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Larsen Pomada Literary Agents

Ed Williams 3

Hey all,

I've been dabbling around and have completed my first work of fiction. It's a wild country boy Christmas tale set in Juliette, Georgia. Well, the Juliette, Georgia of thirty years ago, and the manuscript comes in at around 63,000 words. Recently, I received a request from the Larsen-Pomada Literary Agency for an exclusive look at said manuscript. Have any of y'all had any experience with them, and if so, what are your thoughts?

P.S. Dave, if you read this, thanks much for the agents listings over at Preditors and Editors. That's what I've been working off of re queries to agents, so far I've gotten back three positive responses, just trying to decide who to respond to. Yer the best!
 

vstrauss

Re: Larsen-Pomada Literary Agency...

Ed, I don't have any experience with the agency, but it has a solid track record and I'm not aware of any complaints.

- Victoria
 

Ed Williams 3

Re: Larsen-Pomada Literary Agency...

Victoria, I appreciate that greatly, I am going to get the manuscript and the other materials they requested together and send them to them. Certainly can't hurt.

I greatly appreciate your feedback, many thanks.

:D
 

arkady

Re: Larsen-Pomada Literary Agency...

You might note this line from their website:

"Please note: We can't take the time to read a full manuscript if other agents are reading it."
 

Ed Williams 3

Re: Larsen-Pomada Literary Agency...

I did, I think I stated above in my post that I was considering who to respond to, as they all want exclusives. Thanks for the heads up, though.
 

triceretops

Who are these agents?

Does anyone have any dope on the following agents:
(In particular, if they charge fees upfront or have bad reps)

Elaine P. English

Difior and Company

Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agents

The Literary Group

I'm also concerned about their track record and which one might have the best.

Tri
 

Greenwolf103

Re: Who are these agents?

I've heard DeFiore is legit (he was once an editor at St, Martin's), though he's not an AAP agent. At least, not since I checked.

Sorry, but that's all I can comment on...
 

Betty W01

Re: Who are these agents?

I'm going to port this to Bewares and Background Checks, since it's more likely to get attention there...
 

spywriter

Re: Who are these agents?

ELAINE ENGLISH: Great lady. She turned me down, but gave me a truly helpful critique after waiting 4 months. She apologized up and down for taking so long. Her biggest drawback is that she is a lawyer FIRST. She puts it second to her literary work.

LITERARY GROUP: Just turned me down this week. From the research I did, they were legit with legit sales, but if I remember correctly, they mostly nonfiction.

POMADA: We just did a discussion on them recently and Victoria did not have anything bad to say. She is reading my stuff now.

DEFIORE: He turned me down. As I recall, I was impressed with his credentials.
 

maestrowork

Re: Who are these agents?

I don't know anything about Literary Group. But the other three are legit.
 

vstrauss

Re: Who are these agents?

Literary Group is a very successful agency, but it has some problems. Contact me privately: [email protected], or check my profile for my personal e-mail address.

The others are all successful--no complaints that I know of.

- Victoria
 

MacAllister

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Preditors & Editors confirms what Jim said, Becky--but no more clarification than that.
 

mommie4a

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Becky - Last year, I exchanged a couple of e-mails with her husband (Michael Larsen who wrote a popular How to Write a Book Proposal) about a book proposal he was willing to look at. Very professional and he did respond to some general as well as specific questions. They get around to the writers conferences and also started the San Francisco Writers Conference (I think 2004 was their first year). http://www.sanfranciscowritersconference.com/

Good luck - my understanding is that they're both very good agents.
 

Tim

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Not so good experience

I do understand that they are both long-time agents. Although, in my recent experience Ms. Pomada requested my entire manuscript off my query letter. I spent a good deal of time and money getting the ms. printed and mailed to her only to have her read the first twenty pages and respond that it wasn't for her. I understand that is the name of the game with agents--they can't like everything--but nevertheless it was frustrating that she would request something that cost $20 to get to her only to have her say no so quickly.
 

mistri

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Would you feel better if she'd taken longer to say no, Tim? I can't understand that. I'd rather get a quick answer and know I could move on to the next agent, rather than be in limbo for ages. She wouldn't necessarily have read any more if she'd kept it longer anyway - 20 pages is more than enough to know whether she'd want to represent it. Good luck finding someone else, though.
 

RenaissanceWriter

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I understand your point, Mistri. I would prefer a quick no to a more drawn-out one. I think Tim's point, though, was that she requested the entire mss. Why not request just the 1st 3 chapters so that she could get a feel for the work. It would cost less and would save everybody a little hassle.
 

Tim

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RenaissanceWriter said:
I understand your point, Mistri. I would prefer a quick no to a more drawn-out one. I think Tim's point, though, was that she requested the entire mss. Why not request just the 1st 3 chapters so that she could get a feel for the work. It would cost less and would save everybody a little hassle.

That is exactly my point, RenaissanceWriter. It isn't the quick no that bothered me. I certainly would rather have that to a three-months-plus no. But requesting a few chapters and a synopsis would be a much better idea. Requesting an entire manuscript should really be saved for when they expect to read the entire thing. I just felt it was a disregard for how costly and time-consuming it is for us to produce an entire ms.
 

Aconite

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Tim said:
I just felt it was a disregard for how costly and time-consuming it is for us to produce an entire ms.
Tim, I'm confused. As an author submitting to agents, you're going to need at least one complete manuscript to send to agents who request it (even if they start off by asking for the first three chapters). It's just part of the cost of doing business. You didn't have one, and now you do. I don't see how that's hurt you.
 

Tim

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I agree that it is the cost of doing business in the writing world. My point is that printing up and mailing thirty or so pages of a couple chapters is quite different from a 400+ page manuscript.

I guess my only point is that an agent should request material they plan to read. If they want a taste of a particular writer's work, then ask for a chapter or two. If they feel the writer has promise and want to read their entire work, then request the entire work.
 

IWrite

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Tim said:
I guess my only point is that an agent should request material they plan to read. If they want a taste of a particular writer's work, then ask for a chapter or two. If they feel the writer has promise and want to read their entire work, then request the entire work.


Tim - there's no way to know how much you will end up reading - even when you request a full. The query may have been strong enough to lead to a full request, but you can realize it's not working for you a couple chapters or a even a couple pages in. I suppose she could have lied to you or not been specific about how much she read when she passed, but I'd give her the benefit of the doubt, that she was open to reading the entire ms when she requested it.