• Guest please check The Index before starting a thread.

Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Representation

soulcascade

Bright lights induce scuttling
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
2,632
Reaction score
620
Location
Scuttled under a rock
Thanks so much for saying that anthony, that means more than I can tell you! It's difficult to get these form rejections and be left wondering if there's something you need to fix or if the agent just thought you sucked...
 

EgyptianGoddess

Working On Life
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 12, 2009
Messages
420
Reaction score
50
FYI: Joanna Stampfel rejected my query the same day I sent it. A very nice rejection, I might add. Discouraging, but she's definitely fast and seems very nice, from the way her letter was worded.


Do you mind sharing Joanna's email address? Thanks!:)
 

anthonyjcardieri

Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2009
Messages
22
Reaction score
1
Location
Staten Island, NY
Website
luckofthedrawstmartins.blogspot.com
To Soul and Egyptian. Did you receive any feedback on how to improve when they sent the rejection letter or was it just a form letter. Sometimes if they tell you how to imporve it or where it was weak, there might be an opening to resubmit. If not, then do what I did. Go to the bible, LiteraryMarketplace.com. I have mentioned this site here before and can't do it enough. Somewhere in that site you will find a match for what you have written. It may take some time to find it but there are thousands of agents and publishers to choose from. Do not give up. Getting discouraged is part of the game. Grisham had one hell of a time getting his first published. So did JK Rowling. Now they can write on toilet paper and have it go to number 1. Take either of your books and put Grisham's name on it and it is number 1 next week. You guys wrote books. You are way ahead of where most people are. The toughest part is writing it. The most annoying part is trying to get it published. Stay determined. And go to that site! Good luck. ANT
 

anthonyjcardieri

Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2009
Messages
22
Reaction score
1
Location
Staten Island, NY
Website
luckofthedrawstmartins.blogspot.com
Forget that last suggestion. I see now that Literary Marketplace charges an arm and a leg to browse their site. That is ridiculous. Better idea. I also did this. Call your local library and ask them which branch has the Literary Marketplace. You can go research right in that library. You can't take the book out though because it is a reference book and they will not allow it to leave the branch. Bring some change if you want to make copies of pages or bring a notebook like I did. I wrote down all the addresses I needed and sent my letters. Good luck again. ANT
 

F.F.

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 26, 2009
Messages
63
Reaction score
5
Location
Toronto
I have been reading voraciously through this thread from start to finish and it's a kind of strange and surreal experience following all of your e-lives for a year. Successes, failures, a slew of random gambling puns for titles.

"Assuming the killer once again used a razor sharp steel edged playing card to murder his victim..." Stated Jackson.

Special Agent Tim O'Conner briefly surveyed the body; cowboy boots, cheap gold plated belt buckle, and the ubiquitous ten gallon hat that seemed to bloom like cacti in the dry heat of the New Mexico desert all around them. The thin red line marking the wound clearly responsible for the now coagulating pool of blood beneath their feet stared prominently upward from the corpse's neck.

"Check the body Jackson, pockets first."

Jackson proceeds to turn out the man's pockets and comes up with two slightly crumpled playing cards featuring royalty. His face lights up with the youthful exuberance that only a rookie agent can muster at such a gruesome and telling find.

"Hey Tim, you think it's the same guy we've been chasing since Texas? You know, the playing card killer?"

"I'd say that's a bet with pretty good odds Jackson and it looks like we've been dealt a new hand." O'Conner pauses, lights up a smoke and takes one deep inhalation and fluidly breathes it out into the cool night air. "Pocket Cowboys."

Dunh, dunh, dunh... ;)

Anyways, I just received a request for my full YA Fantasy novel from Nancy Coffey today and was doing a little digging and felt like throwing in.

;)

F.F.
 
Last edited:

tbrosz

Got the hang of it, here
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Messages
285
Reaction score
24
Anyways, I just received a request for my full YA Fantasy novel from Nancy Coffey today and was doing a little digging and felt like throwing in.

;)

F.F.

Best of luck! You're in good hands. While I didn't end up working with them, I have never gotten as much useful feedback from anybody on my book as I got from Nancy's agency. It was obvious that they had read every single word.
 

F.F.

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 26, 2009
Messages
63
Reaction score
5
Location
Toronto
Currently the only full length novel I've finished writing is YA Fantasy. I tend to write within the confines of fantasy and science fiction and it usually ends up being a blend anyways. Think Frank Herbert's concepts and Neil Gaiman's exceptionally fluid mastery of the english language as my writing inspiration and aspiration.

However, I can see the fun in writing hard boiled detective novels or mysteries. The realism part might take a little more first hand experience to make it believable, but how can you beat being able to drop lines like- "The only thing hotter than the bullets in his chest was the dame in the red dress holding the smoking gun." - c'mon classic pulp.

The toughest part now is choosing only one of the 7 viable concepts running through my head to begin work on next. Standing at the precipice of that tumultuous gap and staring into the abyss, as it were. Figuring out if I want to once again attempt to write YA, YA/crossover or just go full tilt adult and then commiting a year of my life to sculpting characters and words like a junkie who's hooked on laptop.

I figure if there is any forum where others can relate it would be here. Completely off the thread's topic, I know, but still.

Perhaps I should just worry about selling this one first. ;)

F.F.
 

Blind Writer

YA/MG Author
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 2, 2008
Messages
5,222
Reaction score
430
Location
New York
Website
kodykeplinger.com
Joanna just requested my full! I emailed her yesterday morning with the partial and she replied with another request late last night!
 

stevewed

Aspiring Reader
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
Messages
62
Reaction score
6
Website
steveweddle.com
Congrats, Blindwriter. Maybe she requested late because she was up late, unable to stop reading your stuff.
 

anthonyjcardieri

Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2009
Messages
22
Reaction score
1
Location
Staten Island, NY
Website
luckofthedrawstmartins.blogspot.com
Way to go, Blind Writer! Let us all know how it goes. You must have something good going there for Joanna to request a full so soon after looking at your partial. At the very least, you know your idea works. You may have to tighten it up a bit but it works. That is major. Happy for you. ANT
 

anthonyjcardieri

Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2009
Messages
22
Reaction score
1
Location
Staten Island, NY
Website
luckofthedrawstmartins.blogspot.com
Hello to all who have been cooresponding with me here. Just wanted to let you guys know that Amazon.com has listed my book for pre-order yesterday. I didn't even know St Martins was putting it out there so soon when it is scheduled for December 8th release. It would've been nice if they let me know. I found out through a Google search of my name. Unbelievable, right? So, if any of you would like to read it, you can order it at Amazon at 8 bucks off the retail price. You just gotta wait till Dec to actually read it. Sorry. But thanks ahead of time for any of you kind enough to support me. ANT
Here is the link- http://www.amazon.com/dp/031256502X/?tag=absolutewritedm-20
 

Senora Verde

Teacher by day, YA writer by night
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
528
Reaction score
81
Location
College Station, TX
Hey, I must've gotten good karma from congratulating Blind Writer, because an hour later Joanna requested my partial.

The more I read online, the more excited I get. At least she seems very fast so there won't be too much time to get my hopes up too high.