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Nelson Literary Agency, LLC (Kristin Nelson)

Roly

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Thanks - please let me know. I'm afraid it may have something to do with my Windows 7 upgrade, or from converting it from open office format. I have a sneaking suspicion open office doesn't fully convert. If it goes through fine for you, I'll have my answer. ;)

And good luck with your partial!

I uploaded my partial okay. I use a Windows 7 and Microsoft 2003 (so I ended up uploading a .doc file). I hope that helps. You could always email Sara and ask her for help. I think other people on the boards have. :)

Good luck with your partial! You too djaffe! You're totally right: especially when you don't have a lot of credits to boast about, a good query can really go a long way.
 

djaffe

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Alas, got my form "R" today with a personal note from Sara. Very friendly and was up front about saying my writing was "really gorgeous" and going back and forth on it, but in the end said she didn't think they had the contacts to sell my work. Don't know if that is her standard rejection, but I certainly appreciate the personal touch and even a little encouragement goes a long way in this process :)
 

Roly

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That's too bad djaffe. I got rejected on my partial too, but it was a form so I didn't get an explanation as to why. You should count yourself lucky to get such a great R! Still, I understand that's just what happens in the biz. It's interesting that they felt they didn't have the 'contacts' to sell your work. What is your MS about, exactly?

By the way, what was the time period between querying using the first query and querying using the reworked one? I'm just wondering how long I should wait because I've reworked my query AND MS (to reduce the word count) and I'd like to resend to some agents, but I was rejected only two weeks ago.
 

Chumplet

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Hi,

I queried Kristin on January 11 & received the standard request for a partial January 12th. Uploading wasn't a problem (I did it from my Mac Powerbook) and I'll hold off dancing a jig for a while longer.

In the meantime, I've queried several agents who represent books similar to mine and who just opened to queries after the holidays.

A few others need synopses, so I'll polish that up before I send out the next batch.

After that, perhaps some Canadian agents who only accept snail mail.

I absolutely love Kristin and I'd love to be her client, but like Janet Reid says, ya gotta cast the net wide!
 

Roly

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Hi Chumplet! Good luck!

Yeah, definitely cast a wide net. It only takes one yes :D If you find any good Canadian agents, let me know!
 

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I got my 'form' rejection last night, but at the bottom was a lovely note from Kristin. She said it was a good concept but the writing was a little too sentimental for her tastes. That's okay. I shed a few tears, and now I'm soldiering on.
 

djaffe

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hey Roly

As far as rejections go, it was certainly a nice one! She pointed out that it was a tough market and said they didn't have the contacts to sell such a "literary work". She continued and wrote, "I think that our agency leans toward looking for more commercial works simply because they are a little easier to break into the market."

My manuscript fall into a couple genres. It can be called multi-cultural urban fantasy or multicultural literary. Here is the short summary.

-- Chasing Dragons tells the story of Sebastian King, the owner of a bookstore cafe in Hong Kong who provides informal counseling services to an array of offbeat characters. Drawing on Chinese mythology and philosophy, the story follows Sebastian and Chloe, whose relationship parallels that of a pair of mythical dragons. The lovers struggle with
questions of mortality and immortality, before a choice is made that pulls them apart. --

I was only about 1/3rd the way through my querying process when I switched to the reworked letter. I haven't sent it to any of the agents who rejected me based on the first query but once I got a rejection, I re-sent to another agent within the same agency. If I didn't get any reply, I waited around 8 weeks before sending to a new agent within the agency.

I'm wary of re-sending the new query to the same agent who already rejected or ignored me, since the core of the query letter is still fairly similar. I may do so further down the line when sufficient time has passed.

Hope that is helpful!
 
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Roly

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hey Roly

As far as rejections go, it was certainly a nice one! She pointed out that it was a tough market and said they didn't have the contacts to sell such a "literary work". She continued and wrote, "I think that our agency leans toward looking for more commercial works simply because they are a little easier to break into the market."

My manuscript fall into a couple genres. It can be called multi-cultural urban fantasy or multicultural literary. Here is the short summary.

-- Chasing Dragons tells the story of Sebastian King, the owner of a bookstore cafe in Hong Kong who provides informal counseling services to an array of offbeat characters. Drawing on Chinese mythology and philosophy, the story follows Sebastian and Chloe, whose relationship parallels that of a pair of mythical dragons. The lovers struggle with
questions of mortality and immortality, before a choice is made that pulls them apart. --

I was only about 1/3rd the way through my querying process when I switched to the reworked letter. I haven't sent it to any of the agents who rejected me based on the first query but once I got a rejection, I re-sent to another agent within the same agency. If I didn't get any reply, I waited around 8 weeks before sending to a new agent within the agency.

I'm wary of re-sending the new query to the same agent who already rejected or ignored me, since the core of the query letter is still fairly similar. I may do so further down the line when sufficient time has passed.

Hope that is helpful!

Thanks! And I absolutely adore Chinese mythology and dragons! I definitely want to see more of it on the bookshelves and I hope I get to buy your story one day :D
 

Mr. Anonymous

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So I submitted a query, got a rejection the next day (I addressed it to Kristin AND Sara though... Was that a bad thing?)

Anyway, so I decided to query them one more time., with this beauty

Dear Kristin and Sara,

When famed baker Mo decides to open shop on cheap lot outside of the Martian city of Agaboo, he's expecting to sell pastries, not fight off alien uprisings. As it turns out, the bathroom of his new bakery is built on top of the entrance to an ancient underground Martian Metropolis populated by fat little green men that rise up out of the toilet like a giant green turd and try repay him for his scrumptious cupcakes with lasers to the head. Mo does what any good Martian in his circumstances would. He sues the Native Martians, and the Agabooan Supreme Court, fearing a shortage of Mo's cupcakes, opiate of the colonial martian masses, rules in his favor. The Native Martians are ordered to vacate the toilet immediately. They comply, but not on the terms the Court hoped for. The Native Martians view the ruling as an act of war, and soon thousands are spewing out of the bakery's bathroom in what the Colonial Post promises to be a an epic battle over who gets to have the cupcakes and eat them too.

Mo tries to hold his ground against this onslaught but is overwhelmed, captured, dragged into the ancient Martian city, and made to stand trial for eating cupcakes, whom, as it turns out, the Native Martians worship as Gods. He is found guilty of serial de-icide, and sentenced to anal probing. But he makes a daring escape, and with the fate of Martians, humans, and cupcakes all at stake, it is up to him to find a way to save everyone. That, or catch the first shuttle back to Earth and never look back.

One Man's God, Another Man's Cupcake is a 760,000 word mock science fiction epic written for anyone who has ever been enchanted by the divine goodness of cupcakes.



I'm an idiot, aren't I?
 

thmafi

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oh boy, Mr. Anonymous. i thought you were serious until i saw the 760k word count.

wait. you're not serious, are you...?

::cringe::
 

Polenth

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One Man's God, Another Man's Cupcake is a 760,000 word mock science fiction epic written for anyone who has ever been enchanted by the divine goodness of cupcakes.

Cut down the words, and you might be on to something here... who wouldn't want to read a book about cupcake wars?
 

Mr. Anonymous

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lol. The query definitely wasn't serious. It was a joke query that I wrote up a while back just to amuse myself. Never thought I'd send it, well, anywhere. I have considered actually trying to write a book around it though. It's so ridiculous it might actually be a lot of fun.
 
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meddyK

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Just got the form partial request and sent it in. Looks like she's really picky with asking for fulls, so I'm not holding my breath.
Still she gave a fast R on the query for my old novel, so who knows.
 

thmafi

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best of luck meddyk! even a partial request is a big deal!! :D
 

jana13k

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If it makes you guys feel any better, it's not any easier for her current clients to get an idea for a book by her. But she definitely knows how to sell and what will makes the best sales.
 

Lindzy1954

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Hi all, I just queried Kristin a few days ago on my YA novel and got a partial request the same day. From what I can tell, this agency is fantastic and their current clients are pleased. Keeping my fingers crossed. . .
 

emandem

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Ack. Got a form reject on a requested partial this week. According to her blog she is currently in Italy for the book fair, so I tend to believe an assistant is doing the reading and rejecting for her...
 

DeadlyAccurate

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Ack. Got a form reject on a requested partial this week. According to her blog she is currently in Italy for the book fair, so I tend to believe an assistant is doing the reading and rejecting for her...

Her assistant does all the first reading for both Kristin and Sara, IIRC. That info comes from either her blog or her newsletter.
 

CheekyWench

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I sub'd to them a couple of weeks ago. The day I got my pub acceptance they asked for a partial before I could pull the query via email... We went back and forth a few times but they wanted to read the full if I wanted to send it. So, Kristin and Sara both read it and gave me, probably the best feedback I've ever gotten on a manuscript - even though they passed on it.

They were just awesome and understanding. I'm definitely sending them a query for my next project.