Folio Literary Management

Julie Worth said:

Almost done reading it? I'm willing to bet that's agent speak for it's almost to the top of the stack.

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LOL, probably. It sounds likely since she took almost a month after that to be totally done reading it Of course given that the full process took only about four months, I can't really complain. I have the same MS submitted to Baen books at the moment and they say that it'll take a year for them to just get to it

Jenny Rappaport rejected my query and synopsis in February. Form rejection. Don't get your hopes up unduly, people, Folio is not significantly different from any other agency.

Jenny Rappaport requested my partial on March 6. Still no word. I guess no news is good news, but I've been holding my breath longer than a pearl diver on steroids. . . .

Just checking in.

Time Frames

Hi Everyone,
I also have a partial with Scott Hoffman. My eight weeks wait time expired and I sent a follow-up. I got an immediate response saying that due to the volume of queries, response times had stretched out; for partials and non fiction he's now looking at May for his response(s) (no word on fulls). Hope this helps all of you waiting. Puma

Got a form rejection from Paige Wheeler today. Response time was 3 weeks for the query.

Folio Literary Management/Erin Cartwright

Hi, all;

Erin Cartwright-Niumata from this agency requested my full manuscript early this month. Good, yes...but I was a little surprised to hear from her by e-mail (from Folio), as I'd queried her months ago (mid-January) at Creative Media Agency. When mailing the package on April 6th, I included a self-addressed, stamped postcard for them to drop in the mail when it arrived safely. In hindsight, I should have just spent the extra funds on Delivery Confirmation since I mailed it out Priority (0.13 more than standard mail would have cost). But I'm between "day" jobs right now, so every cent counts.

Last week, I e-mailed both Erin and the assistant who'd requested the ms on Erin's behalf. I asked if they would confirm whether it arrived safely. No reply from either yet.

I already knew this won't be a speedy process, but can anyone give me an idea as to how long I should wait before writing this agency off? I still plan to mail out queries once a month in the interim. But since I can't get a response by e-mail, calling doesn't seem like the way to go either; most agency websites advise you not to ever *ever* ever do that because they're buried in queries and Mss up to their eyeballs on any given day.

At what point can I truthfully tell another agent that my novel isn't being considered elsewhere?

Many thanks for your time.

Folio response times

Toni1953 said:

...Hope all that helps you decide.

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Thanks much, Toni. That does make me feel better.

<Crossing fingers> Here's hoping we both get a yea or nay soon; this is the first time in my life I've chewed my nails off up to my elbows.

Toni1953 said:

Well, I queried Scott Hoffman of Folio in early February. The next day he requested a partial. three days later he requested the full. That was on February 21st and I have not heard a word since. it's nine weeks tomorrow that he has my full, but there's another post on this board that says they are running behind due to a wealth of submissions.

I plan on dropping him a reminder email if I do not hear anything by 12 weeks. Hope all that helps you decide.

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I sent him a reminder email, but I doubt that will do any good, since all I got back was an auto-response.

It beats a rejection

I got a e-request from Paige Wheeler for 50 pages on 1-20.
Snail request for the full on 3-20.
Snail rejection on the full on 3-30.

The final rejection was a form letter (on a surprisingly crappy xeroxed letterhead), but with a very nicely worded reasoning across the bottom about how they thought the writing was very good but that the novel "moved too slow" in the begginning.

That critique balanced out the letter I got from another good agent who thought the novel "moved too quickly" in the beginning.

(image of me pounding my head against a wall)

One day I will find an agent who thinks it's "just right."

funidream said:

I got a e-request from Paige Wheeler for 50 pages on 1-20.
Snail request for the full on 3-20.
Snail rejection on the full on 3-30.

The final rejection was a form letter (on a surprisingly crappy xeroxed letterhead), but with a very nicely worded reasoning across the bottom about how they thought the writing was very good but that the novel "moved too slow" in the begginning.

That critique balanced out the letter I got from another good agent who thought the novel "moved too quickly" in the beginning.

(image of me pounding my head against a wall)

One day I will find an agent who thinks it's "just right."

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That critique balanced out the letter I got from another good agent who thought the novel "moved too quickly" in the beginning.

I got the same response.

Toni (et al) I got an auto response to my 8 week query and then a day later got an actual response. Still didn't say much; but it wasn't an auto.

Ohhhh , sorry to hear that. I was pulling for you! At least it sounds like you got a personal letter. I just got the form reject.

You know what though--I have been reworking my story and I can honestly say it's a much better read now then it was.

Keep on moving forward.

jenny's got a blog

Lit Soup

fyi, here's the link. it's rather new. she writes that Folio moved to a new address.

http://litsoup.blogspot.com/

hope she'll blog soon about all the wonderful material she requested from us.

aw, shucks

Got the (form) rejection today, pretty much 2 months to the day since I sent the partial (I had submitted to Jenny). The form letter was way longer than it needed to be. Just a simple "not for us" would've been nice. heh. funny how I can appreciate the short 'n' sweet ones at this point.

It's also ironic for me in that a much bigger agency requested the full from only a query on the same project. I totally would've have expected the opposite to happen.

Here's hoping these rejections of ours are a blessing in disguise (clink).

Toni1953 said:

It almost makes you wonder how they make money, right? They seem to reject most everything.

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Being very selective about what to accept for representation lets a good agent use their time efficiently. Good agents don't take on many projects. They focus on the few that are most likely to sell to publishers they have relationships with. Your book may be excellent, but if an agent doesn't think he has the contacts to sell it, he can't afford to take it on. He can't use his time that way.

I don't think it's possible to give a number. Some authors write two books a year; some write one every five. Some authors get $100,000 advances; some get $4000. Some agents have assistants; some don't. Some books sell quickly; some have to be shopped around. I'd imagine there are too many variables to set an average number.

How long before Scott responded to your email queries?

I sent Scott and email, probably two weeks ago, and haven't heard yes, but also haven't heard no!

SO any ideas on his usual turn around, good bad or indifferent?

Thanks

Dave

A query, sent out April 21st.