Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Representation

[tbrosz]

I heard back from Nancy in an e-mail on Feb. 11th. She was very encouraging about the book itself, but said it was way too long (it is pretty long). She expressed an interest in looking at it again after some cuts. I've been working on that, and we'll see if I can cut it down far enough or not. If nothing else, the cuts I am making are improving the manuscript IMO.

More when something new develops.

April, 2008: Cut about 30,000 words, and she offered to take another look at it.

[tbrosz]

An update on my experience with Nancy Coffey:

I sent in the rewrite, and she went to the effort of actually marking up the entire manuscript and sent it back. The comments showed a lot of insight--she caught many things I and everyone else who had read my manuscript missed--but her suggestions also involved a major restructuring of the novel in order to help make it more marketable to the target readers. The changes were based on her extensive experience, and I have no doubt that they would have made it easier to sell my book.

But in the end, I decided on my own that the changes moved too far away from my own theme for the book, and we ended up not working together.

She was extraordinarily patient with me, and put a lot of work into my manuscript. Those suggestions that I did incorporate into my manuscript undoubtedly made it a better book.

Even though I did not end up working with Nancy Coffey, I would have no hesitation in recommending her to other authors.

[marie2]

She was incredibly professional in our correspondence. She responds really fast to queries (got an e-mail requesting my full on Apr. 25 after I sent the query on Apr. 17) but unfortunately it was a pass for her. Form letter in the mail after having my full for two weeks. Sad ;_;

[cjoy66]

Originally Posted by tbrosz

I heard back from Nancy in an e-mail on Feb. 11th. She was very encouraging about the book itself, but said it was way too long (it is pretty long). She expressed an interest in looking at it again after some cuts. I've been working on that, and we'll see if I can cut it down far enough or not. If nothing else, the cuts I am making are improving the manuscript IMO.

More when something new develops.

April, 2008: Cut about 30,000 words, and she offered to take another look at it.

How long is long, exactly, in word count? I have a feeling that I will be walking down the same road... just got a generic manuscript request from Ms. Coffey and my book is pretty wordy...

Thanks,
CJ

[tbrosz]

Originally Posted by cjoy66

How long is long, exactly, in word count? I have a feeling that I will be walking down the same road... just got a generic manuscript request from Ms. Coffey and my book is pretty wordy...

Thanks,
CJ

When I queried her my book was over 200,000 words long. She still asked for the full, and her first response to me after reading it was to cut it back by 75,000 to 80,000 words. I managed to shave about 30,000 off, but it wasn't enough. I've since pulled it down to about 162,000.

This kind of length--it works out to about a 500 page book formatted in 12 point Garamond--is a very tough sell for many agents, not just Ms. Coffey. I suspect most of the many rejections I've gotten at the query level involved a reader looking at my word count and simply tossing it in the "out" basket.

An ideal length for a first novel, all else being equal, seems to be in the 80,000 word range from what people have told me. I can't cut mine that far, but if you can manage it, it will help a first sale.

You might get away with a bit more. 80,000 words subtracted from 200,000 (Coffey's suggestion) leaves a book that's 120,000 words long, so maybe you could consider that a possible rule of thumb for upper limits.

[funidream]

I'd say 80,000 is on the low end of the word count spectrum - word count expectations can fluctuate depending on genre - fantasy and historical fiction are given a little leeway to account for world-building required.

I cut my 150,000 manuscript to 125,000 before I even began querying. Nancy sold it as such. I just received my first finished copy of the book from my editor last week (all typeset and so pretty!) and it is a 417 page trade paperback. I am working on completing my second manuscript for publication, and so far, not a single person has asked me about the word count.

By my experience as a debut novelist, I think it is wise to try and fit to the standard in order to get your foot in the publication door. Although there always are exceptions to the rule (THE HISTORIAN for example) there are limits to the investment a publisher is willing to make in production costs as far as an unknown, untested author is concerned. Good agents know the limits.

[LizPage]

Hey guys,

Anyone have any recent sales, besides yours of course. Congratulations by the way.

She has a publishers marketplace listing but I can't get to it, of course. I should probably get one of those subscriptions someday soon...

Thanks!

[Erin]

Originally Posted by LizPage

Hey guys,

Anyone have any recent sales, besides yours of course. Congratulations by the way.

She has a publishers marketplace listing but I can't get to it, of course. I should probably get one of those subscriptions someday soon...

Thanks!

She had 3 sales on PM in the last month. They were the first in 2008 listed for her. I'm tracking her because she has a requested full of mine.

1) Young adult 3 book deal; 2) a debut romance; 3) 2 sequels to a current author's historicals.

[LizPage]

Thanks Erin!
She has one of mine too that we've been discussing some edits on through email.
Her assistant, Joanna, also works for FinePrint where she is now looking to build her own client list for and all her correspondence with me has been very professional and helpful, she's a great woman.

Fingers crossed for you Erin!

[ThatMovieAnnouncerGuy]

As of next week, Joanna is a full-time agent for Nancy.

[LizPage]

Thanks MovieAnnouncerGuy! Great for Joanna, she's lucky to have such great houses backing her.

[victoriastrauss]

Just to note, this agency's contract includes some nonstandard aspects, including an interminable agency clause and a 30% commission on foreign rights sales. The contract itself cannot be terminated by the client if the agency makes a sale.

For a full discussion of why interminable agency clauses are not a good thing, see this blog post at Writer Beware.

- Victoria

[ThatMovieAnnouncerGuy]

That's just great. Mine is on the way. Victoria, is there some way I can run this by someone once I get it? I don't know if you guys have time for that sort of thing, but if you could point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

[Erin]

Originally Posted by ThatMovieAnnouncerGuy

As of next week, Joanna is a full-time agent for Nancy.

I wondered about that when I saw the 2 of them listed as selling agents on one of her PM listings. I figured both Nancy and Fineprint share offices since they have the same address.

Lizpage...fingers crossed for you, too!

Thanks for the tip, Victoria. Those are some non-standard items...very interesting.

[victoriastrauss]

MovieAnnouncerGuy, I've PM'd you.

- Victoria

[ThatMovieAnnouncerGuy]

Thanks, Victoria.

[emandem]

I just read on QueryTracker that Joanna Stampfel (previously with FinePrint) has changed over to Nancy Coffey Literary. JMO--I think anyone would be privileged to have her as an agent.

I posted before about being down after receiving her reject to my partial in an unsealed envelope (that maybe the postman messed with) b/c the letter fell out on the floor and my kid actually "received" my reject before me!! (haha)---but on QueryTracker Joanna took the time to comment on my post and apologized-- said she doesn't usu. do that--was in a hurry after just getting back from her honeymoon, etc.

For her to take the time to apologize to a writer whom she doesn't even represent demonstrated a real testament to her character, I think. She was also very prompt in her communications concerning my submission, so good luck to everyone else!! Too bad I wasn't as lucky...

[victoriastrauss]

Just to follow up on my post about the interminable agency clause, above--as a result of author questions about the clause, the agency may have eliminated it from their contract. They are at least willing to negotiate it out for clients who make a strong case for this.

- Victoria

[Colleen Lindsay]

Originally Posted by victoriastrauss

Just to note, this agency's contract includes some nonstandard aspects, including an interminable agency clause and a 30% commission on foreign rights sales. The contract itself cannot be terminated by the client if the agency makes a sale.

For a full discussion of why interminable agency clauses are not a good thing, see this blog post at Writer Beware.

- Victoria

This is actually an incorrect understanding of that contract clause, and it's causing undo confusion with authors. The agency's representation of the book ends when the book goes out of print or the rights are reverted to the author.

Nancy Coffey is one of the best - and most highly-respected - agents in the business. She pretty much single-handedly created the modern romance market. She worked as an editor at Avon Books, Ballantine, Berkley and St. Martin's Press. She also discovered and edited, among others, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Rosemary Rogers, Bertrice Small, Johanna Lindsey, LaVyrle Spencer and worked with, among others, Rosamund Pilcher, Joan Mendlicott and Thea Devine.

Any new author would be in very good hands with Nancy.

Best,

Colleen Lindsay
FinePrint Literary Management

[victoriastrauss]

The original clause in the Coffey author-agent agreement extended the agreement for the life of copyright or the income-producing duration of the work, whichever was longer, if the work was sold, and was irrevocable. My interpretation is consistent with that of the Authors' Guild, which issued an alert about such language a couple of years ago.

I wasn't attempting to impugn the reputation or skill of this agency, which is substantial. I was just alerting AW members to potentially undesirable language in the contract--which, as I noted in my followup message, now appears to have been removed, as a result of questions from clients (which I think is indirect confirmation of the fact that this kind of language isn't desirable for authors or agencies).

- Victoria

[Red.Ink.Rain]

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.

[funidream]

[QUOTE=

Any new author would be in very good hands with Nancy.

[/QUOTE]

Hear, hear!! Very good hands, indeed!

Nancy has recently negotiated another 2-book deal for me. Since signing with her agency in 2007, she has brought me from the obscurity of an uncredentialed, unpublished writer, to an author with 1 book published in 2008, 1 book soon-to-be-published in April 2009, and 2 more books under contract for publication in 2010 and 2011.

I now have the writing career I dreamed of, and I have Nancy's eye, know-how, and true devotion to her authors to thank for it. I can't say enough good things about this woman. She is fabulous - a publishing professional extraordinaire!

[Julie Worth]

Originally Posted by Red.Ink.Rain

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.

And she has excellent reading comprehension. I've run into quite a few agents who don't. Editors too.

[karo.ambrose]

I queried Joanna last week, and she responded promptly with a rejection. She said how she liked my sample I provided, but she couldn't connect with Pap.

I scratched my head for a second, because I don't have a Pap in my story--nor did I submit a sample. So, I sent her another letter, in case she mistook my query for somebody else's, and sure enough that was the case.

She apologized for the confusion, and then asked for a partial.

Here's hoping for the best.

[Julie Worth]

Originally Posted by karo.ambrose

So, I sent her another letter, in case she mistook my query for somebody else's, and sure enough that was the case.

Haha! So maybe I was wrong.