[Agency] Writers House

Thanks, Because! I decided to bite the bullet and query her today. I wasn't going to because she hasn't repped the kind of fantasy I write before, but what the hell - you never know.

Roly, I e-queried the assistant. I suspect he would be the one reading them even if you snail queried.

Yeah that makes sense.

Well, good luck Beckstah! I'm holding off on querying until I revise my ms, but I definitely have Jodi on the list (if Merrilee comes back to me with an R). Make sure to tell us all how long the wait is! I'm hoping it's faster, but since I'm sure he's bound to be inundated with e-queries now, I'm not sure.

Roly said:

So either snail Jodi herself or email her assistant? Hmm...which would you guys choose?

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When I queried her (snail mail) it was her assistant that got back with the request for the partial. I'm pretty sure he reads all of her queries.

My stats so far with Merrilee Heifetz:

equery to assistant on feb 16
partial request on feb 18
full request TODAY! Yay!

congrats AuntB!!

Congrats AuntB!

Adding my stats: Just queried Ms. Heifetz's assistant and got a form rejection less than ten minutes later.

Finally got my R on a query today (sent Feb). Le sigh.

I guess at this point the only consolation is that I have more ideas and other novels I can write.

Just a quick question for y'all-

I queried Steven Malk two Fridays ago and received a same-day request for a full with a two week exclusive-unfortunately, I wasn't able to grant the exclusive at that point (I had one outstanding partial). Just the same, I've been adhering to the "spirit" of the exclusive (I haven't sent out any queries since sending the full).

Now I'm not sure what to do since just a little over two weeks has passed-since I couldn't grant the exclusive, should I just wait for a response? I'm afraid of nudging at this point since (ta-da!) I had two rejections in my inbox this morning (hey! It's two-for-Tuesday!)

Hmmm, the non-exclusive exclusive. I had one of those once. It's morphed into an exclusive revise and re-sub with strong promise which I'm probably jinxing as I type.

In Mr. Malk's head it's not an exclusive, so he's in no hurry, I imagine. When you sent it, did you tell him it was sort of on hold until you heard back from him? (That's what I did.)

If you didn't, maybe you could dash off a short email update: "Dear Mr. Malk, In addition to recently contacting [insert # here] agents who currently have had my manuscript for a while, I have stopped querying [insert title] until I hear from you. Have a pleasant week." Or something like that.

Just an idea.

Honeysock, thank you so much for your quick reply!

Unfortunately I didn't tell him that I was putting it on hold until I heard back-I think I will follow up with an e-mail along the lines you suggested, just to let him know...

And congrats on your exclusive revise and resub!! That sounds very promising!

hester said:

Just a quick question for y'all-

I queried Steven Malk two Fridays ago and received a same-day request for a full with a two week exclusive-unfortunately, I wasn't able to grant the exclusive at that point (I had one outstanding partial). Just the same, I've been adhering to the "spirit" of the exclusive (I haven't sent out any queries since sending the full).

Now I'm not sure what to do since just a little over two weeks has passed-since I couldn't grant the exclusive, should I just wait for a response? I'm afraid of nudging at this point since (ta-da!) I had two rejections in my inbox this morning (hey! It's two-for-Tuesday!)

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You don't do anything. You didn't grant the exclusive. You treat it exactly the same as any other full you sent.

Or well, okay, were it me I'd start querying again and I'd immediately alert him (and any other agents who had it) of any changes in its status. But that's it.

Thanks so much for the advice Twizzle! I think I'll do just that-to be frank, I'm a little afraid of nudging at this point...at least I can hold onto the dream a little while longer

Good luck, Hester! Steve is great - I would kill to have him as my agent. I think the thing that was most upsetting about his rejection is that I realized what a fabulous guy he was and how wonderful he'd be to work with. If this book wasn't meant to be, I'm going straight to him with the next one.

Thank you so much Beckstah!

Steve definitely seems awesome! I'm with you-if I get the big ol' R on this project I'm querying him on the next (assuming I ever finish it )

Got an exclusive partial request but was unable to grant it since I have material out with other agents already. It was a next day request from my query to Ms. Heifetz from her assistant.

Good luck JJPie!

Thanks Hester! I'm trying to temper my excitement since so many of these have gone nowhere.

Got my rejection today, but it was the nicest rejection I've ever received-I'll definitely be querying them with different projects in the future!

Best of luck to everyone still waiting!!

Isn't he great, Hester? He told me to think of my rejection as a letter of encouragement to keep going - I'm sure he wrote yours in the same spirit.

Yes, I think we should all award Steven Malk the Most Gracious Literary Agent award and give him a year's worth of free Turtle Wax. He understands that encouragement is like ambrosia for us. Even when the answer he's giving is a no, one compliment goes a long, long way. It's almost like he likes writers or something.

I fully agree Beckstah and skippingstone-(including the part about the year's worth of free Turtle Wax ).

Beckstah, he was very kind and encouraging-also invited me to submit future projects, which I fully intend to do

My stats: Queried Ms. Heifetz's assistant and got a form rejection in 12 hours.

can i just add to the steven malk praise? he writes beautiful letters... not just kind, but elegant. i have read that he is not a writer, but i am surprised. he has a nice way with words.

Going to throw some Daniel Lazar love out here...not just Daniel, but his assistant, Stephen Barr. While my query got nowhere, when I couldn't figure out how the hell to spell Stephen (v or ph, lol) some witty banter flowed back and forth between all parties! Rejection feels a whole lot better when you can laugh together even if the best result wasn't enjoyed, and both readily showed a sense of humor and humanity I've not seen in every agent...so major kudos to both!

Lydia