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[Agency] John Hawkins & Associates, Inc.

rwam

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I sent her a query and she responded the same day, saying that she thought it a strong project but she did not have the editorial contacts for that type of book.

I think I got the exact same email rejection, with my name and book title substituted in there. But, hey, it was an hour after I emailed her, so at least it was quick!
 

JAG4584

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timely response and professional

She requested my proposal in a few days I had a nice rejection if there is such a thing.. very professional and timely for sure.
 

gettingby

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Just wondering if anyone here has had any luck with them recently. Also, how are they with response times? Thanks.
 

pclenott

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Anne Hawkins

I just received an offer from Ms. Hawkins today. We will be talking on Monday about representation. I originally sent her a introductory letter and synopsis. She asked for a partial and then the full. The process took less than a month. What happens now remains to be seen. I might add that I have one book published already, so this may have helped get my foot in the door with her.
 

Rob Brown

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I've never met Ann Hawkins but I've heard she's very professional. As far as pitching, having been pitched to at least 500 times, I find it exhausting for the agent and a perfect waste of time for for a writer who is trying to impress an agent with his or her writing. As was said above, you have no way to judge a person's ability to write. It is, however, a great tool to judge a writer's ability to market, as was also mentioned. Most agents don't like pitch sessions--but editors and producers do, so that, in itself should say something. One thing I do disagree with is the statement that marketing is the publisher's responsibility. Yes, if the writer is high enough on the publisher's list, then using a publicist to assist the author might help, however, book signings, newspaper ads, reviews, etc, marketing tool that most publishers have used for years, have been proven ineffective for most writers. So what works? Personality, the ability to pitch the product (books are products), intelligence and, yes even physical beauty are all assets that help when marketing a product. Thus the pitch. Writing, I'm afraid, has become secondary to the process and to make my point, I give you the hundreds of badly written books that have made best-seller's lists in recent years.
 

j.s.cutler

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My grandfather had a few books published with the original founder, Paul Reynolds, back in the 50s & 60s.

Of course was that enough to help me? Of course not. :)

But yes, I'd say they are quite legit.
 

MsGneiss

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pclennott - congratulations! It's fantastic to hear about the successes of other writers. I just queried Ms. Hawkins, and would absolutely love to follow in your footsteps.
 

MsGneiss

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I got a form rejection from Anne Hawkins about 12 minutes after my email. This is the second agent at this agency who turned me down in under 20 minutes.
 

Stlight

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thanks, because it wasn't just your posting, everywhere else I checked, and I googled, gave me the same thing.

S

got it and its an Adobe flash something I haven't figured out how to make work.
 

pclenott

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I'm sorry Sleepsheep got rejected so quickly. I have been in touch with other writers who are represented by Ms. Hawkins and others in the agency. All of them have good things to say about both. Having far more rejection slips than acceptances from agents, I can understand the frustration of authors trying to get representation. I think I just lucked out. A matter of timing. But I'll keep you posted. Ms. hawkins suggested holding off the marketing of my novel until the new year due to the economic wos of the country and the conservative approach publishers might take as a result. We are hoping the new year with the new president will turn things around.
 

Golani

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Anne Hawkins

has anyone dealt with her lately? any idea who her clients are? i can see that the agency has some impressive clients, but what about her personally? help!!!
 

Repunzel

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has anyone dealt with her lately? any idea who her clients are? i can see that the agency has some impressive clients, but what about her personally? help!!!

FWIW - About six months ago, I equeried Annie - got a very fast R. Because I wasn't getting many positive responses, I took a chance and emailed her back (usually a huge No, No that I normally respect), asking if it was my query letter or the concept that inspired the rejection.

Surprise: She emailed me with an answer.

She is definetly in the category I call "Professional Agents," those who respond to every query in a timely manner because they view those inquiries as a potential, and possibly lucrative, business opportunity. She is at the top of my list of agents to query for future projects.
 

EgyptianGoddess

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Hey all, I m new here, and I did some thread mining but did not see anything about this particular Agency. I was wondering if anyone has had any dealings with John Hawkins & Asssociates. Any info is appreciated. Thanks


I'm new to this particular forum as well. I have had an interesting experience with John Hawkins and I was wondering if anyone else has had this happen to them?

I sent him an email query on 1/23/09. He called my house the next morning at 9:30am and also sent me an email requesting my full manuscript! Talk about me being excited! (crime/detective novel, which will be a series). He was super nice. Told me to send and he would read that weekend and get back to me in a week, he liked the synopsis.

Something happened to the email and he didn't get it, I checked with him via email mid-week following our conversation....so I resent it. I waited a week, then called, they were very nice to me at his office. I was assured he had received it, they had printed it and he would be reading it and getting back to me very soon.

Today is 4/8/09 and I still have not talked to him since! I sent a very professional email asking for a response at the end of February (he did reply, saying "Hi, sorry for the delay, I will get back to you on Monday)...never heard from him, so I sent a reminder email after 3 weeks. I finally called again last week and they took my name/number/email address for a response (they said he wasn't in the office) and I still haven't heard a word from him.

Is this usual? I am so surprised, he didn't strike me as someone who would just not bother to answer or respond. Especially given that he not only emailed me asking for the manuscript, but also actually called me almost immediately upon receiving my query. He has a good reputation, I thought....so my question is WTH?

Of course, I won't contact again, just wait to see if I ever hear from him. I am really disappointed and kinda shocked, they have such a good reputation, and even a form rejection letter is better than this <shrug>
 
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EgyptianGoddess

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Just an update. He's still not contacted me in any form, and has had my full MS all this time. Isn't this ODD considering how it happened? Or is it just me? I mean, after CALLING me to ask to see the full ms, wth.

Has anyone else had something like this happen with them? I'd really love to know.

Really, I would appreciate any comments.......
 
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M.R.J. Le Blanc

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I'd keep querying other agents in the meantime. He may be busy, he may not be interested, he may be taking his sweet time reading it. Who knows. Agents have a million and one things they are trying to do, not responding to a full because he/she doesn't like it is rare, but it happens. Not saying this is the case here, but we don't know. Keep sending, keep writing. If he likes the story he will get back to you. If you get picked up by someone else before that, his loss.
 

EgyptianGoddess

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I'd keep querying other agents in the meantime. He may be busy, he may not be interested, he may be taking his sweet time reading it. Who knows. Agents have a million and one things they are trying to do, not responding to a full because he/she doesn't like it is rare, but it happens. Not saying this is the case here, but we don't know. Keep sending, keep writing. If he likes the story he will get back to you. If you get picked up by someone else before that, his loss.


Thanks so much for the response. I thought maybe I was being overly sensitive or something....it just so surprised and disappointed me.

I'm well into the next book, but have stopped to take a very careful look at the one I sent to him, and have done some small editing/tightening up. Once I'm done with that, I'll be sending out more queries. I have gone ahead and sent queries out, but have stopped for this re-read, small edits to make sure it's as good as I can make it.

Really, thank you again for the response, it's much appreciated.
 

White Ginger

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Several years ago I signed with Ann Hawkins to represent my first novel. After nearly a year of virtually no communication or updates on submissions, I fired her with a professional letter to John Hawkins, cc to Ms. Hawkins. No one from the agency ever acknowledged or responded to my letters, which I sent signature required and confirmed.

I ended up querying seven top editors and all asked for my manuscript within a day of my emails. They confirmed what I had feared; that Ms. Hawkins had never actually submitted my manuscript to them as promised. A lesson learned for me: to go with my gut feeling when meeting an agent.

Never had any interaction with the other agents there, except that Ms. Hawkins claimed that John also read my novel and LOVED it. Onward and upward as they say.
 
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EgyptianGoddess

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Several years ago I signed with Ann Hawkins to represent my first novel. After nearly a year of virtually no communication or updates on submissions, I fired her with a professional letter to John Hawkins, cc to Ms. Hawkins. No one from the agency ever acknowledged or responded to my letters, which I sent signature required and confirmed.

I ended up querying seven top editors and all asked for my manuscript within a day of my emails. They confirmed what I had feared; that Ms. Hawkins had never actually submitted my manuscript to them as promised. A lesson learned for me: to go with my gut feeling when meeting an agent. I remember feeling nauseous when I first met her in her smoke-filled office. She spent a good deal of time talking about her speaking engagements and seminars. My manuscript reeked so badly of cigarettes that I actually had to re-copy it in order to work on the changes she suggested.

Never had any interaction with the other agents there, except that Ms. Hawkins claimed that John also read my novel and LOVED it. Onward and upward as they say.


I am a firm believer that in things like this, things happen for a reason. I may not know the reasona the time, but it usually becomes clear later.

Thank you for your response, it's much appreciated.
 

SJWangsness

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William Reiss

Has anyone had dealings with William Reiss at John Hawkins? I was thinking about querying him, but some of the comments above about being forgotten by A.H. and J.H. give me pause. Thanx.
 

Deep Woods Writer

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FWIW, I just tried to query JHA's website to see their submission guidelines. Ran facefirst in to 404 or 403 or 505 responses. If someone's there, they are either not answering the phone or a sleep at the wheel. Either way, not good a good indicator of what they are suppossed to be doing.