[Agency] Writers House

donroc · Jun 29, 2007

wRITERS hOUSE

I mailed a query today.

Roger J Carlson · Jun 29, 2007

reenkam said:
Does anyone know of an instance when he didn't answer to show he wasn't interested? That way I'd know I could query someone else at Writers House...or something...

You should not query anyone else at Writers House until you actually hear back from Dan. Dan gave a talk at a conference I attended. WH is fine with serial submissions to different agents there, but do not submit simultaneously to multiple WH agents.

reenkam · Jun 29, 2007

Roger J Carlson said:
You should not query anyone else at Writers House until you actually hear back from Dan. Dan gave a talk at a conference I attended. WH is fine with serial submissions to different agents there, but do not submit simultaneously to multiple WH agents.

Yeah, that's exactly what I don't want to do. I guess I'll wait the two months and if I haven't heard I'll send a quick email asking.

I'm probably looking into this way too much. Maybe the whole story idea was so terrible he couldn't even bare to see a form.... :scared:

Sparkle · Jul 2, 2007

Hi,

I had response from Writers House stating my work had merit, but was not for the agent at this time. She urged me to seek another opinion if I had not already done so.

Rejection, but hope!

p.s. an editor has me sending her the book.

Time will tell.

Sparkle

katrina_wooooo · Jul 5, 2007

Maprilynne said:
Katrina,

The reason no one is answering your question is that it is a personal thing. No one can say, "Oh, send it to Dan Lazar/Maya/Jodi!" because they haven't read the book and they don't know you.

That being said, here is some info on each agent.

Jodi is probably the biggest YA agent at WH, but because of that, she's not really building her list right now, she has stopped taking e-queries, and she has quite a long response time. She has several superstars (The Twilight series--as you mentioned--being the biggest) and takes on very few new clients. Like many uber-agents, she gets a lot of her new clients from referrals (though Stephenie got her through the traditional query method--it does happen!) In the spirit of full disclosure, Jodi is my agent and Stephenie is one of my best friends--so I'm biased.

Maya does have a focus on YA and is building her client list. She's not huge and famous yet, but with the WH name behind her, she would be a sure-fire thing no matter what. She is known for being extremely friendly and fast. Also, she was Al Zuckerman's assistant for, I believe, two years before taking on her own client list. She accepts e-queries and has a fast response time.

Dan is know for being fabulous and very friendly, but you have to have just the right project for him because he has very eclectic tastes. He sells some really, really awesome stuff and just moved up to the title agent instead of junior agent. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I thought I read that somewhere just recently.) He is also building his client list, though not quite as much as Maya. He also takes e-queries and is know for a very fast response time. (Did anyone see that he just sold a project for Smart B%^&ches?!?!)

Al Zuckerman takes on projects he likes because he certainly doesn't have to look for clients anymore. That being said, he is also the president of Writers House and I assume he has many administrative duties along with bing an agent. I don't know a ton about him because he doesn't rep my genre.

So there you go, some info on each agent. Beyond that, you really just need to make the decision yourself.

Well, I'm back, and thank you very much for all that info. I just needed a bit more personal info on everybody (since their websites don't really say all that much...) and you gave exactly that.

Thanks again.

PS. Stephenie is absolutely amazing! I absolutely adore her work and she seems like such a down-to-earth person. My role-model in the world of writing.

reenkam · Jul 5, 2007

katrina_wooooo said:
PS. Stephenie is absolutely amazing! I absolutely adore her work and she seems like such a down-to-earth person. My role-model in the world of writing.

Stephenie is amazing...I just read both Twilight and New Moon in five days between class, work, and a holiday. August 7 won't come soon enough, basically...

Question, too: Does anyone know what the unclickable names are? Does that mean they're not accepting any kind of query at all? Or that they don't work there anymore? Or just that they don't accept anything electronic? Or maybe it means nothing and I'm looking into it for no reason...

RLB · Jul 5, 2007

I think the unclickable names mean they don't have websites on Publisher's Marketplace. A lot of them are still open to queries though, according to Agentquery.

reenkam · Jul 5, 2007

Wow...thanks RLB

I'll start searching their names...though Dan hasn't written back...I'm thinking he never got the email.

RLB · Jul 5, 2007

Yeah, that is strange about Dan. The two times I've queried him, he's been lightening fast- once with a rejection and once with a partial request (which ended up being another rejection after a couple of weeks- but it was a great two weeks of optimism!). I would still wait a while though, in case he's just completely swamped, before resending.

Hillary · Jul 25, 2007

I just thought I'd pop in to say Writer's House is fantastic. Steven Malk is my mother's agent, and he's the reason my mother will make enough money to pay off my college loans for me. Absolutely amazing agent in an amazing agency. He earns EVERY LAST CENT of his percentage. And then some.

Soccer Mom · Jul 26, 2007

Dan is very prompt in his replies. If you still haven't heard from him, resubmit.

reenkam · Jul 26, 2007

Still haven't heard, so I guess I'll send again later tonight.

Interestingly enough, I changed the first part of my story and I think it's much better now...and since you send the first couple pages, maybe it was fate that he never saw the first email...

*crosses fingers and hopes*

reenkam · Jul 26, 2007

Also, does anyone know if Dan likes "edgy"?? Or does anyone know how I could find out. I've checked his PM page and over at agentquery, but I'm not sure.

I'm asking because I have two projects and I have no idea which I should send. One's a lot edgier than the other, but agents have told me it was too edgy.

I guess I could always send one and then the other, if he query rejects...

katrina_wooooo · Jul 26, 2007

I couldn't find anything that says Dan likes edgy, but I could have sworn that he does. Gah, now I'm going to go insane trying to find where he said it. Maybe somebody else will have better luck with finding that..

Good luck with the query, BTW. Popular by Association or something else?

reenkam · Jul 26, 2007

katrina_wooooo said:
I couldn't find anything that says Dan likes edgy, but I could have sworn that he does. Gah, now I'm going to go insane trying to find where he said it. Maybe somebody else will have better luck with finding that..

Good luck with the query, BTW. Popular by Association or something else?

Yeah, I thought I saw it, too, but I can't find it anywhere.

It's between PbA and Sugar Hype...Sugar Hype's got drug use, though. I don't know how he feels about that.

wayndom · Jul 27, 2007

smallthunder said:
G'day --

Just wanted to post an update regarding my situation -- if you read the beginning of this thread, you'll see that I replied to a request for an exclusive reading of a partial by offering future exclusivity (not retroactive) & asked Maya to e-mail me ASAP to let me know if this would be OK ...
And the answer is ...
...
?
In other words: No reply yet, although I believe that my package has surely reached its destination by now.

I still don't know if I did the "write" (heh-heh) thing -- was I really expected to tell other agents not to continue reading my partial? In any case, I'm glad I haven't been sitting on my hands waiting for that e-mail yes/no, because another agent (a notoriously slow-responder) did get back to me in the meantime with a request for chapters.

Personally, if I were in your situation (and wanting Zuckerman to represent my work as much as I do), I would've written back expaining that X number of agents have the work, but that I won't sign with any of them, or send the work to any additional agents, until I hear from Zuckerman first (thus giving him "first refusal" rights, ala a publisher).

And I would GLADLY put other agents on hold for the chance to get Zuckerman. He's not just a terrific deal-maker, he's also a super-pro at helping talented authors craft bestsellers (as Ken Follett makes clear in his intro to Zuckerman's excellent Writing the Blockbuster Novel).

Now if you'll pardon me, I seem to have developed an irresistible urge for peanut butter and jelly...

SnowyWhite · Aug 8, 2007

Does anyone know anything about Robin Rue or her assistant Beth Miller?

reenkam · Aug 8, 2007

How about Rebecca Sherman?

bethany · Aug 8, 2007

I don't have anything on Rebecca Sherman, but I do have a blurb Maya sent me about what she likes, let me scrounge around through my email... okay this is from Maya Rock

I’m actively looking for new clients particularly those who do upper YA. I am drawn to historical and fantasy but am equally drawn to really good books in contemporary settings. I like female protagonists and am also attracted to situations of alienation. I want work that’s fun and completely original. I love to work with my clients to make their manuscripts stronger. You can email me at [email protected] -- include a query letter and a one page synopsis.
Hope somebody out there finds this helpful!

Harper K · Aug 9, 2007

Rebecca Sherman

I recalled that Cynthia Leitch Smith, on her "Cynsations" blog, did an interview with Rebecca Sherman fairly recently. I dug the link up with some Googling:

http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2007/05/novel-secrets-series-interview-with_24.html

She seems to be best known for representing picture book authors and illustrators, but she's open to MG and YA queries as well. From the interview, she sounds really amazing in terms of how much she and the agency work with authors to make their manuscripts the very best they can be. I plan to query her with my YA novel, though I feel a little weird about it, considering one of my main characters is named... Rebecca Sherman (named many years before I knew what a literary agent was).

bethany · Aug 9, 2007

Yeah, I don't know if all the agents at WH are this hands on, but I'm convinced that Maya had my manuscript memorized before she sent it out.

There were some interviews with Rebecca Sherman and Steven Malk over at Verla Kay's, but I can't for the life of me find them, and Satori's more recent interview is probably better.

reenkam · Aug 9, 2007

Thanks bethany & satori!

mysterygrl · Aug 9, 2007

reenkam said:
Also, does anyone know if Dan likes "edgy"?? Or does anyone know how I could find out. I've checked his PM page and over at agentquery, but I'm not sure.

Dan requested my full ms, then sent a very kind rejection email, explaining that he preferred edgier/darker work. My mystery novel isn't a cozy, but it's definitely on the lighter end of the spectrum. Hope this helps.

reenkam · Aug 9, 2007

mysterygrl said:
Dan requested my full ms, then sent a very kind rejection email, explaining that he preferred edgier/darker work. My mystery novel isn't a cozy, but it's definitely on the lighter end of the spectrum. Hope this helps.

Thanks! I sent him something that wasn't very edgy at all and he query rejected. I guess I'll query about the edgy work, after I hear back from Rebecca Sherman.

This querying stuff requires a section of my brain just to keep things straight!

janetbellinger · Aug 9, 2007

My heart skips a beat every time I see WH mentioned. They rejected me but I am like a rock star fan of that place.

[Agency] Writers House

Historicals and Horror rule

Moderator In Name Only

aka cupcake

aka cupcake

bundled

aka cupcake

bundled

Neural Trailblazer

Crypto-fascist

aka cupcake

aka cupcake

aka cupcake

SnowyWhite

aka cupcake

:)

here's to the girl on the go

:)

aka cupcake

aka cupcake