[Agency] Trident Media Group

Noah Body said:

So Leuk, you still waiting to hear back from Miller? I know I am.

Click to expand...

Yep. Still waiting.

Drafting a status query as we...uh, type.

Was waiting for mid-late month to send, figuring, as I've been told, that it takes agents a few weeks to "catch up" (that term really deserves quotation in this context) after the holidays.

We'll see what happens...

Yeah, I'll give Stephanie Sun another follow-up in a couple of weeks as well. Good luck bro, let us know if anything changes, either pro or con.

[agency] Trident Media Group

Sent ms in September. No response to indicate that it even arrived.

No response to short follow-up message sent in December.

I get the feeling that, if they did take me as a client, the agent-author relationship would be plagued by lack of communication.

If they weren't the only agency that has so far asked for pages, I would turn them down.

They've found the secret of eternal life. No one at the agency will ever die. They're all too busy.

Well, let's not be that acrimonious. It kind of sucks that they aren't more proactive--or even consistent--with their communications, but this is what it's like when you're on the outside trying to get in. I'll bet that if you sell a book elsewhere, they'd get right back to you!

I have nothing but great respect for these folks. Queried by snail mail two months ago and was asked for the full mss to be sent by snail mail which I overnighted by UPS. The agent in question acknowledged receipt of the same by e-mail in a couple of days. A week later, there was a cryptic progress report emailed to me simply stating they were in the midst of reading my mss. The next week, I got an offer for representation followed by a detailed letter of suggestions towards revision the same day.

@alexalex Congrats!! Very cool.

Do any of you know if there are agents at Trident that have interest in self-help, mind/body/soul non-fiction?

I've been looking at each agents page, some are specific with what they represent, while others give no detail.

Hey Alex, that's great. Was this Scott Miller? He's left some of us hangin' here.

alexalex said:

I have nothing but great respect for these folks. Queried by snail mail two months ago and was asked for the full mss to be sent by snail mail which I overnighted by UPS. The agent in question acknowledged receipt of the same by e-mail in a couple of days. A week later, there was a cryptic progress report emailed to me simply stating they were in the midst of reading my mss. The next week, I got an offer for representation followed by a detailed letter of suggestions towards revision the same day.

Click to expand...

CONGRATS!! If I may ask, which agent signed you?

AndrewG said:

@alexalex Congrats!! Very cool.

Do any of you know if there are agents at Trident that have interest in self-help, mind/body/soul non-fiction?

I've been looking at each agents page, some are specific with what they represent, while others give no detail.

Click to expand...

Check Publisher's Marketplace online - you can do a search for book types and/or by agent name to see what kind of books they've worked with and sold over the last several years...may give you a better idea of what could interest them than the listings/blurbs on the site (or elsewhere).

A note on that: not all book sales get posted to PM, so take it for what's it's worth.

@Leukman

Thanks! I do check there often. There's no listing for Trident Media Group, but I'll look for other agencies.

AndrewG said:

@Leukman

Thanks! I do check there often. There's no listing for Trident Media Group, but I'll look for other agencies.

Click to expand...

Try searching by individual agents at Trident instead. You might get some results that way

M.R.J. Le Blanc said:

Try searching by individual agents at Trident instead. You might get some results that way

Click to expand...

I just check over at AgentQuery.com and there was much more information on agents' interests. I found the right person.

Appreciate the help!

-Andrew

Extraordinary?

alexalex said:

I have nothing but great respect for these folks. Queried by snail mail two months ago and was asked for the full mss to be sent by snail mail which I overnighted by UPS. The agent in question acknowledged receipt of the same by e-mail in a couple of days. A week later, there was a cryptic progress report emailed to me simply stating they were in the midst of reading my mss. The next week, I got an offer for representation followed by a detailed letter of suggestions towards revision the same day.

Click to expand...

Well, alexalex, that is the best account I've heard of any agent in a long time. That's more as the process ought to work.

I'd love to know the name of your agent at Trident. S/he must be really keen on your book. And what is your book?

Is the difference between a hardcopy/snailmail request and an email-attachment request just individual preference on the part of the agent? Or is a request for an email-attached mss. a sign that the agent would, you know, just like to take a quick look, just in case, and can simply delete it rather than mail it back? Asking for an entire ms. on paper seems a sign of more serious interest. Is that correct?

I had one agent (not at Trident) request my complete ms on paper. He held it for two months, evidently read each one of the 100,000+plus words (I draw this inference based on the blue-pencil corrections of a few typos in the last 20 pages), then shipped the thing back to me with a form rejection note. I still haven't figured that one out.

But no matter. Congratulations.

~copperpockets

Wow--I am amazed that so many of you are willing to wait so long for a response from an agent!

I am blessed to have an agent who responded within a couple days to my query. I sent out ten (10) queries a big to all the "right" agents for my book, the "big" and "small" agents---just all the ones that handled what I had written.

I had five agents express enough interest within a week of receiving the query to ask for more, and then offer representation---this all occured within a month of sending out 40 queries. (Again, 10 a week.)

After much research and conversation with the various agents, I signed with who I thought was the best choice. And stopped sending queries!

Then, I started getting more responses -- five months later! From a query! And some were interested--"If you haven't already obtain representation..."

FIVE MONTHS!

I can understand waiting for a month for a response to a partial, but personally, I wouldn't wait around for a query response, which is why I sent so many out on a regular basis.

I just want to encourage everyone to "target" your agents and send out queries far and wide.

Best of luck to all of us!

That's impressive Derek!! Care to share how you craft your queries?

Nice work, Derek

Hi Derek,

Nice work, getting such prompt and positive responses. You must have written a truly appealing book.

I'm wondering if any of the agents to whom you refer are based at Trident. I myself received a reply (from Scott Miller, via Stephanie Sun) to my query only after some 200 days had passed.

That's not to say or imply I was sitting on my hands. I queried other agents during that interval.

I ought to note, just for the record, that I have received "No Thanks" notes to my query after only a day or two (in the case of email query). Many turn-downs to snailmail queries have arrived within 10 days.

The request for a partial or a whole after months and months have passed is puzzling, at least to me. Might it just be a sign of that agent's inefficient or haphazard work process? I don't know.

It is encouraging that the query system, which in my experience has been dysfunctional, does work for some writers.

Good luck,

~copperpockets

Giving up on Trident~Know Any Good Lesser Agents to Query?

I've decided it's time to give up on any hope of Trident, or even a large agency to rep my book. Trident has had the full since last July, and even though I've only written reasonable follow up letters (definitely have not been a pest), I suspect that I've been added to a spam-filter/disregard-this writer's-emails-list.

At this point I would be grateful to find a decent lesser agent for my admittedly quirky novel. Any suggestions for a smaller, less exalted agency to query would be much appreciated.

I worked for years on this particular book, and my other writing (short fiction and nonfiction) is well published and reviewed, so an agent who won't even respond when they've asked for a full, is a disappointment. I'm more than willing to move on, however, as long as I can find a good house for the novel.

Thanks for your help!

@DeterminedNovelist

You can't give up! You've got to be determined like your username.

I used to give up when projects weren't working out. But now I've realized that success is usually just a few steps away when you feel like giving up. Here's a great quote to think about:

"Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown." - Ross Perot

Trident isn't the only big agency out there. Keep looking for agents and query some more. Obstacles and rejection has a purpose. It's there to separate those who really want it and deserve it, from those who don't.

-Andrew

Don't understand the term "lesser agent." You mean lesser than one who won't respond to you? Snagging a big agency is not the be all end all. Snagging an experienced agent with contacts in your genre who responds to the needs of her client is the cat's ass. Granted you weren't a Trident client, but a requested full is "Requested Material" and a non-response is very unprofessional. My opinion.

DeterminedNovelist: Have you looked at books that follow the same sort of vein as yours with regards to genre? It sounds like it's on the urban fantasy side (although I've never been good with all those fantasy subgenres - I always thought fantasy was fantasy which is pretty bad for a fantasy author lol), and there's definitely some market for that. A good place to start to find agents and publishers is to see who's selling the same genre. Like Andrew said don't give up. Everything in its own time.

Cooperpockets, I think I snail mailed Trident and got a "not interested." Like I posted, I was very pleased with how much time and money the e-mail query system saved.

I also want to mention that I had much better success with e-mail queries than snail mail. Not sure why, but the response was "fast" -- a yea or nay within hours in most cases or by the end of the week.

I think one thing that helped me was that:

1) The book was already written, possibly unique with NF

2) Because it involved a cult and some well-known people, I already had it vetted by a lawyer which I mentioned in my query

3) I had the freelance editor edit my book and this editor had recently worked on NY Times bestseller, which I mentioned in the query

4) I have the 3 top cult experts in the country--all media saavy--ready to speak; these are the "go to" guys when a cult raises its head

5) I had a tragically well-known murderer write the foreword to the book; he is in jail for life and was also involved in a horrific cult

I'm now in touch with a variety of "A-list" writers in hopes that one of them will write the afterword.

I think it's really important that we do all we can to "sell" our book to the agents--so I think the idea that I already had it professionally edited, had got a well known person (even tho a killer!) contribute, and lined up some experts may have helped.

If anyone wants to see the query, please e-mail me privately and I'll send it along. The cult leader is still alive and I don't want to post it.

Determined Novelist - If it is good enough for Trident to request the full then other people will also be interested.

Well, I must not be in the spam filter...

Scokim assistant to me
show details 2:24 PM Reply


I will be out of the office from Wednesday, January 7 to Friday, January 9. I will respond to all calls and e-mails upon my return on Monday, January 12.

Guess who I'll call on January 13?

Derek, thanks.

Given its subject matter and its being non-fiction--as well as all the other groundwork you've done--I'm not surprised the responses came in quickly. You're delivering a solid-gold commodity on a silver platter. What does any agent have left to do? Make a couple phone calls and organize an auction? Hells bells, I could do that. Sounds like an easy payday for the lucky agent who signs you.

Good luck.

~copperpockets

DerekJager said:

If anyone wants to see the query, please e-mail me privately and I'll send it along. The cult leader is still alive and I don't want to post it.

Click to expand...

Where can we contact you at? I'm new to this forum so I can't send PMs yet (unless this forum doesn't have them). I can give you my email if you'd prefer.

Thanks!

-Andrew

DeterminedNovelist, is this also Scott Miller at Trident who's been sitting on your ms as he's been sitting on mine? I emailed my complete novel to Trident on Sept. 20--the entire text, as requested. No word since.

I get the impression that they expect all the forbearance, courtesy, and professionalism to flow along an avenue that runs just one way. I certainly haven't received any.

~copperpockets