The Martell Agency (Alice Martell)

According to Preditors and Editors they have a proven track record of sales.

Alice Martell

Are there any more recent experiences with this LA to share? (I will be returning her call in the morning.)

Thanks!

www.doctorwascher.com

Richard Curtis, Alice Martell, Katie Boyle

I would be very interested in any objective feedback regarding these three agents, please.

Thank you/ Rob

www.doctorwascher.com

Got it!

Thanks/ Rob

www.doctorwascher.com

doctorwascher said:

Are there any more recent experiences with this LA to share? (I will be returning her call in the morning.)

Thanks!

www.doctorwascher.com

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Did you sign with her? She looks like a very fine agent. I've recently queried her, myself.

No, I haven't signed with her yet. I have an appointment to visit with another LA in NYC next week, and based upon a very favorable and long phone conversation with him, I am holding off on getting too cozy with anyone else for now.

Thanks for your feedback/ Rob

www.doctorwascher.com

http://www.themartellagency.com/ is still under construction. Reference of them can be found here: http://www.spywriter.com/litagency11.html
http://www.wordhustler.com/agents/4701/The-Martell-Agency.html

Also from AQ: she lists her email "[email protected]" but she does not accept email queries. :-O

So here's the text of the rejection I got: "Dear [full name], Thank you so much for sending me the material for [title]. The work is nicely done but I don't have the passion that you need in an agent for their work to be done well. Fortunately, this is a subjective business and I expect that you'll find an agent who has no reservations."

Ordinarily I don't try to read tea leaves with these things, but was curious about that business of "the work is nicely done." Does anyone know if this is the standard language of all her form rejections? (I mean, what does she say to people who send in crap?) I'm just trying to figure out if maybe this means she (or someone) actually glanced at the text and not just the query -- but if it's all just the usual boilerplate, then it's just all ignorable...

"So here's the text of the rejection I got: "Dear [full name], Thank you so much for sending me the material for [title]. The work is nicely done but I don't have the passion that you need in an agent for their work to be done well. Fortunately, this is a subjective business and I expect that you'll find an agent who has no reservations."

I'd bet my house it's a form letter. A nice one. But a form letter. If I were you, I'd save my obsessing for cryptic comments sent with rejections of a partial or full.

Received a request for the first 50 pages on 10/21/2009.


http://www.facebook.com/terryallenrodgers

The Martell Agency

Terry: How long did it take between query and request for the 50 pages? Have you heard back on your submission?

Repunzel said:

"So here's the text of the rejection I got: "Dear [full name], Thank you so much for sending me the material for [title]. The work is nicely done but I don't have the passion that you need in an agent for their work to be done well. Fortunately, this is a subjective business and I expect that you'll find an agent who has no reservations."

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Sigh, I got exactly the same letter, word by word. For a moment my ego talked me into thinking that maybe she meant it, but then the practical me slapped me in the face and told to come check it over here....

My ego still whines in the back of my head and says that she might have two form rejections and she saves the nice ones for the works that truly are well done...

Received a request tonight from Ms. Martell for a partial and a synopsis.

The Martell Agency

frequently alert said:

Been working on this novel since my hair was still brown. Comic mystery, I guess. Hitting the market with it, getting nervous as hell. Logging in to check whether I have an email response about 42 times a day... You know, being a rookie. Thanks for the welcome. This is a great site.

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I'm also plugging what I call a "broad-humored campy cozy mystery." I would love to share experiences, pages, expertise, tips, but I'm not sure if AWWC lets people exchange email addresses, or how to contact each other any way that doesn't put our email addresses out there for the world to send spam to---for where the world can send spam? "Where y'all from, Witch?" Joan

Joan J. said:

I'm also plugging what I call a "broad-humored campy cozy mystery." I would love to share experiences, pages, expertise, tips, but I'm not sure if AWWC lets people exchange email addresses, or how to contact each other any way that doesn't put our email addresses out there for the world to send spam to---for where the world can send spam? "Where y'all from, Witch?" Joan

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You can Private Message each other and exchange emails that way. Click on the person's name, and select Private Message.

FYI - They still don't have a webpage, and there's no new info (that I can find, anyway) other than what Nicole posted above.

Bump...

FWIW, I sent a query on 17 Oct, and got a full request the next day. Fingers crossed!
--Dev


UPDATE: 25 October: R. "Very well done, but I didn't fall in love with it..."

I just emailed Alice and asked her if she takes YA and she responded quickly saying she'd be happy to see the first 50 pages.

Just letting YA writers know if you're interested. P&E has a dollar $ sign too.

Oh, but query her first.

Just queried and got a rejection in four minutes. With all the agents who never bother to respond at all, that's the next best thing to a request for material.

After querying AM, I just received a request for 50 pages and a comprehensive outline.

Uhh. Showing how green I am, but what is a comprehensive outline? My novel is YA. Like, a synopsis?

Thanks!