[Agency] Dystel, Goderich & Bourret, LLC (formerly Dystel & Goderich Lit. Mgmt.)

FYI: Jim McCarthy. 6 day reject on a full. I'm a "talented storyteller," but, apparently, not talented enough.

me too!

Marva said:

FYI: Jim McCarthy. 6 day reject on a full. I'm a "talented storyteller," but, apparently, not talented enough.

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Just got a rejection from him today on a full -- told me I was also a "talented storyteller"! and it took 6 days as well!! must be a pattern.

nancydrew said:

Just got a rejection from him today on a full -- told me I was also a "talented storyteller"! and it took 6 days as well!! must be a pattern.

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Dang! And I thought I was special. Guess I'm not special at all. Either that or we're both special and talented storytellers.

Okay, six days - his slush pile mustn’t be that high. He's had mine for 33 days now (at his request). Wondering if my email with ms attached got hung up in a filter...

Damn. To stat query or not to stat query. It's a double edged sword...

I suppose I'll wait for the 60 day mark (and continue using pharmaceuticals to sleep).

I've had a partial with MB since the beginning of May 08, through a referral. I status-queried politely mid-October, and he responded saying,

"I'm sorry to say I haven't looked at it yet; I shall look at it as quickly as possible."

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It's now been over a month, nearly a month and a half, since I status-queried.
I don't know if I should send off another email, or not. If I don't now, mid-December is pretty much closed for publishing, and I'm unavailable (out of the country) for all of January, so February is my next guess to send another email. However, that will have been nine months since I originally sent the partial, and I'm not so sure that's okay.

Any thoughts on MB and my situation would be appreciated.

InkSpill, I'm on your boat. I sent him material in May and haven't heard back. I SQ'ed about 2 weeks ago, but didn't get a reply. I hope that my SQ didn't get stuck in a spam filter, but who knows. I don't want to bug him again with another email.

I'll let you know if I hear anything.

I nudged again a few days ago for my partial to Mr. Bourret; no response. I'm hanging it up as a rejection.

No worries, though, I'll be sure to try again with my next manuscript. Mr. Bourret has been extremely nice, polite, and professional, and I've been delighted to have contacted him. A good experience overall.

Good luck to you, K-Mark.

Inkspill said:

I nudged again a few days ago for my partial to Mr. Bourret; no response. I'm hanging it up as a rejection.

No worries, though, I'll be sure to try again with my next manuscript. Mr. Bourret has been extremely nice, polite, and professional, and I've been delighted to have contacted him. A good experience overall.

Good luck to you, K-Mark.

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Inky, I'm no pro, but I wouldn't be suprised that you got no response at this time of year. From all I've heard, the industry, agents and all, pretty well shuts down from mid-Nov to mid-Jan. I know you'll be out of country, but since you've written this one off anyway, it can't hurt to wait until you get back and status-q one more time...you just never know how much may be getting backed up in the pipes during the holidays with this business...all IMHO, of course.

Dystel & Goderich

I'm new to this discussion group and could use a little help!

I was wondering if anyone can tell me about Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. Their website & client list seems legit, but I've never submitted anything before and was looking for some guidance from those of you who have more experience at this!

I submitted my first manscript to Lauren Abramo about a week ago and Friday she requested the full manuscript and a proposal.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi, indiana writer, and welcome to AW.

There's and index to agents, publishers et al here and a thread on Dystel & Goderich here. Basically, they're a very reputable agency (good enough for President-Elect Obama, anyway).

Congrats on getting a request for a full manuscript!

MM

I've heard really good things about this agency. Over 8 weeks ago I had emailed them a query but heard nothing back. They do encourage you to re-send a query in case it went missing. I did that on Sunday and got an almost immediate and very courteous response from Jim McCarthy. So, is it quite normal to get a request for the complete manuscript when I had just sent in a query (no sample, etc.), since that is what he did.

In any case, whether I am lucky enough to be signed with them or not I've been impressed with them thus far.

Good luck, Indiana Writer! This is a very reputable agency.

I sent Jane Dystel a query. She passed it on to Lauren Abramo who requested a full MS, so my fingers are crossed, too.

Just to update my D&G experience. I'd queried Miriam back in September, and got a request for full from McCarthy 90 minutes later (had to collect my socks and replace them on my feet, I did).

Today I sent a status query to Mr. McCarthy, and got a nearly immediate response (again collecting the socks).

He in fact did NOT receive my email with MS attached back in September. Apparently the email and attached file are lost somewhere in cyber doom.

His response indicated his intention to review "immediately," which would stand true to his response record thus far.

I can only hope for the best (and a confirmation of receipt this time).

Leukman, you pernicious monkey, good for you. Hoping for the best.

kap

Okay, final results in.

"You’re a good writer—clear and concise, with a gift for pacing. That said, I’m afraid I just didn’t fall as much in love here as I hoped to. In this increasingly difficult fiction market, we really need to be head over heels for a project before we can take it on. I’m sorry that didn’t happen here."

I will say that Mr. McCarthy never failed to offer quick, polite responses, and held true to his word on a quick read for a lost ms.

I would absolutley query this agent again with another project.

Inkspill said:

I nudged again a few days ago for my partial to Mr. Bourret; no response. I'm hanging it up as a rejection.

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I've had the same experience. Back in August he requested the full, and let me know when he got it the next day.

Three months later I emailed and asked politely what the status was. He said he was still reading it.

Four months later I asked again; no reply. I emailed a third time, a full nine months after he received my full, and again got no reply.

It's interesting to see that I'm not alone.

Wow. Very fast response. I queried Michael on Sunday, got a full request from Jim on Monday, then got a full rejection today. I was also a "talented storyteller", but he was not "head over heels" in love with my project.

Yup, I'm pretty sure it's a form rejection, or a slight deviation from the form. Guh.

Yahzi said:

I've had the same experience. Back in August he requested the full, and let me know when he got it the next day.

Three months later I emailed and asked politely what the status was. He said he was still reading it.

Four months later I asked again; no reply. I emailed a third time, a full nine months after he received my full, and again got no reply.

It's interesting to see that I'm not alone.

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Same story. Only I queried before August, iirc. Not even 100% sure when, it's been so long. I status queried once, and he said he was reading it.

Mr. Anonymous said:

Same story.

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It's an odd situation that unsolicited queries are rejected with nice letters, but requested full manuscripts disappear into a black hole...

Maybe Mr. Bourret is trying to tell us he wants more irony.

Yahzi said:

Maybe Mr. Bourret is trying to tell us he wants more irony.

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Dystel & Goderich?

Does anyone know anything about the Dystel & Goderich Agency? I just want some background info before I query . . .

Sweetie there's a whole thread. Use the search feature at the top of the page in the future if you want to find something and welcome to AW.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18971&highlight=Dystel+Goderich

Haha sorry and thanks. I didn't even see that.

the state of the status query?

i've been lurking at writercooler for nearly a year. and am pretty amazed at the support everyone gives one another!
so I finally got the courage to post...as i'm in the same boat re: a submitted mss to this agency. the paranoid in me wonders--could it be that he's waiting to see if we get other offers of representation...and then he can rush into the fray? does that make the mss somehow more legit? even as i type this i wonder if i sound crazy.

Jane Dystel has had my nonfiction proposal for two weeks now through a referal and it's killing me. I find myself checking my e-mail every hour. I've stopped querying anyone else because it was a referal and I feel a sense of loyalty even though she didn't ask for an exclusive. Do you think I should go ahead and send out more queries or should I just give her some more time? I hate being in limbo!