Got closure w/ the WH's agent, finally. The agent was Steven Malk. I queried him late Nov. 2010. He offered to work with me on revision early Dec. 2010 after reading the full ms. In late January he called me and told me to rewrite my entire book. It was a great phone conversation- about 45 minutes- and he said wonderful things about my writing, but that I should be working in MG and not YA. Of course, I hung up the phone and cried- "Really? I don't get a critique letter, just a phone call that basically said 'you're really talented, and I think you should start over.'"
I shook it off and got back to work. I rewrote my entire book. Sent it back to him in June. We exchanged a few polite emails between Feb and June about books and personal stuff.
Then he sort of went missing. He's a mega agent. Very big- so I kept trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. He's busy being a rock star. I wanted him to be my rock star.
I sent a polite nudge mid Sept. Ty (his asst). emailed back with an encouraging note that they were reviewing the ms. and I'd hear soon. Six weeks later- nothing. I gently nudged, again, in mid November. Ty said he'd be sending me his thoughts on the ms. at the end of the week. Two more weeks went by. Nothing.
So, I queried some agents on 11/29 because Steve had my ms. for over five months and was being silent. Needless to say I was a bit irritated and restless. I wondered if I had ruined my book. But then, I received requests for the full ms from two different agents the same day I had queried them. I promptly wrote to Steve and Ty that their "exclusive" was over. No response.
Yesterday (12/5) I pulled my manuscript officially from Writer's House... and guess who finally decides to be vocal? Steven.
To his credit, he apologized profusely in the email, praised my writing, and blamed his silence on being the busiest he's ever been. Then within twelve hours he sent me a generalized editorial critique, and apologized again. It was professional and gave me the closure I needed. He said I was a wonderful writer who should be writing in the MG market and wished me luck in the future. I wrote back and said I'd use his revision- w/ a different agent- and best to him, too. We parted cordially.
And that's my Steven Malk story. He's a great agent, but very busy. If you want him, be prepared to have lots of patience. It was nice that he apologized several times in both of his emails to me and took responsibility for the situation. It was also nice that he sent me his thoughts on my manuscript AFTER I withdrew it from his hands.
The biggest issue for me wasn't really about patience, but was that I had already given up an agent to work on revision w/ him, and an opportunity to publish with a small press. I took a chance on non-representation and after a year it didn't work out. I know Steve's process worked for other writers (Michelle Zink, Lena Coakley, etc). He is a good agent and a pleasure to interact with, but my story is one that isn't echoed in the many google pages about him.
I'll say it again, Onward! There are many agent-fishies in the sea.
