[Agency] Writers House

I'm thinking I might wave the white flag with Brianne, it's been six weeks since my query, I think I'll wait two more. Suggestions? I really want to query Mr. Wright or Lazar. I think it would be obnoxious to re-query so soon. Again, any advice is welcome...

I think three months is fair. I've had requests from agents at WH at the 2 month mark, so maybe wait a bit?

Just my .02.

Cricket18 said:

I think three months is fair. I've had requests from agents at WH at the 2 month mark, so maybe wait a bit?

Just my .02.

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Alrighty, thanks very much. I will resume my crazed refresh button pushing.

Has anyone had experience with emailing Kristy? She critiqued some of my pages at a local conference and wanted to see the manuscript, but I've emailed her twice (it says her preference is electronic submission, even though I know WH is known for their snail mail approach) and have heard nothing back! Don't want to be a pest, but I'm not sure next step ...

E-Query to Brianne Johnson: Jan 31st
E-ject from Brianne Johnson: March 15th

Merrilee Heifetz and Darhansoff & Verrill

On February 17th I sent a query to Merrilee Heifetz by snail mail to Writers House at the address 21 West 26th Street New York, NY 10010.
Two days ago I received a form rejection with the SASE I sent them, but inside was a rejection from Darhansoff & Verrill.

I am awfully confused about what's happened. I'd gotten the impression that both companies were top notch, so I was wondering if anyone could explain what's going on.

Did she perhaps switch agencies? Or is it possible that the letter went to the wrong agency? Is it legal for one agency to open another agency's mail? Do they have the same people reviewing their queries? I'd hate to think that's so because of how overlooked I can't help but feel. Getting rejected because I'm not right for the agency is one thing, buy getting rejected like this makes me feel like they didn't even read the query. Also I'm left wondering who I was actually rejected by.

I've tried to find a connection between the two, but I can't find anything. Any thoughts?

First of all, take a deep breath. See what shakes out over the next day. I'm sure someone on AW knows far more about it than I do, and that it's probably a book-keeping error. I don't know: does WH share office space with other agencies? I know that some NY agencies do.

This may be obvious, but someone has to ask... did you submit to any other agencies? Not just very recently, but any outstanding submissions from the past.

Thanks Filagree

Polenth, I did submit to a few in December, but I had already received those rejects before I sent the one to Merrilee. Why?

TudorRose, thank you for your thorough observation. I wondered if I messed up the address too when I first saw the mistake, but I can assure you I didn't. I know this because I printed the addresses directly onto the envelopes from a computer file I made and am able to reopen them to check.

robiiehood said:

TudorRose, thank you for your thorough observation. I wondered if I messed up the address too when I first saw the mistake, but I can assure you I didn't. I know this because I printed the addresses directly onto the envelopes from a computer file I made and am able to reopen them to check.

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Your post just crossed with my edit--just noticed that the postcodes were in fact different as well!

It's alright!

Did you find out what happened? Has Merrilee moved agencies?

Mgkatz, most of my interaction with WH has been via e-mail, and my interactions that way with Kristy have likewise been all with e-mail. I haven't had any problems, and she also shot me a confirmation when I sent her requested material. Bologna is going on this week--I don't know if she went or not, but surely SOMEONE from WH is there, and who knows what craziness might have been going on in the office at the time you tried sending stuff. Or possibly there is something odd on your end with the e-mail. I went through an odd patch last year where I would send out queries and they disappeared into the ether--when I tried with a different addy, they went through. I can't really think of anything else off hand. Did both your attempts go out with the same address? In any case, you might hold off until after Bologna, just in case that's it, before trying again.

Is it possible you put the wrong SASE in the envelope? I used to do groups of them together from a list, and I could see how easy it would be to write the wrong name or mix them up.

An announcement I spotted in PW:

Writers House founder Al Zuckerman is stepping down as chairman from the literary agency he founded in 1974, and has appointed Amy Berkower to succeed him in that position, while Simon Lipskar will take over Berkower's former duties as president.

Berkower joined Writers House in 1977 and established its juvenile division in 1978. She has been president since 1991. Lipskar joined the agency in 1991 and returned to Writers House in 1996. The agency now has 43 employees and represents a wide range of authors and illustrators.

A former prize-winning playwright and a teacher of playwriting at Yale, Zuckerman is the author of two novels and Writing the Blockbuster Novel, published in eight languages, and was scriptwriter for three television series. Zuckerman will continue to represent his authors, including Ken Follett, Stephen Hawking, and Michael Lewis.

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Thanks, good point! I have not heard anything back, but did send them both from the same email...

litgirl said:

Mgkatz, most of my interaction with WH has been via e-mail, and my interactions that way with Kristy have likewise been all with e-mail. I haven't had any problems, and she also shot me a confirmation when I sent her requested material. Bologna is going on this week--I don't know if she went or not, but surely SOMEONE from WH is there, and who knows what craziness might have been going on in the office at the time you tried sending stuff. Or possibly there is something odd on your end with the e-mail. I went through an odd patch last year where I would send out queries and they disappeared into the ether--when I tried with a different addy, they went through. I can't really think of anything else off hand. Did both your attempts go out with the same address? In any case, you might hold off until after Bologna, just in case that's it, before trying again.

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So is anyone here a member of the Noble 238?

MttStrn said:

So is anyone here a member of the Noble 238?

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I am, though honestly, I'm pretty irritated by the barrage of emails in my inbox now. Someone at WH made a mistake. So have we all. I wish people would get over it.

(Someone sent a form rejection to 238 of us, while including all our names and email addresses in the list, ie, not bcc. Now there's an insane amount of email in all our inboxes as people vent and whine about it.)

Ouch!

MttStrn said:

So is anyone here a member of the Noble 238?

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Me! And I think the emails going back and forth are hilarious. Takes the sting out of a nasty rejection experience. I can't actually "reply all" as my ISP bans that many recipients in one email, but I've joined the FB group.

MttStrn said:

So is anyone here a member of the Noble 238?

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I am.

Also started a thread in AW Roundtable on this subject.
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240899

And I joined FB to respond to the FB thread, but I might not stay. Not a fan of FB.

But I think the email stuff is crazy. And two of us have started a story, gonna pass it around if anyone wants to collaborate.

And, a print mag is interested in writing a story about us, incl. bios of all the 238 (or of any who want to be included.)

JoyMC said:

I am, though honestly, I'm pretty irritated by the barrage of emails in my inbox now. Someone at WH made a mistake. So have we all. I wish people would get over it.

(Someone sent a form rejection to 238 of us, while including all our names and email addresses in the list, ie, not bcc. Now there's an insane amount of email in all our inboxes as people vent and whine about it.)

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I havent seen too much venting and whining, more like everyone having a good time about it.

Hilarity ensues.

JoyMC said:

(Someone sent a form rejection to 238 of us, while including all our names and email addresses in the list, ie, not bcc. Now there's an insane amount of email in all our inboxes as people vent and whine about it.)

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Wow! Really? What an epic fail! And yet, it feels refreshingly transparent for a change...

I love how now we're called the "Noble 238". And yes, at first I was annoyed at the emails I kept getting, but then I just thought it was fun and a good networking experience.

jaksen said:

I havent seen too much venting and whining, more like everyone having a good time about it.

Hilarity ensues.

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To be fair, after the first five or six, I quit reading them. So hilarity may well have ensued. But the ones I read included one writer saying he was an attorney and basically threatening WH for sharing his info, and another person posting the entire email on Twitter, including everyone's names and emails, which I thought was a much bigger violation of privacy than the original email fail.

I might join the FB group - that's fine. But oh my gosh, so much email to delete and delete and delete.