KT Literary, LLC (Kate Schafer)

CharleyGirl · Mar 27, 2012

Krista G. said:
Queried 11/14/2011
Partial request received 11/21/2011
Full request received 2/1/2012
Offer of representation received 3/16/2012
Offer accepted 3/26/2012

MG historical science fiction

Ms. Testerman was quite literally the agent at the top of my list, so I couldn't be more excited! She e-mailed me the day she left for Bologna because she couldn't stand to wait until she got back to offer representation. Now that's enthusiasm

Best of luck to those of you still waiting to hear back from her!

Congratulations! You do so much for the writing community (with your contests, etc.), and I was SO happy to read about your good news! Yay!

augusto · Mar 27, 2012

Congrats, Krista G! Your interviews have been invaluable. Great to hear this and continued good luck!

Krista G. · Mar 27, 2012

Thanks, all! I'm thrilled. And yes, J.B.Kantt, the process did take months for me.

Seems like we only hear about the overnight success stories sometimes, but things doesn't always have to happen overnight to turn into successes.

Ms. Testerman (I guess I could start calling her Kate now...) tweeted the other day that she's woefully behind on queries but still plans to respond to every one, so hopefully, she'll get to those soon. If you queried in February, maybe you made it into her maybe pile? Fingers crossed!

JoyMC · Apr 27, 2012

Ms. Testerman just tweeted that she has no appointments today and she's diving into the query pile.

Anyone else waiting on a response? I queried on March 28th.

(And by the way, huge congratulations, Krista!!!)

JoyMC · Apr 27, 2012

Aaaaaaaaah!!!! Less than an hour after posting, partial request!!!! Woooo-hoooooo!!!!!

Ann Braden · Apr 27, 2012

Yay Joy!!!

Congrats!

I sent my query on 4/17, so based on her tweet that she just responded to everything sent before April, I don't think I'll be hearing one way or another for a while.

But, boy, I hope I get to follow in your footsteps.

Krista G. · Apr 27, 2012

Congratulations, JoyMC! Good luck!

(And good luck to you, too, Ann!)

Ann Braden · Apr 27, 2012

Thanks, Krista! You're an inspiration to us all!

JoyMC · Apr 27, 2012

Thanks, Ann and Krista! Good luck, Ann and Mary!

JoyMC · Jun 16, 2012

Just got a request for a full, from a partial that was sent on 4/27.

Super happy, but also a little burnt out and not getting any hopes up.

Smiley0501 · Jun 16, 2012

Congrats Joy!! Good luck

JoyMC · Aug 20, 2012

Sent my full on June 16th and just got my rejection today. I'm super sad, partly b/c I think she's amazing, and partly b/c she's the 10th agent to reject the full. Only one still has it. So, losing hope in this manuscript ...

(And none of the rejections have consensus, either. Most of them have actually had nothing bad to say. This one thought the "voice wasn't quite right for the age group" but another top agent said I'd "absolutely nailed the voice." So ... who knows.)

Anyway, more information than this thread needs when you all just want to know how long she took.

Beckstah · Aug 20, 2012

I'm so sorry to hear that, Joy! D: I'm still cheering you on!

Jack Armstrong · Nov 27, 2012

JoyMC said:
Sent my full on June 16th and just got my rejection today. I'm super sad, partly b/c I think she's amazing, and partly b/c she's the 10th agent to reject the full. Only one still has it. So, losing hope in this manuscript ...

(And none of the rejections have consensus, either. Most of them have actually had nothing bad to say. This one thought the "voice wasn't quite right for the age group" but another top agent said I'd "absolutely nailed the voice." So ... who knows.)

Anyway, more information than this thread needs when you all just want to know how long she took.

Joy –

Many agents wisely don’t proffer advice on manuscripts – even fulls – and those who do shouldn’t. They stick to stuff they “fall in love” with because, quite honestly, they’re clueless when it comes to literary prowess – particularly with unconventional or groundbreaking works. A good agent is a great salesperson and negotiator – after all, that’s what they are. However (with the rare exception), they’re horrible critics. One agent’s delight is another’s bane. It’s a curious and confounding quirk known as “personal taste”.

Like any writer, I’m always anxious to find out why an agent has turned down an offer to represent my book – I have a myriad of questions I’d like to ask them, hoping that the feedback provides valuable clues as to how to “fix” the manuscript. Sometimes I do get a little gem of advice, but more often than not it’s the same contradictory messages you’ve been getting, and that can not only be frustrating – in the long term it can be detrimental.

A good writer is open to advice and realizes that there's always room for improvement, but also needs to take any critique with a grain of salt. Trust your instincts and revisit your prose often – this advice coming from a guy who has yet to find an agent, mind you.

AmyT · Nov 29, 2012

Joy - I'm not represented by Kate, but I just wanted to pop in to say that the fact that 10 agents requested to read the manuscript is a great sign. Maybe this isn't the one that gets you representation, but think about how many agents you have to query next time that you can say "You read my last manuscript." That's such a good thing.

Also, I disagree with Jack about agents only being sales people. I have an editorial agent, as do most of my writer friends. Many of them give excellent feedback and know good writing and a good book when they see it. But, yes, they do have to balance that with what they think they can sell.

Anyway, congrats on having so much interest in this manuscript! Sounds like good things will be happening for you soon.

JoyMC · Nov 29, 2012

Thanks, Amy. And to be clear if anyone is wondering about Kate's responses, she DID give me specific feedback. I didn't say that I wasn't getting feedback - just not consensus. I also strongly disagree about agents being "clueless" - that hasn't been my experience while querying at all, or the experiences of my friends who already have agents and deals. It seems that agents today have to be savvy and editorial, at least in children's markets.

artemis · Jul 30, 2013

Queried Kate Schafer a few days ago, got an offer from someone els after that, let her know just in case she wanted to check out the query and got a request for the full the next day. Woohoo.

RaggedEdge · Aug 13, 2013

Congratulations, artemis, on the other agent's offer and the request for a full from KT! Super exciting!!

I also thought I'd mention while I'm in here that Kate is closed to queries for the time being.

Krista G. · May 9, 2014

Kate Schafer Testerman's assistant, Renee Nyen, was recently promoted to associate agent (you can check out her bio on www.ktliterary.com), and I just posted an interview with her this morning:

http://motherwrite.blogspot.com/2014/05/interview-with-agent-renee-nyen.html

(In the interest of full disclosure, I'm represented by kt literary, which is one of the main reasons I got the interview.

)

J.B.Kantt · May 10, 2014

Krista G. said:
Kate Schafer Testerman's assistant, Renee Nyen, was recently promoted to associate agent (you can check out her bio on www.ktliterary.com), and I just posted an interview with her this morning:

http://motherwrite.blogspot.com/2014/05/interview-with-agent-renee-nyen.html

(In the interest of full disclosure, I'm represented by kt literary, which is one of the main reasons I got the interview. )

Thanks for the great interview, Krista! Now I definitely plan on querying Ms. Nyen once both my query letter and my manuscript are polished

CheG · May 10, 2014

So can we query Renee Nyen? KT Literary is on my list and I'd kind of like to try a newer agent with a smaller client list. I think my odds might be better. Though I could be wrong... But I really enjoyed her interview!

Krista G. · May 12, 2014

CheG said:
So can we query Renee Nyen? KT Literary is on my list and I'd kind of like to try a newer agent with a smaller client list. I think my odds might be better. Though I could be wrong... But I really enjoyed her interview!

Yes, you can query Ms. Nyen directly! She wants queries to be sent to the agency's queries account, but she reads them all, anyway, so if you address the query to her, she'll definitely see it.

Smiley0501 · May 22, 2014

Renee Nyen offered me representation on my novel on Monday. I didn't end up choosing her (I had 3 other offers), but when we spoke, she was enthusiastic, on the ball with the industry and sweet. I have no doubt she will make a writer very happy to have her as their agent.

J.B.Kantt · May 22, 2014

Smiley0501 said:
Renee Nyen offered me representation on my novel on Monday. I didn't end up choosing her (I had 3 other offers), but when we spoke, she was enthusiastic, on the ball with the industry and sweet. I have no doubt she will make a writer very happy to have her as their agent.

Wow Smiley, 4 offers! That's amazing! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

ZachJPayne · May 22, 2014

Congratulations, Smiley!

And I'm definitely adding this agent to my Query List.

KT Literary, LLC (Kate Schafer)

CharleyGirl

Glad to be here

augusto

Krista G.

AW Addict

JoyMC

JoyMC

Ann Braden

Krista G.

AW Addict

Ann Braden

JoyMC

JoyMC

Smiley0501

Lurker, now activated. :-)

JoyMC

Beckstah

Zen-ish

Jack Armstrong

The All-American Boy

AmyT

Writer, geek

JoyMC

artemis

RaggedEdge

I can do this

Krista G.

AW Addict

J.B.Kantt

Debut Author

CheG

Krista G.

AW Addict

Smiley0501

Lurker, now activated. :-)

J.B.Kantt

Debut Author

ZachJPayne

Beware: #amQuerying