Christopher Little Literary Agency

The Christopher Little agency (website http://www.christopherlittle.net/) is a respected one - they represent J. K. Rowling and Darren Shah (amongst others).

Don't know anything about Fiona Holloway in particular, but you could email her back and ask. I know that they don't accept email queries - only hard copy synopsis/first 3 chapters. If you sent an email query then it could just be that she's commenting on the same.

Sigh. It's one of my Dream Agents ...

MM

@Roskoe: You're hilarious! *giggles incessantly*

I really dug your response!!!! That's pretty damn brilliant.

I have not stopped laughing. Seriously. LoL

I would send your response--at the very least, it would get some attention. =)

Best of luck!!!

Just a note to say that according to its website, this agency is currently closed to all submissions (including queries) on the basis that its books are full.

MM

Caroline Hardman has moved

She's now at Christopher Little agency, but I got this off her page at the Marsh Agency:

Caroline likes literary fiction and commercial fiction, particularly women's fiction and thrillers; they can be light and quirky or dark and edgy, but they must be well-written and plot driven, with great characters and a gripping story. She is not interested in science fiction, fantasy, or military thrillers. Authors include Ellie Campbell and KR Moorhead.

Momento Mori said:

Just a note to say that according to its website, this agency is currently closed to all submissions (including queries) on the basis that its books are full.

MM

Click to expand...

15% of Rowling's income probably lets them be very picky in taking on new clients.

True.

Saying that, they do sponsor the City University Creative Writing Prize and invited several people from the 2009 graduating year (myself included) to submit full manuscripts to them if they're interested in them. They have also been working very closely with one student to develop their manuscript with a view to offering representation.

I get the feeling that they want to represent books they're passionate about in addition to books that will sell. They're certainly a really nice bunch of people - they came en masse to the 2009 anthology showcase - and they're v. enthusiastic about what they do.

MM

Their site says they are open for submissions again if anyone is interested, don't know how long for.

SJAB said:

Their site says they are open for submissions again if anyone is interested, don't know how long for.

Click to expand...

Awesome. I've been waiting literally two years to submit to them.

The website doesn't seem to have profiles of the individual agents. Does anyone know who there represents YA and SFF?

Just to note that the Fiona Holloway mentioned at the top of the thread appears to have moved on to a PR firm in the UK, Poke PR.

I queried, sent the synopsis and three chapters and got a form rejection in about ten hours:

Thank you very much for your email.

We are terribly sorry but as an already very busy agency we have to be highly selective when taking on new authors, this is not for us.

May I refer you to the Writer's Handbook or the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook (Published by A&C Black) where you will find submission guidelines and contact details for literary agents and publishers in the UK.

We wish you the very best of luck with finding suitable representation elsewhere and thank you once again for your interest in The Christopher Little Literary Agency.

Regards,

Chrysso Koutas

Ah well, maybe you'll all have better luck

Sorry you got the rejection, Roly.

For what it's worth, I have it on pretty good authority that Christopher Little are now looking to focus on their adult fiction and non-fiction lists and are giving considerably less priority to children's and YA fiction.

Last year they offered to take a look at my full (YA fantasy) but said that unless something was literally incredible, they'd probably pass.

MM

I have been waiting for just over two weeks to hear back from this agency, I'm starting to worry that they didn't recieve my manuscript which I sent by email.
How long have other people waited to hear back from them? And should I recieve an email even if the answer is no?

Thank you in advance.

To Starry Eyed

Starry Eyed, Did you ever hear back from the Christopher Little agency? You had been waiting 2 weeks. I just sent mine a few days ago and haven't heard anything either. Others on this thread said in ten hours they got a form rejection. I'm curious how you fared.

Does anyone have experience with this agency's response time?
I sent my manuscript before two weeks, and nothing yet:/
Thanks in advance.

response time this agency

Hey Everybody,
If you sent in your submission and don't hear back, here's my experience. I sent mine Sept 29 and waited until October 29 before I emailed to ask that exact question...how long you have to wait to get any response at all. I received a response to my email with an attachment. The attachment was the rejection I had not received but was dated October 12, as if they had thought they'd sent it. So it appears about 2 weeks for any reply and the rejection was identical to the one that appears above. If you don't hear in a couple weeks, just write and ask what the response time usually is and they may have already sent a response that you never received.

Maybe I should e-mail them to ask them.

Thank you Penny!

to marilena

I would, Marilena. I don't know how long you've been waiting, it sounded like two weeks and I've even heard it can be three weeks, but if it's any longer than that they may have thought they sent you one and never did. I just asked how long the usual wait was, if there would be a reply one way or the other, I didn't say "did you get it?". Just asked about the normal time period to wait, and that's how I found out. Good luck!!!!!! I hope someone gets their foot in their "very busy" door. They were really nice to answer every question I asked and right away (word count, double or single spaced, etc). Let us all know if they take your manuscript! And even if they don't, keep us posted!!!!!

I'm not in the UK, but this is one of those agencies that I sort of want to sub to just to see what happens.

So,

I sent e-mail to them, and I asked them how long is the response time, and I received a auto e-mail.

"Thank you for your submission. We endeavour to respond within 8 weeks, but during busy periods it may be slightly longer. Please do not contact the agency until 8 weeks has elapsed."

I have to wait much longer...

Well, the good news is you still have a chance! And now we all know what their usual wait time is so thanks for posting that for everyone else.

I waited about 5 months for a response to my query. In the end I completely forgot about it, until I got a response back asking for the full manuscript I've been waiting (rather impatiently) for about 3 months now, and the wait is making me really nervous. Good luck to anyone else thinking of querying this agency!

Neil Blair is no longer an agent for Christopher Little, and has set up The Blair Partnership

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jul/04/harry-potter-jk-rowling-agent

Not sure what Blair Partnership does, but it looks like it may focus on digital rights.