Marianne Strong Literary Agency / Marianne Strong & Associates

I recently won the 5th GLA contest and was awarded a 10 page critic by Roseanne Wells. She sent me a rejection but with some details about what bothered her which I highly appreciated.

Roseanne Wells has had my partial for a few months now. She has been nothing but professional, enthusiastic and courteous thus far.

Not sure why I didn't chime in on this earlier (been busy, I guess).

I e-queried Roseanne Wells on 8/23 for my contemp YA novel and received a confirmation of receipt the same day.

She asked for a partial on 8/31 to be sent via email attachment. What impressed me about her request was that it was friendly and personalized. She'd even mentioned that she'd been reading my online book reviews (which I had not mentioned at all in the query).

On 9/17 she upgraded the partial to a full, eager to see what happens next in the story. So far she has been nothing but professional, has kept the lines of communication open, and has worked more quickly than the average agent.

In addition to the contest she was just involved in on the GLA blog, she is also going to be a guest speaker at WriteOnCon later this month, September 27.

allenparker said:

When it come to an agency agreement, shouldn't both parties have something to lose if there is never a sale?

Click to expand...

They do. The agent's capital is measured in time. If she undertakes representation of a book that doesn't sell, her time goes uncompensated.

That said, most of the agents I've known charge writers for expenses, but they take it out of the first money earned for the writer. If they don't sell the book, they eat those expenses.

Barbara

But... what about sales?

Lydia, thank you for some definitive information on M Strong agency. According to LinkedIn, Roseanne has been an agent there for about 16 months and her profile says she was a proofreader before that. In part, she says, "I am also actively expanding the agency's fiction list and looking out for strong literary fiction, YA, sci-fi (most subgenres included), fantasy, and mysteries (more Sherlock Holmes than cozy mysteries)."

My question is about the "actively expanding" part.

Roseanne appears enthusiastic (as is Diana) however can someone on these boards who has knowledge of / experience w/publishing talk about how likely it is, especially in this market, that these young agents can make a significant sale when Strong agency does not already have such connections established? I say the latter because they did not offer evidence of such in reply to a query (as suggested in Jenna's Sharks & Scams) and I have not found any in my research. I don't know how hard it is to move from non-fiction to fiction, but I wonder about being tied up for a year....

Thanks.

Update:

Got the R from Roseanne on 11/15, and she was generous enough to share specifics with me on what she felt still needed work. Highly appreciated.

Idea Tailor said:

My question is about the "actively expanding" part.

Roseanne appears enthusiastic (as is Diana) however can someone on these boards who has knowledge of / experience w/publishing talk about how likely it is, especially in this market, that these young agents can make a significant sale when Strong agency does not already have such connections established? I say the latter because they did not offer evidence of such in reply to a query (as suggested in Jenna's Sharks & Scams) and I have not found any in my research. I don't know how hard it is to move from non-fiction to fiction, but I wonder about being tied up for a year....

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Idea,

I don't know about the "actively expanding" part, but I was kind of confused where you say the Strong agency doesn't have connections established in the publishing industry.

On Preditors & Editors:

Marianne Strong Literary Agency: $ A literary agency.

I'm sure you already know that the $ sign means they've made sales, which means the agency already has connections.

As far as junior agents go (and I don't have specific info on this agency, sorry), from what I've learned on these boards, learning the ropes from the senior agents is how the junior agents get those connections.

Is that what you were looking for?

Nancy

Roseanne's on my list of agents to query, since there are precious few who are looking at epic fantasy right now. But until I see some really nice deals on PM from her, she's on the less-likely end of the list.

Filigree

Has anyone heard from Roseanne Wells lately? I haven't heard back from her on my manuscript. I wonder if she hated it so much that she threw it away. I've totally changed it since I submitted it (ages ago). Should I send the revised one? I'm not sure of protocol on this. Thanks!

Roseanne requested a partial from me a couple of weeks ago. We'll see how it goes.

Any updates? Got a request for a full.

So did I, same day as you, I2S. Considering this is the first full-request I've ever netted, and based off only the query and first ten-pages, I'm skeptical after reading through this thread. "Vanity agent"? That'd be a genius marketing strategy if it's the case.

Obviously, I hope it's not.

Lyx

Well, she's still active. She's judging a contest for QueryTracker.net, looking at YA manuscripts and providing critiques for the winners.

I considered entering, but was turned off by the Agency's website and by the fact that though Publisher's Marketplace shows evidence of two sales for Wells, they are both for non-fiction.

Any updates on M. Strong? I ask because she suggested she would like to represent my work after reading only the query. Seems a little too good to be true to me. Anyone else experience this?

If she wants to represent after only reading the query, that's sounds crazypants.

Is this for non-fiction? That would make more sense. (Though still be edging enough on too-good-to-be-true territory to send up warning flares, IMO.)

It's fiction. Even though I'm skeptical, I sent in my manuscript and I'll post an update if and when I hear again.

Update

I sent the requested materials to M. Strong and never heard another word. I emailed recently to inquire what was up and, again, silence.

Another Update

They actually finally got back to me with a very nice rejection. Katharine Tsamparlis wrote to say they'd been reorganizing and she also included some feedback with some pretty thoughtful comments.

Wondering about the latest here. I sent a query to Ms. Strong and got a partial request from "associate agent Colin Campbell." That would be Lord Colin Campbell I imagine based on the old press release posted above.

On PM I see he has 4 sales over the past few years (none in Fantasy which is my current WIP)...I've got a ton of other partials and few fulls out so I'm not sure what to do here. Thinking I will send it along and see what happens but I'm curious if anyone know anything about him or this agency lately?

Now I've got a full request from them. So many mixed feelings...I would really appreciate hearing about any experiences with these folks!