[Agency] Writers House

houndrat said:

Sorry--I just sent mine out 2-3 weeks ago. At least now I know it might be quite a wait---thanks.

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I sent her a "ping" two weeks ago (a little early, but whatever) and there's no response to that yet. I've done some major revisions since I sent the ms to her so I don't know what I should do. I don't particularly want to keep bugging her so I guess I'll just wait it out.

Does anyone on this board even have Dan Lazar as an agent?

Request an outline?

Has anyone ever had Maya Rock (or anyone at WH) request an outline? I'd love to get some pointers on what they are looking for in an outline for a novel. I'm excited to get to this point and have buffed up the first 50 but am puzzled on the outline. Many thanks!

An outline? I haven't heard of it being requested but it'd just be a simplified version of your synopsis. I think. Don't quote me on that.

In other Maya news ... there hasn't been any. I sent her a *ping* three weeks ago and got nothing back. I know the email went through because I replied to the one she sent me. *sigh* Any ideas?

Idea Taylor -- Congrats! I have only managed to get Maya Rock to reject my query, so cannot help with the an actual experience with a MR outline. For what it's worth, I'm going to guess it's a 1-2 page synopsis, as redlady says, but if this continues to bug you, why don't you just e-mail her and ask?

I've had requests from Maya before for my mss, and she's never asked for either an outline or a synopsis. In fact no agent has ever asked me for an outline, just occasionally for a synopsis. If she wants to rep you, and your book is part of a series, then she'll want a synopsis for each of the books. Idea Taylor, did MR actually request an outline, or are you playing boy scout?

Outline

Tuuli, it says "a detailed outline, no longer than ten pages, double-spaced."

From that, I think they want more than a synopsis, yes?

The request is from Maya in her role as assistant to Al Zuckerman, which may be why you weren't asked and so we are also in snail mail mode.

I've been told 1-2 sentences/chapter, but I've spent a week already struggling to get a 24 page single-spaced outline of events (I used it to keep track of what happened when and catch redundancy) edited down and somehow show plot and character w/o it sounding like Run, Spot, Run. I don't want to mess up being asked for a full because my outline is lame!

Idea Tailor said:

The request is from Maya in her role as assistant to Al Zuckerman, which may be why you weren't asked and so we are also in snail mail mode.

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That explains it. My request was from Maya as an agent.

Good luck with the outline.

I registered about thirty seconds ago just so I could hop into this conversation!

redlady1 said:

In other Maya news ... there hasn't been any. I sent her a *ping* three weeks ago and got nothing back. I know the email went through because I replied to the one she sent me. *sigh* Any ideas?

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I'm in the same boat as you. Maya responded to my query within 24 hours with a request for a full, which I sent her on that same day, in early February. Since then I've sent her two polite nudges -- one at the two month mark, one at three. No responses. I'm coming up on four months and I feel really awkward about nudging again. I don't mind waiting, or that she's busy, but I'm getting antsy worrying that something's wrong.

I wonder if the wait is because my book is pretty long. Is that true of yours as well?

For those of you who are waiting to hear back from Jodi on a partial request . . . Her assistant just requested a full from another writer who sent her partial to him at the end of January. He read it and wants to read the full first then will decide if it should be fast tracked to Jodi. I hope so. I've already read the book and love it. Maybe more of us will hear something soon.

Outline

Thanks again, Tuuli. It's interesting (and a bit frustrating) to know you went straight from query to full, Lenore_X, while I'm going bonkers with this outline thing. I sure would love to know what they're expecting—or at least, hoping—to see in it. (BTW, can someone help me understand what the value is of sending a partial anyway? I mean, they can just look at as many pages as they want to, can't they?)

I've got a thriller that goes back and forth between locations, which reads fine in the ms, but sure is making it tough to outline without seeming choppy and confusing.

Any suggestions out there? I'm trying to put this in the mail on Monday.
Thanks.

Partials:
My guess would be that it's a paper saving thing - even if we email it, they probably still print it for reading.

BTW, can someone help me understand what the value is of sending a partial anyway? I mean, they can just look at as many pages as they want to, can't they?

Sorry, never figured that one out either. Some agents have requested partials from me and some have requested fulls. Maybe it's because some agents give you the option of snail mailing it instead of emailing it. Just think of the cost if they requested the full and then gave up reading it after twenty pages. It does happen, you know.

lenore_x said:

I registered about thirty seconds ago just so I could hop into this conversation!

I'm in the same boat as you. Maya responded to my query within 24 hours with a request for a full, which I sent her on that same day, in early February. Since then I've sent her two polite nudges -- one at the two month mark, one at three. No responses. I'm coming up on four months and I feel really awkward about nudging again. I don't mind waiting, or that she's busy, but I'm getting antsy worrying that something's wrong.

I wonder if the wait is because my book is pretty long. Is that true of yours as well?

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Actually mine is on the short side - YA and all - at around 67k. But since I've sent it to MR, I've gotten a rejection from another agent that pointed out a few things that could be improved on. I've totally redone the whole thing and now I'd like MR to see it because it is significantly better. I figure I'll give her another week (meaning that it'll be a month since my nudge) and then email her again and see if she'd like to read the revised version.

But I really do wonder what the hold up is. I've talked to people who were in the same situation as us but as soon as they sent the *ping* they got responses (usually within a few days).

redlady1 said:

But since I've sent it to MR, I've gotten a rejection from another agent that pointed out a few things that could be improved on.

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That's the one thing I've been lucky on. The timing of all my requests. I'll get a rejection with some feedback (only one has been a useless form rejection.) and a few days later land another request. Let's just say my novel is quite different from the one Maya rejected. Not that it makes a difference. The level of romance hasn't changed (her reason for rejecting it) since it is a romance afterall.

I think it's been mentioned before, but we should all keep in mind that we're still pretty heavy in the conference season. BookExpo was this week, right after Memorial Day, and there's been other conferences all April/May etc. And, while agents do pitch sessions and such at these, they're also trying to find homes for their clients' books. If they find an editor interested in a client's book, that's naturally what they're going to focus on first (but don't worry, someday we will be clients!!!).

Lenore, go ahead and follow-up again. Don't see it as being awkward--it's being professional. Just say something along the lines of hi, I sent you my requested manuscript [title] on [date], and was wondering if you've had a chance to look at it. Thank you for your time, Lenore. If you're worried if she's receiving your emails, try from a different address, or send snail-mail. Agent Janet Reid suggested making an address that includes your name so you're clearly not a spammer (no animechick918 or such)---it ups your chances getting into an inbox, and Reid says she mouses over emails in spam to see the address--if it's a name, she'll look at it.

I've often heard three months for a partial, six for a full...if you haven't heard anything from the first follow-up, send another. Patience and stubbornness. Of course, if it happens many many times, you may want to look elsewhere.

Hi everyone, I hope you don't mind me just jumping in. Does anyone have any experience submitting a full ms electronically to WH? I got a full request from LD, and I included my contact information in the e-mail. Today it occurred to me that I should have included a title page with my information in the Word document, as well. I'm not sure what the submission guidelines are when attaching the ms to an e-mail, but I'm assuming I blew it by not having an actual title page.

I got an email from Beth Miller, (assistant to Robin Rue) updating me on the status of my ms. She said she's been swamped but would get to my ms as soon as she could. I'm assuming the conferences and holiday does have something to with the backlog most agents are experiencing. The other agent who has my full is currently at BEA09 so I know it will be a while before I hear from her.

Jordan Kane said:

Hi everyone, I hope you don't mind me just jumping in. Does anyone have any experience submitting a full ms electronically to WH? I got a full request from LD, and I included my contact information in the e-mail. Today it occurred to me that I should have included a title page with my information in the Word document, as well. I'm not sure what the submission guidelines are when attaching the ms to an e-mail, but I'm assuming I blew it by not having an actual title page.

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As for the title page, it was probably a good idea to have it. I sent one with both my fulls, but truthfully, if you sent your contact information there's no reason why the agent couldn't just print that off to put with your ms. Did you blow it? No, I don't think so. Most agents know that we are excited and lose our heads when they ask us for a full. If you're really stressing about it, maybe send him an email and tell him that you didn't attach a title page. If he wants it then he'll ask for it. If it's no big deal then he'll tell you that too. Either way, it should ease your mind.

Jordan, It's okay. In the future, when you format your ms always include a title page in the actual document. Also, you're going to want to have a header or footer with, at the very least, your last name, title, and page number. My advice is go back, insert both of these in your ms, save, and then resend with apologies. I'm sure it'll be fine.

Thanks for the replies Rosepddle and Twizzle. It had the header with my name, the page number and title, and it had a title page with my name and the uh, title. Just not my phone number and address. I added that info as soon as I realized it was industry standard to have it on there. I don't really want to e-mail her just to point out my lack of professionalism when she has all my contact information in the original e-mail.

Jordan Kane said:

Thanks for the replies Rosepddle and Twizzle. It had the header with my name, the page number and title, and it had a title page with my name and the uh, title. Just not my phone number and address. I added that info as soon as I realized it was industry standard to have it on there. I don't really want to e-mail her just to point out my lack of professionalism when she has all my contact information in the original e-mail.

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Oh, I get it. Yeah, well, as long as she has your contact info in the email, I agree with you...leave it be.

It's not a lack of professionalism, just a simple oops. I'd still do it. I wouldn't want to inconv her if she loved it, by her having to search for the info, when a quick resend would do it. So, were it me, I'd quickly resend with a brief note, but again, that's me. (And I'd add your email address as well to your title page.) Good luck.

I e-queried Susan Ginsburg and she got back to me on the same day asking for:

I would be happy to take a look at your novel. Why don’t you send it along electronically and I will read it as soon as I can.


Novel? Does that mean full?

Vermilion said:

Novel? Does that mean full?

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Yeah. Since she wasn't more specific, you want to send her the whole thing.

Vermilion said:

I e-queried Susan Ginsburg and she got back to me on the same day asking for:

I would be happy to take a look at your novel. Why don’t you send it along electronically and I will read it as soon as I can.


Novel? Does that mean full?

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I'd take it as an invitation for a full. Congratulations and good luck!