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Gold Dust Literary Agency

bibliophyl

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Does anyone have any info/experience with this new agency?

 

mrsmig

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Hmm...the website itself looks fairly amateurish, with pop-up ads on nearly every page.

The agency was founded in February 2021, although its sister company, Gold Dust Editing & Book Reviewing, has been around since 2015. The companies' principal, LiVatia "Gwyn" Jordan, is upfront about the fact that her experience in the publishing trade is limited to freelance editing and book reviewing. If you've been a client of her editing business, she won't represent you as a literary agent. Refreshing to see that someone recognizes that's a conflict of interest.

What I'm not seeing on her short list of author clients are any sales. Granted, the agency is less than a year old, but absent a sales track record, or at least experience working at a literary agency, it's impossible to know if Ms. Jordan would be an effective agent. The authors she represents are either debut novelists, or previously published by companies that accept unagented submissions and have questionable business practices (e.g. Wild Rose Press).

I wouldn't be in a hurry to submit here until she proves she's got the chops.
 

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I can't see that they've sold anything.

I can't see that any of their authors have previously published a novel.

They do have a 'sister' company that provides editing-for-pay.

They specifically state that they want romance of "all heat levels" but that they do not accept erotica, presumably because, as they state, "there is no real plot". That last statement is pretty disrespectful of the erotica genre, IMO.
 

Maryn

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I'll go further. Saying erotica has no plot is both insulting and flat out wrong--and proves she hasn't read erotica written in the last few decades. Her loss.

And reason for a hard pass even with genres they seek.

Maryn, discerning
 

mrsmig

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Her emphasis seems to be on romance, and under "Submissions" she goes on at some length - too much length, IMO - about what she'd like to see. (That particular page could stand some proofreading: e.g. she's got the phrase "I’m not particular to the secret child trope etc." when she probably means "I'm not partial to the secret child trope etc.")
 

CaoPaux

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PM lists one sale, to the aforementioned Wild Rose Press.
 

JacquelynDohoney

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Does anyone have any information on this agency? I was planning to query them when I’m ready at the end of September, but I only see one sale on PM for romance back in 2021 and one client. I know they’ve hired on two new agents this week that aren’t on PM yet. Anyone know anything other than that?
 

mrsmig

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Always check the Index for existing threads about an agency/publisher/writer service provider before starting a new thread.

Here's the extant thread: Gold Dust Literary Agency

I'll ask the mod for this subforum to merge the threads.
 

JacquelynDohoney

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Always check the Index for existing threads about an agency/publisher/writer service provider before starting a new thread.

Here's the extant thread: Gold Dust Literary Agency

I'll ask the mod for this subforum to merge the threads.
Thank you. I did a search but I must have spelled it wrong because nothing came up!
 
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And nobody needs an agent to submit to Wild Rose Press.
 

bibliophyl

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She ended up offering me an R&R, which I politely declined. I was on the verge of shelving that MS anyways, and didn't want to invest the time in an agent I wasn't totally sure of. (I'm the person who made the original thread last fall).
 

mrsmig

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Thanks for coming back to catch us up, bibliophyl.
 

K. Q. Watson

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One of their agents fav'd a tweet I made in #SFFPit but their bio on the agency's page specifically says they're not interested in the kind of subject matter/genre my novel very explicitly features so... why did she fav my tweet?
 

JacquelynDohoney

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One of their agents fav'd a tweet I made in #SFFPit but their bio on the agency's page specifically says they're not interested in the kind of subject matter/genre my novel very explicitly features so... why did she fav my tweet?
I've seen a couple of agents respond that their like is an exception to their regular rules.
 

Scarlet Prince

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Hmm, yeah, I feel complicated about this one.

On one hand, the first thing the agency should’ve done is send out an email saying “Your agent is no longer working for us. We will be reviewing the manuscripts and clients she had and will let you know in [x] weeks if another agent from our agency would like to pick up your manuscript. Otherwise, you are welcome to pull your manuscript from consideration. Have a great day!”

It’s bad she, the author, had to reach out. An email like that is short and easy to compose, and it just needs to be copied and pasted and sent to all of the agent’s clients… and it prevents a lot of issues. But agents are human and maybe the agency was overwhelmed, or it was a sudden decision no one had time to handle it.

Then she waited six weeks to hear back about the manuscript? That’s actually a reasonable time frame to wait for a new manuscript to be reviewed by a new agent, especially if those agents were already full and weren’t actually seeking new clients and were only looking at your work to fulfill an obligation to a terminated coworker’s client.

Then again— the agency should have clearly communicated how long it would take them.

Then again— the author should have asked about the timeframe and explained she was getting frustrated before going to Twitter.

Then again— maybe the author did ask, and was ignored.
 
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taylorquills

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Something that might prove as useful information for those looking into Gold Dust Literary is that Tia Ross, who claims to be an editor at Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Penguin Random House, and UNC Press has obtained and posted screenshots of the private email conversation between the Twitter thread's OP (Katie Abdou) and agent Gwyn Jordan.

In another Tweet, when asked about where she received the email conversation since she doesn't seem to be affiliated with Gold Dust Literary, Tia Ross claims "I am my own boss—I'm not part of that agency. The emails were shared in a private group. I asked for permission to repost and respond on her [Gwyn Jordan's] behalf since the agent indicated she was blocked and unable to respond herself."

I thought to myself that if I were looking into querying this agency, I would want to know about this behavior. I would be very hesitant about signing with an agency that leaks internal emails to "private groups" with no agency affiliation. Just my two cents!
 

AnneMarble

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I came right here to see if there was a thread!

Victoria Strauss just posted something on Twitter about this agency... Pointing out that they have placed just three books since 2021! So why is an editor from Harper Collins hanging with them?

And another author just posted that she had been trying to warn people away from it for some time...
 

taylorquills

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UPDATE: Because of the Twitter controversy that happened yesterday, agent Kelsey Brownlee is no longer with Gold Dust Literary Agency according to her Tweet.

To quote her, "Given the recent events, I am no longer with Gold Dust Literary. If you have a submission or full out with me, you will be hearing from me in the next few days as I work to close everything out." In a reply to that Tweet, she stated, "The recent events are not a reflection of me or how I wish to conduct business. I am working on a long term solution going forward and appreciate the patience and understanding. To the author — I’m sorry things escalated to this level."
 

Turtle2023

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At this point, my prediction is that the agency implodes. I hope the junior agents find better agency homes, if they're serious about making it as agents.

Then again, there are known schmagents who just keep attracting clients despite the whisper network, so I could be wrong!
 
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jennydandyauthor

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Not one of us knows the whole story on this. I can only tell you my own experience. Gwyn Jordan has been my agent for two years. She has been nothing but kind, generous with her time and absolutely professional. She landed me, a debut author at age 64, a three-book contract. As a professional editor she pinpointed a few key places that would strengthen my book.
A friend queried her and Gwyn asked her three questions on her synopsis. My friend answered the questions (she'd inadvertently left out the information while trying to get it down to one page) and Gwyn continued with her submission. ANY OTHER AGENT would've have seen the holes in the synopsis and said thank you but no thank you.
Gwyn personalizes her rejections and offers feedback in them. Meaning she spends time on people she knows she won't make an offer of representation to because she feels that is the right thing to do. Most agents would just send a canned rejection and move on.
This is a tough business for writers and agents. Gwyn is still building her agency, which is a plus (she has the time to consider each submission) and a minus (she's still making connections at more publishing houses), but she is a fine human being.
One thing I do know in terms of the industry: agents and editors have lists of problem writers they will automatically reject. They check prospective writers' social media before they make an offer. They're looking for people they feel they can work with. They also talk to each other and when something like this blows up, they are well aware of it and will flag that writer. Gwyn's editors know her and have not blacklisted her over this.
I believe we need to support each other in this business, which is why I'm glad Writers Beware exists.