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[Agent] Artellus Limited

Momento Mori

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Brindle MacWuff:
MM - you were asking for that. Twincam is a newbie, so a wee bit of sympathy mixed in with helpful guidance would have been better than sticking the boot in.

Thank you for your opinion but I think I've been posting long enough on this Forum to know what I'm doing and how to handle newbies. Most of my response was aimed at seeking clarification of how the situation came about and I was asking those questions because it was difficult to follow all of what Twincam was saying. If you don't like how I do it, there's nothing to stop you from jumping in and offering the sympathy and helpful guidance that you're promoting.

Twincam's newbie status doesn't excuse some of the accusations being thrown about and as you will be aware from your time on this board, there are plenty of newbies who drive by, throw out all kinds of accusations and then flounce off. We call some of them trolls.

Brindle MacWuff:
Whatever your take on it, there is some bad behaviour from this agent. Not massively, but enough to really wind up Twincam.

With all due respect, it doesn't seem as though it takes a lot to wind up Twincam. S/he operates on a very short fuse and doesn't seem adverse to descending to mindless abuse.

My interpretation of Twincam's posts is that they went into this with a degree of naivete and some unrealistic expectations (which, TBH, a lot of new authors go through - especially if they haven't done a lot of research). I'm not saying that excuses some of Artellus's alleged behaviour (and in fact, you'll see where I say Artellus's behaviour is not good in my posts) but it certainly doesn't excuse Twincam's rantiness.

My opinion of Artellus is that it's strength lies in its backlist titles and I haven't seen anything to suggest they're out there at the moment getting big deals for new authors but someone might have information to the contrary.

MM
 
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paqart

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For what it's worth, I had a hard time making heads or tails of the comments in this thread. If I'm reading it right, Artellus once charged reading fees, which is a very bad thing. However, they don't do this now, and haven't for a few years at least, so this is a good thing. Whether it remains a bad thing because they did it before is something I cannot estimate, due to lack of experience in this field.

I see also that there is at least one disgruntled person here, but the way said disgruntlement is expressed leaves me somewhat nonplussed regarding the substance of associated claims contained in the body of those posts.

Of greater concern is that the majority of sales appear to be quite old, but again, this is not true of every sale, unless I'm getting too old to recognize the difference between old and new.

For what it's worth, here is my connection to this thread:

About a month ago, I sent a query for a YA fantasy novel to Artellus, but it was rejected. However, it was rejected in a nice way, with the suggestion that if I had something else later, in fiction or non-fiction, I should feel free to re-submit. Coincidentally, I had just that morning been thinking of dusting off an old NF proposal I had started to put together in 2005, but shelved when I took a job as a lecturer here in the Netherlands.

Because of this coincidence, and I love coincidences, I responded a week later with a short description of the project. The response from Artellus was positive, so then I looked them up on A/W and was disappointed to find some of the comments here. Naturally, it is always better to see posters praising the agent as a divine gift to authors, but surely every other agent isn't fundamentally flawed? If the comments here had been stronger, I would not have sent the proposal. As they are, I sent it, but with what might optimistically be described as curiosity. Artellus has some very prominent books on its list, making it hard for me to imagine them as being in the same class as an agent who funnels every would-be author to a print-on-demand site, or to a paid ghost writer.

We'll see how it goes, and I'll keep A/W updated.

AP
 

Nigel Gallimore

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Actually, yes, Artellus did used to charge a reading fee and I have to say that it was £40 well spent. If it hadn't been for Leslie's advice, I would never have managed to get The Milk of Paradise published or to reach the point I am at with my second novel, The Deadly Sting. I'm sorry to hear all the negative experiences people have had with her, but I suppose you have to 'take as you find.' Although I didn't like some of the things Leslie was telling me at the time, she was right and although, blunt and to the point in her critique, she has improved my writing immeasurably. So, I am one writer is indebted to her and before you ask, no she is not my agent. However, I will always be grateful for her advice, honesty and brutal critique of my work.
 

Cel_Fleur

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Any recent news about this agency from AWers?
 

Filigree

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I had a fast, professional, and personalized rejection from Leslie this morning, on the first three chapters of a fantasy mms. I had an unexpected small press offer while I was querying it. (Not normal procedure, and a comedy of errors on my part.) She asked for the sample as a Word. doc attachment via email, so no need for a paper copy.

She gave some advice I can definitely use. I might query her again with something more in her style.

More impressive to me, right now, is this difference between UK and US SFF agents: the UK folks seem to answer queries or nudges faster. With more useful personal perspective, instead of form letters or the dreaded usual no-response. I don't know if it's just cultural, or if they're not as inundated as US agents.
 

Shoeless

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More impressive to me, right now, is this difference between UK and US SFF agents: the UK folks seem to answer queries or nudges faster. With more useful personal perspective, instead of form letters or the dreaded usual no-response. I don't know if it's just cultural, or if they're not as inundated as US agents.

I think, to your credit, it might just be that the UK agents are responding more positively to your work in particular. The UK agents I queried didn't seem to respond any faster than American agents, and I think all I ever got from them were polite form rejections. But that was my experience.
 

writera

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Any updates about this agency? I can't seem to find much on QueryTracker.
 
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JaneD

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On their website it says they accept snail mail queries but if you want to send an e query to ask first. I do, so I did. That was nearly ten days ago. Not sure what to do now—send in a query anyway, or wait a bit longer for a reply?
 

waylander

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Any updates about this agency? I can't seem to find much on QueryTracker.
Querytracker is primarily good for US agents. Its coverage of UK agents is patchy.
 

Filigree

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Fingers crossed! Leslie was the only agent who, upon hearing I needed to withdraw the fantasy mms to take a small press offer, asked for an update when it's finally published. That may have been a throwaway line, but I thought it was classy.

(A direct contrast to an American agent who basically said, "Small press? I'd want to aim it at much bigger publishers, but I'm not certain I love it enough to put that much work into it.")
 
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Tench

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I queried Leslie Gardner some time ago with a novel and while she didn't feel it was right for her in the end, she made some good points and was friendly and approachable. I recently queried her about a crime novel (two days ago) and she asked me to send the first 3 chapters and that it will take her "a few weeks" as she's snowed under at the moment.
 

zmethos

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Received a really nice pass today:

"Many thanks - I enjoyed [manuscript title], and really found the voice engaging. But I don't think we'd be best placed to represent you as far as the YA genre goes. If you look for agents that handle YA more prominently, hopefully you'll find a home. It's a good bit of writing, and I'll keep an eye out for it in bookshops."

Fair enough, though I'm surprised they asked to read it then! Glad they like it, anyway.