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Book Cents Literary Agency

Snappy

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Any updates on this agency?
 

Pete Morin

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Hello folks,
I thought I'd finally register after lurking every so often for a long time.

Christine is my agent, and a lucky man I am. She is an absolute dynamo, a workaholic, and a plain-speaking straight shooter. Some folks noted her sales record last year, for which she was one of 30 agents nominated for Agent of the Year.

More importantly, she's one agent who is on top of the changes taking place in the publishing industry, especially the digital revolution and the genuine options that self-publishing represents for many aspiring novelists. She's a real team player.

Funny, sounds like I'm talking about my wife. Heh.
 

Erin

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She requested a full from me in December 09 and has never responded, except after a nudge in June '10 when she said my book was still under consideration. Even if she was requesting material, you may have a long wait or you may never hear back.
 

Robyn

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Love hearing she is taking new clients, however, there are some of us who just can't make it to conferences. Ah well, will continue on with the normal trek.
 

Snappy

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Hello folks,
I thought I'd finally register after lurking every so often for a long time.

Christine is my agent, and a lucky man I am. She is an absolute dynamo, a workaholic, and a plain-speaking straight shooter. Some folks noted her sales record last year, for which she was one of 30 agents nominated for Agent of the Year.

More importantly, she's one agent who is on top of the changes taking place in the publishing industry, especially the digital revolution and the genuine options that self-publishing represents for many aspiring novelists. She's a real team player.

Funny, sounds like I'm talking about my wife. Heh.

Thank you for the information on Christine. I met her through Pitch University. I was impressed by her kindness and sincerity. She has a full of mine since only Feb, but I've got my fingers crossed.
 

juleswriting

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Christine Witthohn/Book Cents Agency

Not that I can afford to be picky with only two full manuscripts out after 25 queries, but I keep reading this agency hasn't had any sales - this was on some old posts. Anyone have any new info about them? thanks!
 

MAS

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Oh my goodness. She is big, big, big. Over 30 books coming out in 2013 per her website. She is a top romance agent, and I would kill to have her represent me. Unfortunately she is closed to unsolicited submissions and I believe she has been for quite some time. Publishers Marketplace has more info:

https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/BookCents/

Good luck if you get a request from her!
 

juleswriting

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Oh my goodness. She is big, big, big. Over 30 books coming out in 2013 per her website. She is a top romance agent, and I would kill to have her represent me. Unfortunately she is closed to unsolicited submissions and I believe she has been for quite some time. Publishers Marketplace has more info:

https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/BookCents/

Good luck if you get a request from her!

Thank you!! That's great to hear! I actually saw that she was closed but sent my query anyway because thought she would be a great fit. Lo and behold, she requested the full manuscript just days later! Really hope that's a good sign. Even if she rejects it, I'd be happy to get some constructive criticism from her.
 

MAS

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Hey, Juleswriting. Just checking in to see whether you received a reply from Christine. I've had my fingers crossed for you.
 

HumbleScribe

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Ditto for me: sent her my query + 5 pages and grateful to receive her invite to send a full. Sounds like she's traveling a lot these days, and though quoted a 6-week estimate to get back to me, it sounds like patience beyond that is the wisest course for us.

Luck to everyone having material with her :)
 

HumbleScribe

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Anyone heard back from the fabulous Christine recently on reading your full ms?

She invited my full less than four months ago, so obviously that's not so long ago to not hear back yet, considering it's a full. Noticing her auto-reply still seems to mention the 6-week response estimate, though.

Just wondering if anyone's heard whether she's done with Summer conferences and diving into getting back to anyone on fulls lately. Am presuming she probably responds to fulls even when it's an "R" :) and which could provide valuable feedback for revisions.

Luck to you all!
 
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HumbleScribe

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Update: No reply from Christine the past seven months to the full requested back in May. Sent her an occasional note, but nothing received since the original request in May. Granted, fulls take longer to read. And this is the month most agencies are closed.

Anyone heard from Christine the past half year?
 

HumbleScribe

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Haven't seen any posts in this forum for nearly a year, except my own two posts since then. Anyone get any responses from them this year on reading their partials or fulls? I submitted mine nearly 11 months ago, checking in every 3-6 months, but haven't heard a word back in nearly that year long timeframe. Understood that many agencies have a 6-12 month reading backlog, but sometimes you'll get a peep back during said on their situation. Though sometimes, agencies will get back to one after a year, indeed, expressing feedback yea or nea.
Any hints whether they're super swamped, focusing only on their established clients?
 

Thedrellum

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HumbleScribe, I just checked QueryTracker and according to the comments there people have been querying and receiving very quick responses.

Maybe send another query, making sure the address hasn't changed? Then again, there are a number of people who closed out their queries there because of a lack of a response.

If I were you, I would probably just give up on her and assume she wasn't interested. That's hard to hear, but that's also an awful long time for her to have your full.
 

HumbleScribe

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Thanks for your observations, but not sure by your mention of "querying" were you only referring to the time lag of them responding to the initial query letter? As that's not where I'm at.

In other words, were you only referring to how quickly they're sending rejections and requests for partials / fulls to the initial query letter? Or instead, how long they take to reply to partials and fulls they requested (the latter being my situation-- they replied very quickly to ask me for the full).

Their site has automated online tracking, so it seems to be active and correct, unless something's interfering with follow-up messages from authors.

While I agree that 11 months is a long time, from the posts I've read in and outside AW, a number of authors wait that long for a decision from some agencies after sending a requested full, or even a tad longer, sometimes to be surprised to hear from an agency making them an offer. Though granted, it's more helpful to periodically receive a scrap of info from the agent between now and then. I've nearly half a dozen requested full outs, and with the exception of one agent, most don't reply until they've had a chance to bore in further into the full. I certainly won't be writing them off, and hope authors take a number of considerations into account before taking your advice to do so. Again, perhaps you'd thought this only referred to the initial query letter. Or some agency sites that specifically mention if one doesn't heard back from them in "x" weeks/months, to consider that an implied rejection. Which would be understood in such cases, of course.

IIn sum, I'm not giving up on any of those agents -- especially since sticking with them is nothing more than giving them the chance to contact me if they're interested within the next few months. That said, I also know better than giving any of them an exclusive and wasting my chances with the other agents :)
 
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Treehouseman

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In other words, were you only referring to how quickly they're sending rejections and requests for partials / fulls to the initial query letter? Or instead, how long they take to reply to partials and fulls they requested (the latter being my situation-- they replied very quickly to ask me for the full).

Hi HumbleScribe, you'll probably have to dip into the comments section for that info. Unfortunately QT only registers the FIRST initial reply time, not follow-ups (It only shows a request for a partial even though I was asked for a full later - for another listing - for instance)

According to the comments, there are a couple of full requests never replied to. It's too much energy to chase someone after 6 months!
 

mlred

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Hello,
In August 2016, I queried Book Cents following their submission requirements and the next day I received an invite to submit my full manuscript with a 6 week response time. The day after I submitted the full manuscript, I received an "I like it-but I don't love it" type response from the owner.