Laura Dail Literary Agency, Inc.

[NiennaC]

P&E says this:

Laura Dail Literary Agency, Inc.: $ Recommended. a literary agency.

But I'm just wondering if anyone's worked with them before?

 

[reenkam]

I sent them a query and got a response either the next day or the day after. It was a form rejection but they were quick about it, which was nice. I don't know much else.

 

[NiennaC]

Thanks, that helps actually. I always like to see how agencies respond and/or deal with submissions and other people. This is ever since a top agency (going nameless) got some complains (from what I've heard) about lack of response, etc. Now I'm overly cautious, I think. But better to know than not.

 

[glendalough]

Ditto today. Yep, thanks Laura Dail for the nice NO. lol

 

[JaidaJones]

Just wanted to chime in and respond to the "has anyone worked with them before" question--my agent is at the Laura Dail Literary Agency, and she's wonderful. Not only is she excellent on all counts an agent should be--brainstorming, editing, quick responses to all questions, keeping up morale and much, much more--but in May, she sold my co-written fantasy novel, "Havemercy," to Bantam, along with an (as-yet) untitled novel.

Hopefully that further information helps! (The agency website also lists current clients/titles.)

And...this is my first post to the Absolute Write forums! I hope I've done everything right.

 

[Silver King]

And...this is my first post to the Absolute Write forums! I hope I've done everything right.

You sure did. How come you waited eight months to post? (It took me over a year, but that's between you and me.)

Welcome to AW, or the posting part, anyway.

 

[JaidaJones]

You sure did. How come you waited eight months to post? (It took me over a year, but that's between you and me.)

Shyness, I guess! At least I spent that time devoting myself to reading as many threads as possible....

Welcome to AW, or the posting part, anyway.

Thanks!

 

[Silver King]

Shyness, I guess!

I was shy, too. I still am, for the most part, but after those first few posts, I was flaunting my opinions left and right.

One nice thing about studying the boards for a while before posting is that you gain a strong sense of how things work before joining discussions. Take your first post, for example. It's perfect, and there's no question you'll fit into this community without any problems.

All we need to work on now is that shyness business.

 

[waylander]

Just wanted to chime in and respond to the "has anyone worked with them before" question--my agent is at the Laura Dail Literary Agency, and she's wonderful. Not only is she excellent on all counts an agent should be--brainstorming, editing, quick responses to all questions, keeping up morale and much, much more--but in May, she sold my co-written fantasy novel, "Havemercy," to Bantam, along with an (as-yet) untitled novel.

I was intrigued by the mention of your novel as fantasy. Ms Dail's website says she doesn't handle fantasy. How did you slip it past her?

 

[JaidaJones]

I was intrigued by the mention of your novel as fantasy. Ms Dail's website says she doesn't handle fantasy. How did you slip it past her?

To this day, I actually have no idea. Our agent read our manuscript and liked it enough that she wanted to represent it, and us. Sometimes I tell myself that while the website does say "none of us knows much about science fiction or pure fantasy," it doesn't expressly state that they won't represent it...! And our agent was looking for anything (with a few exceptions) that she enjoyed.

That wasn't a real answer to the question, I realize. I'm sorry--I wish I had a better one!

 

[waylander]

To this day, I actually have no idea. Our agent read our manuscript and liked it enough that she wanted to represent it, and us. Sometimes I tell myself that while the website does say "none of us knows much about science fiction or pure fantasy," it doesn't expressly state that they won't represent it...!

But she knows what she likes!

 

[Soccer Mom]

Welcome, Jaida and congrats too. I love happy accidents.

 

[PenTeller]

I got a request, next day, to see my partial manuscript. They wanted hard copy (which I know I have no right to complain about), which is kind of painful to ship from the UK to New York, but I guess that's what US-based family is for...

 

[Carrie R.]

I got a "dear author" rejection in just over a week. They looked like a great agency with some good authors -- definitely worth querying in my opinion Good luck!

 

[janetbellinger]

I've been rejected by them. They seem to be a good agency with a good list of published clients.

 

[churchillgirl]

Linda Dail agency

Hi folks,

I was following up on threads about the Linda Dail agency. Am seeking agent for my novel and agency's submission guidelines invited writers to tell them "what's great" about the work in question. I took them at their word and composed said missive.

Got a rejection straightaway within hours. That didn't get me down. What did cause a few moments of pique was that their reply was titled "***SPAM***author query."

So I wondered: did my query go into an overflow box that is simply labled spam? Did they really hate my premise so much that it was put in a spam folder reserved for special cases?

The agency sounds like a very good outfit; congrats to JaidaJones on her acceptance. Always good to hear these things.

Did query Jessica Regel at Jean Nagar and she asked for first three chapters. Here's hoping she comes up with her own list of what makes it a great read.

I'm completely new to this whole posting and forum scene and hope that I'm following proper protocols.

Best wishes and thank you for all the interesting reading.

 

[Dragonfly45]

Debralex--

I just got a request for a partial from this agency and mine, too, was titled Re:***SPAM***Query...I think that this must be because they have an overly aggressive spam filter and so had to fish our queries out of their SPAM filter...Good luck with your partial.

 

[smallthunder]

For those who like to track these things -- I e-mailed my query to Laura Dail on 5/21 and received a form rejection e-mail today, 6/3. So, a bit under two weeks -- very reasonable, I'd say.

 

[hoyateach]

I sent an e-query to Tamar Rydzinski about three weeks ago and received a same-day reply asking for a 50-page hardcopy partial. Needless to say, I was very happy. My guess is that she's had it for about two weeks at this point. I've mentally given her until mid-August before shooting over a polite request for an update.

Here's hoping!

 

[Horserider]

Anything about Tamar Ellman Rydzinski? Here's her page on querytracker:

http://querytracker.net/agent.php?agent=797&tab=gen

 

[Witanowski]

Tamar Ellman Rydzinski

I can tell you that she wrote one of the best personal rejection letters that I have received in the last two years, which I consider a big plus. I'll definitely be sending her my next project when I'm done whipping the query letter into shape.

 

[Glamour177]

I am thinking about querying the Laura Dail Literary Agency. I went to their website and didn't find a listing of their agents to see what genre any given agent would prefer.

My book is a complete chick lit book. Does anyone have any suggestions on who to query at this agency?

 

[CaoPaux]

The Agent Bios link is on their About Us / Submissions page: http://www.ldlainc.com/dailbios.html

 

[JJPie]

Does anyone know what their turnaround time is or if they respond to all queries? Thanks!

 

[Erin]

They respond fairly quickly. I queried Tamar R. on 12/17, got rejection 12/18. Then queried Laura with Book 2 on 1/5 and she rejected me 1/29.