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Susan Yearwood Literary Agency / Newlit

gothicangel

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A friend asked me about this 'agent' so I did a google ans see she is 'not recommended' by P&E.

Could anyone give me anymore info?
 

gothicangel

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Yep that's what I saw.

I also tried to an amazon search and turns out the only publishing experience she has is as an editor for a series of self-published titles.
 

Bushdoctor

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i dont know. i queried her and she gave me an R. I dont think she is scamming
 

Bushdoctor

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You don't think she's scamming because she rejected you?

the point i am trying to make is that most scammers go for anything and are unselective. For example I recieved an offer from Barbara Bauer when i offered her a book called "The Found Symbol" which had the exact same synopsis as Dan Brown's book, including names and everything.

In the UK a number of agents offer literary consultancy services on the side and this is not considered a red flag as long as the two are kept apart
 

Eirin

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And the point I'm trying to make is the fact that she rejected you isn't really a valid criterion for judging the efficiency of an agent.

She might not be scamming, but neither does she appear to have credentials, experience, or a proven track record of sales to legitimate trade houses. That makes me wonder where the money is. And so we look to the editing side of the business.

If the agency is used to funnel writers to the editing side, then that is, at the very least, unethical.
 

DeadlyAccurate

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The line between a con artist agent and an honest but clueless, inexperienced one is very fine. And irrelevant to the writer. Neither one will get your book sold to a publisher.
 

Momento Mori

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The fact that the agency website gives details of 5 authors, none of whom have a book currently under offer, is a big clue that this agent probably can't make sales.

MM
 

gothicangel

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I also found out today a friend was luckily rejected from the agency [she's now sworn to do deeper research.]

I'll go further, I challenge her to explain what are her qualifications to judge what is 'good' or what to reject? None in my opinion.
 

shaldna

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Anyone had any dealing with this agency lately?
 

waylander

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Looking at their website they still have no sales listed.
Why would you want to know more?
 
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seun

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I got a rejection from Susan Yearwood this morning. It was all pretty standard - submitted, she requested the full MS after a partial and rejected about a month later. She suggested I try the larger agencies such as Curtis Brown.

Just a shame the larger agencies have been rejecting me for ages.
 

shaldna

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I got a rejection from her during the week. apparently my writing, not my book, not my idea, but my writing itself was unsuitable for her agency.

make of that what you will.
 

seun

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I got a rejection from her during the week. apparently my writing, not my book, not my idea, but my writing itself was unsuitable for her agency.

make of that what you will.

Sounds like that's her standard rejection. it's exactly what she said to me.
 

shaldna

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It's not a very nice or professional way of wording it. It makes it sound like your writing as a whole completely sucks rather than the book just not being right for them.
 

M.R.J. Le Blanc

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They appear to be a straight editing service now. They still have that short storie typo which they may want to fix, v. bad for an editing site. Also I'd like to see a list of anyone who went on to successfully publish as a result of their services.
 

MarloweCanning

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I got a partial request from susan a few days ago... she has made a sale by the looks of things, Kerry Young - PAO for a 5 figure sum.

I'll wait and see and post again when i get a reply.
 

Momento Mori

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MarloweCanning:
she has made a sale by the looks of things, Kerry Young - PAO for a 5 figure sum.

So her website says, but there's no detail as to who it's been sold to, which I'd expect to see.

In any event - 1 sale in almost a year out of 6 clients isn't a great track record.

MM
 

MarloweCanning

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Momento... I did a little research... it's been sold to Bloomsbury for a 5 figure deal, but yes, 1 sale, 1 year, 6 clients... hardly a confidence filler... but who knows.