Folio Literary Management

At the risk of sounding harsh, a business is a business. If she says something on her website, I have the right to take it at face value. She said 2 day turnaround time. If this is no longer the case, then she should have her website statement changed. In any other kind of business, people are held to the promises they make; if they say glasses in one hour and you have to wait three, it's not the customer's problem, it's the vendor's for making that promise.

Anyway, I did send her a repeat e-mail. And I'm still waiting to hear from her. If I can get a response from Russ Galen before 7AM on a Monday morning after I queried on a Saturday night, then I think Erin should be able to drop me a line, too. Even a rejection at least means that my query was attended to.

But we aren't the consumer to an agent. The publisher is. The publisher buys her product (books). You are asking her if she would be so kind as to try to sell yours.
Yes, they need to be professional, courteous and timely, but you aren't buying something from her (using your example, eyeglasses). She doesn't have to give you a guarantee. LIke it or not, we are at their mercy if we want to get published by a big house.
Keep submitting. That is all you can do.

I understand she doesn't have to give me a guarantee. She can take my full manuscript and hang onto it for six years before writing a rejection if it suits her fancy. All I'm saying is that if she doesn't live up to her promises, then authors should be aware, and that in my opinion, this behavior is unprofessional.

And you're right about resubmitting. I'm definitely doing that.

Boomergirl, here: Preditors and Editors, Publishers Marketplace, and Agent Query. You're pontificating on an annoying aspect of this business. Query other agents and leave a column in your spreadsheet for "non-responsive".

If you want to complain, fine, but we're not the management. We're all in it with you. Next time you're querying, you'll see the checkmark in the "non-responsive" column and move on. Maybe she'll find her time freeing up...

Take your product elsewhere. She doesn't owe you anything until she's your agent.

Thanks, Scope.

Look, Boomergirl, I didn't mean to be harsh with you, so please know that I didn't mean anything by what I said.

Um, except what I said about you waiting. The middle/end of summer is always the busiest (besides christmas) for agents and it's hell waiting for agents who say that they'll reply within days and you end up waiting weeks. If you're lucky. If not, then you end up waiting months for a form rejection.

But getting published...well, a big part of it is the waiting game. It sucks, but that's how it works. Well, for as long as there will be more writers than agents. And I don't see agents outnumbering writers anytime soon.

So just wait. Maybe send a nice email, but on the flip side, some agents resent people who send in reminders. But if Ms. Niumata gets resentful, then, is she someone you want representing you?

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for a reply, any reply from Ms. Vater. 4 weeks and counting...eek.

Boomergirl said:

I e-queried Erin Niumata around July 10th. According to her profile on the Folio website, she said she responded within 2 days on average for e-queries and if she hadn't responded after that to resend the original query. I waited around three weeks and resent on July 30th. It's now a week since I sent in my resent query and still haven't heard a word from her. I'm sorry to say that I'm not at all impressed by her professionalism. If she said that she didn't respond to projects she passed on, I'd dislike it but at least forewarned is forewarned. To say that you respond promptly and then to leave people hanging is just plain rude.

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Boomergirl,

Since I'm familiar with Folio I kind of thought there was something off with your first post here re no response to your query in the 2 day "specified." I just looked at their site here's what Erin says:

My response time

"I usually reply to email queries in a couple of days. I typically respond to snail mail queries within a couple of weeks.

If you send me a query and I haven't responded, please resend it, using the same mean that you initially made contact. Include a copy of your original query.

If I've requested material from you, I typically respond within a couple of weeks for partials or nonfiction proposals, and 3-5 weeks for full manuscripts. If you haven't heard from me within the expected time frame, please send an email and we'll sort out things."

Sounds pretty reasonable to me. Did you ever think that she may not be in the office right now? If that's so, I realize that you would like her and all other agents to adjust their online guidelines whenever something comes up, business or personal, but you do realize that's not going to happen. And what do you suggest they do about their guidelines in print?

Worldcon and RWA back to back to back to back, and well, you get the idea. I would've been surprised if boomergirl did get a response, to be wholly honest.

FionnJameson said:

Worldcon and RWA back to back to back to back, and well, you get the idea. I would've been surprised if boomergirl did get a response, to be wholly honest.

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And don't forget Comiccon. Comiccon ended Sunday: RWA started Tuesday. Agents in Cali for one may have hit the other, too.

Just equeried Paige Wheeler. Anybody have any recent interaction with her...?

Leukman said:

Just equeried Paige Wheeler. Anybody have any recent interaction with her...?

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I queried her on the 6 and got a partial request on the 22. So . . . I'm in wait mode. Which is a lot like every other mode in these parts.

Adam Hammonds said:

I queried her on the 6 and got a partial request on the 22. So . . . I'm in wait mode. Which is a lot like every other mode in these parts.

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I just heard back - she's requested a partial! yahoo! And...she said my project sounded INTRIGING...!!

*****OOOOhhhh, I REALY like that word!!!

She also asked for a synopsis and credits, which were in my equery already so it makes me wonder if her response was some kind of template...AND, the topper - she asked me to indicate if it would be exclusive (which I of course interpret as her interest in having it exclusively, and as a positive).

So, I may be embellishing...

Either way, it was kinda fun being able to say "Unfortunately, I can not offer exclusivity, as the manuscript is currently with three other agents..."

Fingers crossed (and chewing on toes).

Leukman said:

I just heard back - she's requested a partial! yahoo! And...she said my project sounded INTRIGING...!!

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Nice. Here's hoping she's into gift-giving during the holiday season.

My only experience with Folio was a query to Laney Becker, who responded that my project was not her type of thing. But she forwarded it to a colleague who might be interested.

That was nice of her, I thought.

BTW, it says this on Erin Niumata's profile on the website:

I AM NOT TAKING ANY NEW SUBMISSIONS UNTIL JANUARY 2009.

queried Rachel Vater on Oct. 11
very nice, personalized rejection on Oct. 14

It was one of those rejections that actually make you feel good. Go figure.

Anyone else out there that has experience with Laney Becker?

toodley-doo said:

Anyone else out there that has experience with Laney Becker?

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A one-day rejection to my query about 2 months ago.

Thanks Blueridge. From her bio, it seemed like she was quick to respond. Still haven't heard anything... perhaps after the holiday weekend.

Congrats on the request! Got a two-week form rejection from Paige Wheeler to my e-query but my timing was terrible--right before Black Wednesday. (Her client list is full, blah blah blah) She seems to want romance so not a surprise. I may try another agent there later who doesn't specialize in romance...any thoughts on submitting to two diff agents at Folio?
Luckily my dream agent still has my full (6 weeks) so fingers crossed!


UPDATE: Got a request for a full from my preferred Folio agent after sending the requested two pages---yay! Her reply took a while and my ms. is out w/ other agents so we'll see what happens. Sometimes it pays off when you don't follow all the rules...LOL

IMO, if Paige (a founding partner of Folio) found your query of interest, I imagine she would have passed it along to the proper agent. I know that the agents at Folio do discuss works of interest are amongst themselves.

I submitted my query letter to Rachel Vater on the 22nd.
Haven't heard anything yet, but considering the holidays, I'm not expecting a reply anytime soon!
I check my email about ten times a day though... just in case.

She seems like the perfect agent for me though. I found her on agentquery.com about a month ago and ever since, I've been rooting for her.

Though, she seems like the perfect agent for a lot of writers out there!

Ah, more power to her. She's great.

Good luck!
Re: " IMO, if Paige (a founding partner of Folio) found your query of interest, I imagine she would have passed it along to the proper agent. I know that the agents at Folio do discuss works of interest are amongst themselves."

What's weird is that my novel seems to be EXACTLY what the other agent wants, according to her profile on the website...but she wasn't accepting new mss. then, so what gives? Think I'll pass anyway, since my full ms. is still under consideration elsewhere...Too many good agents out there to worry about one or two!

Wow! That's great though that your mss is being considered.

I'm sure a lot of us would love to be at least in your place right now!

kathleen_grant said:

I submitted my query letter to Rachel Vater on the 22nd.
Haven't heard anything yet, but considering the holidays, I'm not expecting a reply anytime soon!
I check my email about ten times a day though... just in case.

She seems like the perfect agent for me though. I found her on agentquery.com about a month ago and ever since, I've been rooting for her

Though, she seems like the perfect agent for a lot of
Ah, more power to her. She's great.

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Kathleen,

You sent out a query letter 4 days ago--with Xmas in between--and you expect an answer any moment? As much as I hope you get a reply instantly, I don't think you should hold your breath. Whatever Rachel's guideline say, it could be several months before and if you hear from her. IMO you should be spending this time querying a whole bunch of agents. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Oh I know.

I'm just saying she's the agent I'm going for right now. Besides, I've been thinking of sending a query to Kristen Nelson too.

I'm definitely in no rush, I'm just excited about my book is all!