Liza Royce Agency (Liza Fleissig)

Status update - exclusive period is over but have not heard back. Any other folks in the same situation?

She had requested exclusive status on my full for five weeks but I got a no from her in about four weeks.

JJPie said:

Status update - exclusive period is over but have not heard back. Any other folks in the same situation?

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Me too. Just passed 8 weeks on a 7-8 week exclusive. No word.

I think you would be okay if you sent her a nudge now that the exclusive period has expired.

Liza is my agent. I was one of her first clients, if not her first YA client. She has sold five of my books (in 3 separate book deals) to Harlequin TEEN, Strange Chemistry, and Sky Pony Press, and is currently representing seven books of mine in total. Liza is a relatively young agent in the business, which means that FOR NOW, she has the time and desire to read whatever strikes her interest. She also has several readers who work with her agency. Her process is to ask for a full so that she can assess the manuscript as a whole. I've never been particularly fond of partials because what if you've written a fabulous story with not as strong of an opening? IMO, a good editor can whip up weaker opening chapters in no time. As far as the person who created the fake query letter to prove a point, I get it. It was a poorly written query letter. You wanted to demonstrate that Liza asks for fulls on everything. I assure you, she does not. However, if an agent has a hot button (in this case, zombies) and asks to see an MS on the OFF CHANCE that it's something brilliant despite an atrocious query letter, how does that hurt anyone? It's her decision to read it regardless. That said, let's talk about the thing that does matter ---> sales track record. Liza was one of PM's top 100 dealmakers last year. Right now, she has the time to seek out those "diamonds in the rough," but honestly, who knows how long that will last? In a year or so, this thread may very well have posts that say "subs to this agent are by referral only." As far as exclusives go, I once submitted to an agent under an exclusive, only to be rejected after several months of edits. Actual EDITS. Seriously, I wanted to set things on fire. But I put away the gasoline, dusted myself off, and got back to querying and writing. I highly recommend Liza—she has done well by me, and I hope she'll continue to do so. Cheers, and good luck to all currently out on submission.

Just an update: Nudged, said she understands that I would continue submissions, said she'd check with her readers. (I didn't know she had people reading all the subs to her...) Nothing since. If I ever hear back, I will update with the dates for people.

Got my rejection today. About 10 weeks.

4 weeks in and waiting while trying to be calm. Thanks for the information Amalie. It's so nice to hear positive feedback. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm only at the five week mark on a 7-8 week exclusive, and getting anxious. Cannot wait to resume querying.
Thanks for the inside scoop Amalie!

7 weeks and holding. Anyone hear anything?

I'm passing over the 8th week on a 7-8 week exclusive and no word. I suppose I should nudge.

Update: it was a pass, mentioning something, I hadn't heard from any of the other agents who read the full. Onward. Good luck to you all!

Request for full received today, two weeks after initial query. She requested an exclusive, which is fine since she's the first to request pages. She's reporting a 7 to 8 week response time on fulls, as others here have indicated.

First full on this novel! I'm excited but trying not to get too excited. *fingers crossed*

I read through this thread, and according to Query Tracker she's requested fulls on 38% of queries (based on 197 queries). Over the past 6 months, of 105 queries, she's rejected 60, made 1 partial request, 38 full requests, and 6 no responses.

Of submissions, in the past six months with 15 reported submissions (I suspect the 23 of the 38 who reported full requests never updated the status), 13 were rejected, one was a revision request, and one was an offer of representation.

I got the same form request for a full as posted earlier. I too thought it was odd to make that many full requests. My first novella was swallowed up by an author mill, so I was nervous that she was somehow an agency equivalent. However, if only one of the 38 fulls resulted in an offer, that might be high based on a low sample size but that's hardly an author mill. Now, if she'd offered on a bunch of those fulls, I'd wonder if she was over extended and why she'd go through the trouble of creating so much work when she only gets paid for books that sell. Either that or she'd be pulling some sort of scam I can't figure out. But by following the money, I can't see how requesting that many fulls would benefit her as a scam. Therefore, in absence of evidence to the contrary, I'll assume good intentions and leave it to her to decide how many fulls she wants to read. Of course I'll get professional input on any contract that might come from this.

Not being able to query for 7 to 8 weeks has me a little grumbly, as much as I hate querying. This is a slow business anyway and delay are frustrating.

Form rejection on the full on November 10. At least she was quick about it.

Sent a QL in December and didn't hear back. Resent the QL in February, full request 2 days later, asking for exclusive.

It occurs to me that I never posted the results of my full with this agency. They asked for 7 week exclusive. I got a short form rejection at around the 12 week mark.

That's what I hear from most people. I think an 8 week exclusive is a lot to ask for when all you get in return is a form R-you're essentially putting your book on hold for two months. How does that benefit the writer exactly?

Here's why I'm passing....This thread is a year old and she still doesn't have a functional website...not even a WordPress template or a blog. In today's world, that's unacceptable. It shows that she's not serious about her craft. ANYbody can get a website these days...even if it's hokey.

newstylus said:

Here's why I'm passing....This thread is a year old and she still doesn't have a functional website...not even a WordPress template or a blog. In today's world, that's unacceptable. It shows that she's not serious about her craft. ANYbody can get a website these days...even if it's hokey.

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I think that's a little short-sighted. My agent only has a single page with his contact info, but that doesn't keep him from doing his job well.

And there are other, very well-established and respected agencies, that don't have websites. It doesn't stop them from being top-notch agents for their clients.

Okay, Aggy....I will re-consider my conclusion, based on your input. Thank you.

newstylus said:

Here's why I'm passing....This thread is a year old and she still doesn't have a functional website...not even a WordPress template or a blog. In today's world, that's unacceptable. It shows that she's not serious about her craft. ANYbody can get a website these days...even if it's hokey.

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As one of Liza's clients, I can tell you from experience that she takes her job very serious and is incredibly good at what she does, not just in making deals but in helping her clients understand the world of publishing. I signed with Liza in June. She had three offers for me by the end of November and my debut comes out in October. So please don't let the lack of a website lead you to the false assumption she isn't serious. I can't imagine having a more fierce champion or better cheerleader in my corner!

Liza rejected a manuscript I subbed to her last year, however, her feedback was invaluable, and after I made the revisions, I subbed it out to eight small e-pubs. I've subsequently signed the book with an e-pub, for release in July 2014.

yeah, also gonna say Liza 'n co are cool. Don't know if they hit the big 6 figure sums, but they sell work...

Amalie said:

In a year or so, this thread may very well have posts that say "subs to this agent are by referral only."

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This seems to be the case now, but do correct me if I'm wrong. Her Twitter says "most clients by referral" and without a website, I can't say more on this.

In the end, querying is about finding the right match for a professional relationship. Some writers, myself included, prefer agents to have functioning - it's one of the things I look for in an agency. In short, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the agency not having a functioning website yet, but it puts me off, personally.