport at L. Perkins Agency 11/19/2006 and received a form rejection at some point (the postmark on the envelope is unreadable and for some reason I didn't note the date I received it in my log). I don't think the response took more than two months.