Rees Literary Agency (formerly Helen Rees L. A.)

Wow, she sounds fantastic! Query sent!

She rejected a query of mine late last year. It wasn't at all what she was looking for in horror/thriller, yet she still managed to be incredibly nice and personal.

kap

Crap - I wish I'd seen this thread earlier. Here's what was in my inbox back in Nov 2009:

No fantasy or sci-fi; sorry.

Ann Collette
Associate
Helen Rees Literary Agency

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It's been almost 24 hours. What's up with that? Kidding... I kid!

cbuck1, you sent sample pages? I didn't see that anywhere... damn.

She seems great, but there's something I don't understand. In an interview she gave on line she's very clear that she does not represent Fantasy or Si-Fi. Then she went on to talk about how she's interested in Vampire novels (plus it's indicated as an interest on the agency website). Aren't Vampire novels Fantasy? do lot winny quan lot nam dep do nhiet do tam cho be vay cong so chan vay cong so nu cho thue trang phuc

Vampires are either fantasy or SF, depending on how you explain their existence. I guess the agent is making an exception of vampires due to personal preference or their current mass market appeal.

Ann Collette lists horror as an interest at query tracker, which possibly explains the interest in vampires.

kap

swhibs123 said:

She seems great, but there's something I don't understand. In an interview she gave on line she's very clear that she does not represent Fantasy or Si-Fi. Then she went on to talk about how she's interested in Vampire novels (plus it's indicated as an interest on the agency website). Aren't Vampire novels Fantasy?

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That threw me off too. I sent her my YA paranoramal query anyways!

Fast, but nice Rejection

Hi guys,

She rejected my adult urban fantasy (vampire) novel. E-queried on 7/12/10, nice e-mail rejection on 7/13/10. Said it didn't "grab" her.

Some people consider vampires paranormal rather than fantasy or SF. I think it's more of a style thing. I wouldn't call Supernatural (the tv series) fantasy or SF for instance.

Yes, I asked Ann what she was currently looking for. She wants dark stuff. No sweet twighlight crap. Real vampires if you know what I mean (i.e. sunlight bad, moon good)

Also, she does not want anything to do with sports. She hates all things sports.

If you write dark stuff, then she wants to see your work.

Now I know why I received no lickety-split answer to my query. No subject line. *Bangs head on desk* Okay, trying again.

ETA: It's been a couple of days, and nothing yet. I am not only a thread killer, but a query killer as well LOL.

signed with Ann

Ann has been my agent for about a month now. So far, I'm delighted. She seems to know all the best editors in my genre (noir) and has gotten my MS right to them. Now it just needs to grab one of them as it did her.

UPDATE: Still haven't sold the MS, but not through any fault of Ann's. She's terrific.

Okay, so no answer to my query after a week. Should I resend? Gaaaahhhhh!

Kudos to Ann once again. I pitched her recently and found her professional and charming. She seemed genuinely interested in my story and asked me more questions about it than anyone else. In the end, I got a rejection from her a week after sending her the requested material, but she's hard to dislike. She's quite a fab person and I think if you landed her as an agent you're probably getting a mentor as much as someone who's trying to sell your book.

Queried Ann 1/22, got a repouest for a partial today, 1/27. Very nice, said not to worry about the formatting. Now I'm wondering what I did in the query letter to prompt that? Yikes!

I'll join the Ann Collette fan club, although she did just reject my work.
Queried her 1/22, got request for a partial 1/27 and a reject note 1/29: "Thank you for sending this, Eileen, but I didn't connect with the prose the way I had hoped to so unfortuantely I have decided to pass. I'm sorry not to be writing with b etter news and I wish you the bestof luck eslewhere."
She's a class act and I'm sorry, too.

query format

I'm looking to send my query in to Ann but I'm lost for the right format. Can I get help from someone who's had a success with her? I'd be glad.

I sent to her at the beginning of the month. About two weeks to form rejection. I included five pages, but I always do that.

Thanks, Kaitie, for the info. Sorry about the R.

No worries. I've built up quite a collection at this point. After a while it doesn't even sting.

Hi, can you help me with a format to query Ann Collette?

foliogal said:

Hi all. Does anyone have experience querying Nicole LaBombard? Those who have queried this agency did you include sample pages? No real submissions guidelines on their website. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

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I always include sample pages, unless the agent/agency webpage says not to do so.

I sent a query to Ann Collette on Tuesday night. Received a request for the next two chapters this afternoon. Just sent them off to her.