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Connor Literary Agency

Mystic Blossom

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I have a manuscript with them right now, expecting a reply in a couple of weeks. I know very little about the agency except that they seem to have had legitamate sales, but I don't know any specifics about those sales or anything else. Does anyone know anything about this agency? Thanks.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Mystic Blossom

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The agent that showed interest was her sister, Deborah Coker. I have few doubts that they're legit, but I'm having trouble finding specific sales for either.
 

victoriastrauss

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I can only find three clients associated with this agency--Ronn Elmore, Steven Ivory, and Thelma Balfour--but all have books with large publishers and seem to be successful. I believe this is a small agency (less than 30 clients), with a focus on African American authors. Writer Beware has never received or seen any complaints.

- Victoria
 

eric11210

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Hi guys,

This agency is owned and run by the cousin of a friend of mine.

The agent there has agreed to look at my novel as a favor to my friend.

I'm not real concerned about them being a fraud, but I'd like to find out more about who they've published, etc. I can't find any information about them other than what is on their website, so I was hoping someone might have some more personal insight. She told me she doesn't do much MG fiction, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Just figured I'd ask for any info anyone has. . .

Thanks in advance.

Eric
 

giftedrhonda

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The fact that she says she doesn't do much MG would worry me--children's books require a whole different set of editor knowledge that some agents who specialize in adult may not have.

Other than that, I haven't heard anything about them. Do you have an agent name?
 

Mystic Blossom

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I have a full with them right now. They're taking their time, but so far, no red flags have been raised, and they seem like a nice, small agency. Would a mod like to merge this with my thread from a few months back, possibly?
 

De Lady

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Could you please tell me what "mg fiction" means? Many thank you's in advance.
 

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Thought I'd give the thread a bump and see if anyone has any more recent experiences with the Connor Agency. Like the people above, I've been able to find almost nothing about them. Good or bad.
 

Stanmiller

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According to QueryTracker,

Nichole Shields
Connor Literary Agency
1645 W. Ogden Avenue, Suite 309
Chicago, IL 60612

Agent is deceased. Posted Mar 22, 2010.
 

Drachen Jager

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I had a full request from Marlene Connor but no results yet. It's been on her desk for about a month now. Honestly from what I can glean about the company I'm thinking if I have the choice I won't go that way.
 

Drachen Jager

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I don't think it should be a problem for us Viktor, her obit has 1969-2009. Anything requested in 2010 should therefore have been requested by Marlene Connor and not Nicole.
 

Drachen Jager

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They've had my manuscript for almost four months now. I know that's not extraordinarily long but it is starting to get annoying.

How about you Viktor? Any word?
 

MadameApeFace

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Hmm...I don't doubt their legitimacy, but neither agent comes up on Agent Query or Query Tracker, and (unless I'm going crazy) they seem to have neither a physical address nor an email address listed on their web site. There's a form email page, but it appears to be for general questions, not query submissions.

When they do low profile, they do looooooooow profile.
 

paulcosca

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Maybe this is a petty thing, but do I really want an agent that doesn't have a website as good as mine, when I did the work on my own (and am definitely not a website designer)? If I'm going to take time and put forth a professional query...I kind of expect that same kind of polish coming back to me.
 

PVish

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This doesn't bode well on their webs.com website (bolding mine):

Editorial Services
The Connor Literary Agency is now offering editorial services.Writers have expressed their need for solid editing at various stages of the development of their work We have decided to begin offering editorial expertise in both nonfiction and fiction. This includes editing of full manuscripts or help in developing proposals and queries. We also will consult on creating a platform. Academic editorial services are also available for elementary and secondary textbooks in various subjects.
Feel free to contact for consultation and fees quotes.Editorial services do not automatically result in representation by the agency.

Hmmm. I wonder why they didn't put spaces between a few of their sentences above. An editor should notice that.
 

Stacia Kane

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Maybe this is a petty thing, but do I really want an agent that doesn't have a website as good as mine, when I did the work on my own (and am definitely not a website designer)? If I'm going to take time and put forth a professional query...I kind of expect that same kind of polish coming back to me.

Eh, my agent doesn't even have a website, and he's pretty professional and polished. Having a site doesn't make someone a good or effective agent; having a website has zero influence on an agent's ability to do his or her job. It's not like editors need to look them up (or they shouldn't, at least) and it's not like a Google search doesn't/wouldn't turn up plenty of information anyway about an agent with a proven track record.

Websites are nice, and of course you're free to use whatever criteria you wish--I'm not saying you're wrong in deciding what's important to you and what sort of image you're looking for/what sort of things you want your agent to think is important, too--but IMO sales and clients and professional behavior and reputation are a lot more important than a pretty website.