Greenhouse Literary Agency

herenow,

I signed with Sarah in June. She is simply AMAZING! Here is why Greenhouse is so great:

1. Every time I contact her, she responds within the hour. Even though she has many clients, she makes us all feel important and valuable, even those of us who are not yet published.

2. Sarah has over twenty-five years of experience in the publishing business. When she lived in the UK, she worked with writers such as Judy Blume and Meg Cabot. She's built great contacts over the years.

3. She's an amazing editor. She's held my hand through one major re-write, and my manuscript has improved 1000%. We're heading into another light pass before we go on submission. She will do everything in her power to get you the best deal possible, which leads me to...

4. Um. Have you seen her deals on PM lately?

5. Lastly, Greenhouse works closely with another agency to secure individual foreign rights, rather than just selling them as world rights. (Edited to add that my understanding about how this works is a bit shaky--someone else might be able to explain it better.) It's my understanding that that ends up being way more beneficial to the author. Oh, and if you're working with Sarah in the states, chances are that Julia will try to sell your stuff in the UK. And the other way around. They're very close, an amazing team.

Uh, I don't know about the Adrienne Kress thing. I'd have to look into that.

Thank you for your reply!

3. I have always been curious about how the editing works. Does she send back your word document with highlighted areas - in edit mode?

I did look at the deals, but there was not much in mid-grade and the publishers where not any of the ones I am familiar with. Except one book which seem to be a sale shared by two agencies.

I love the way the publisher handled the books of Adrienne Kress, that is why I am curious if they have a good contact with that publisher.

The first round of notes she gave me were 10 pages of questions, concerns, and ideas. They were big picture things that I needed to take care of on my own. Now we're moving to the line-edit stage, and she will send me a document marked up with comments.

Okay, I just looked at PW, and Sarah is listed as making 23 deals in the last year. I know she’s working on at least 2 others at the moment. I’ll list some of them here, but I won’t go into the foreign rights, which constitute some of those deals.


NYT bestselling author of SHIVER Maggie Stievfater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff's package of stories, as well as conversations about where these stories come from, taken from their popular blog The Merry Sisters of Fate, from flesh-eating faeries and demons in love, to unearthly magicians and alternate histories, to Andrew Karre at Carolrhoda Lab, for publication in Spring 2012, by Laura Rennert at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency for Stiefvater and Gratton, and Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency for Yovanoff (World English).

(I assume this is the one you mentioned that was done through several agencies.)

Jeyn Roberts's THE DARK INSIDE, pitched as THE ROAD meets 28 DAYS LATER, in which four teenagers must travel different roads to find safety and each other, after earthquakes trigger the emergence of murderous 'Baggers', ordinary people turned crazy killers, in a world descended into apocalyptic chaos, to David Gale and Justin Chanda at Simon & Schuster Children's, in a significant deal, for two books, at auction, for publication in Spring 2012, by Sarah Davies and to Ruth Alltimes at Macmillan UK Children's, in a two-book deal, for publication in Spring 2012, by Julia Churchill at the Greenhouse Literary Agency.

(YA. This is an AW author.)

Elissa Hoole's KISS THE MORNING STAR, after her mother's tragic death, a girl sets out with her best friend on an epic road trip across the USA in the spirit of Kerouac's Dharma Bums - a journey of discovery both inward and outward, encompassing loss and lust, God and pot, and the tangled search for love and identity, to Melanie Kroupa at Marshall Cavendish, for publication in Spring 2012, by Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency (NA).

(YA. Another AW author.)

Megan Miranda's FRACTURE, in which a girl survives a fall through the ice into a Maine lake and subsequent brain injury, only to discover that she now has a strange and frightening affinity with the dying, to Emily Easton of Walker and Sarah Odedina of Bloomsbury UK, in a good deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in Winter 2012, by Sarah Davies of the Greenhouse Literary Agency (World English).

(YA.)

WHAT HAPPENED ON FOX STREET author Tricia Springstubb's PHOEBE AND DIGGER, in which a girl discovers how much she still needs the safety of family when she takes her new digger on an exciting adventure in the park, to Elizabeth Bicknell at Candlewick, for publication in Spring 2012, by Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency (World).

(Picture book.)

Amanda Cockrell's THE UNTIED CHURCH OF DOG, a girl falls for a young disabled veteran of the war in Afghanistan, only to discover that love alone isn't enough to make things right for someone else, to Brian Farrey at Flux, in a nice deal, for publication in Spring 2011, by Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency (NA).

(YA.)

Teresa Harris's SUMMER JACKSON: GROWN UP, about a six-year old who longs to be grown up, only to discover that being an adult isn't quite as much fun as she'd thought, to Katherine Tegen at Katherine Tegen Books, for publication in Summer 2011, by Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency (World English).

(Picture book.)

Winifred Conkling's SYLVIA AND AKI, based on the true story of two girls, one Hispanic and one Japanese, whose lives briefly intertwined during a landmark lawsuit in WWII, to Nicole Geiger at Tricycle Press, for publication in Summer 2011, by Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency (World).

(Middle grade.)

Sue Cowing's FALL GUY, in which a boy is forced to confront issues in his life when he discovers an old puppet in the trash and puts it on his hand, to Andrew Karre at Carolrhoda Books, for publication in Summer 2011, by Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency (NA).

(Middle grade.)

There are some publishers I'm not familiar with, but she's dealt with Hyperion, Macmillian, Razorbill, HarperCollins, Egmont, Flux, etc. etc. The list goes on.

I just googled Adrienne Kress and saw on her website that she's repped by Jessica Regel at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.

Wonderful. The edit method sounds good.

Good luck with your book getting a publisher! I will certainly query Sarah. I do think being able to keep in touch with your agent is important. I have read some stories on here that made me wonder! such as agents not getting back to them at all after signing of contracts... can you imagine!! after all this work we do and all the heart we put into our writing.

I just want an agent that loves my book, and wants to sell it to a good publisher who will handle it with some care.

Hey guys! Got google alerted to this (I'm Adrienne btw) which is funny as, you know, I'm here every day for a lot of my day (probably way more than is healthy) and had no idea I was being discussed.

Anyway, just wanted to clear up the representation thing for you all. I was repped by Julia Churchill by the UK agency Darley Anderson. Julia left, I was then repped by another agent. Then she left and they no longer had a children's book agent, so we parted ways and now I am repped by Jessica Regel. Complicated, I know.

In any event, Julia was the one who first offered representation to me, worked on ALEX with me and was just totally wonderful about it. I would HIGHLY recommend her. The only thing is I know she reps their UK branch, I'm not sure if she's involved with the USA side. But I do know she rocks, and that anyone who would hire her would then have to subsequently rock.

Anyway, hope this clears it all up!

(also I too loved the way my publisher handled my books, especially with the hiring of brilliant artist John Rocco to do the covers - though I'm pretty sure it was the foreign rights agent, not Julia, who had the connection to them. However, I really wouldn't worry about connections as Julia has plenty and I am sure Sarah must as well)

I think your books look amazing!! thank you for clearing that up. I had seen you on here but just couldn't find you!

Yes I think she is not so much involved in the USA side. But if there are international sales... I guess she kicks in there with finding a publisher.

Thanks so much!

And yeah, no problem. I know, my agent situation is a little confusing on the surface, but it makes perfect sense once explained. Again, may I reiterate how much Julia rocks?

I guess Sarah must rock too for them to get on so well. Birds of a feather and all that.

Was it hard to pick your new agent/company? Sounds stressful. So you did book two with Jessica Regel

Not really. But I was very lucky. I'd already met Jessica and she repped a friend of mine so I knew not only that she was a lovely person, but what a good agent she was in how she worked with my friend, so when I parted ways with the UK agency I sent her an email and she asked me to sub my stuff to her immediately.

My two published books were repped by the British agency - Jessica is working on selling 3 other ones at present. Here is the full story of my agency switch:

http://ididntchoosethis.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-have-new-agent.html

Toothpaste said:

Thanks so much!

And yeah, no problem. I know, my agent situation is a little confusing on the surface, but it makes perfect sense once explained. Again, may I reiterate how much Julia rocks?

Click to expand...

Julia ROCKS. You're absolutely right. She's my agent and she's amazing.

submitted to sarah 9/10. her twitter says she spent saturday working on submissions...i'm guessing i'm in the slush pile, or i would have likely heard something.

Anybody know current response times on queries for Sarah Davies?

Thanks!

I'm Jeyn Roberts (see above thread) and Julia's my agent (but I work with Sarah too)

They're both absolutely brilliant. The deals they've been getting me have been astonishing and I'm now a full-time writer thanks to them.

Annnnnnd form rejection. Oh, well...plenty of other fish in the sea.

Stats:

eQueried 9/28
Form Rejection - 10/4

^ For me, her form rejection has been the only one that has stung. It was kind of saying, your story sucks or your writing sucks or maybe its both, but thanks anyway.

Please, no offense to those signed with her. Just expressing opinion.

Had a very nice R from Sarah Davies within about a week of querying. She told me what she liked about my sample material but why she was passing. You can't ask for a kinder rejection than that.

I've had a few experiences submitting to Sarah Davies (she's actually considering a full of mine right now), she's been great; entirely professional, and very encouraging.

Queried: 12/7
Personalized request for full: 12/9
Personalized R with reasons for passing: 1/4

I really appreciated her taking the time to give me feedback on why she passed. Sounds like a top-notch agent. Good luck to everyone who submits to her!

just bumping up the Greenhouse Literary thread as I'm getting ready to query Sarah Davies. any experiences in the last couple months?

Hi there JoyMC. Queried Sarah Davies last month. Make sure you send the 10 pgs MS that she asks for with the query. I got an R because I forgot them.

She was very polite, and said that it sounded promising, but it just wasn't for her. Also was very prompt, like 7 days between submission and response.

Hi guys, hope everyone's fine and dandy - it's nearly evening time here in Japan
Just wondered if any one had any stuff with Julia Churchill at the moment, or just any experience? I'm a Brit about to move to the USA and I liked the the trans-Atlantic approach!

Sarah Davies seems like a dream to work with~ and Greenhouse is without question becoming one of the top-notch YA agencies.

Queried Sarah 4/18
Request for full 4/19
Pass (with limited feedback) 5/2

Good luck to those with queries out!

Sarah Davies has the distinction of being my first rejection (in fiction, anyway). At least she was quick about it.

Queried 5/14
Form Rejection ("certainly has merits, not for me") 5/20

Onward!

have a look at this, for more info: http://misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/2009/01/secret-agent-unveiled-sarah-davies.html