Wylie-Merrick Literary Agency (Robert Brown, Sharene Martin-Brown)

[Medievalist]

My bold.

This is absolutely wrong and very unfair to agents, who are mostly highly professional, compassionate people. None of the agents I know personally consider writers--whether published or not--to be idiots. Most agents have a huge amount of respect for writers and their efforts, and treat us with a great deal of courtesy. If I felt an agent was scornful of writers I'd not even consider submitting to them.

Yes.

Also, keep in mind that vast numbers of agents aren't even online posting or tweeting or reading forums or blogs.

Neither of mine are.

The two long term agents I know best who do fiction use email and the Web for research and music, and book shopping, but don't do any of the social networking stuff at all.

 

[Stacia Kane]

Dittoing BenPanced, Old Hack, and Medievalist. I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of agents. All of them love writers--everything about us!--and consider themselves extremely lucky to get to do what they do for a living.

I will never forget the first time I met my agent in person. Through the course of the conversation I asked him why he was an agent, how he got into doing it. His face literally lit up; that's a reaction you cannot fake. He loves writers, he loves working with us, he loves books.

As Medievalist said, the majority of agents aren't online at all. Mine isn't. Occasionally in my internet travels I'll email him a link or a bit of gossip I think he might get a kick out of, and he usually does, but in general he's not an online social networker and doesn't involve himself in any of that.

And as for googling writers? Some do, I guess. Some don't. All of them take anything online with a grain of salt.

Agents love writers, for the most part. Just because you may see the occasional one who seems snotty or pokes fun doesn't mean most of them feel that way. They don't. And the only reason it may feel like agents get crap that editors don't is because agents are more visible.

 

[Shady Lane]

I agree that most agents love writers. I don't think you can say that most of them aren't online, though. I think the majority at this point have some kind of online presence.

 

[Medievalist]

I agree that most agents love writers. I don't think you can say that most of them aren't online, though. I think the majority at this point have some kind of online presence.

Oh, they have email; their agency likely has a site, they are listed in various directories, but they don't blog, have personal sites, tweet, etc.

 

[Old Hack]

I agree--most agents and agencies have websites and use email, but only a VERY small proportion of them blog or tweet. I do wonder if those who do blog present a distorted impression of what agenting is like: it's such an unrepresentational sample.

 

[aruna]

In the UK very very few agents have an online presence, apart from a general website. They don't blog, tweet etc half as much as US ones do. They tend to keep their heads down; which makes it quite difficult to find out more about them.

 

[victoriastrauss]

This is absolutely wrong and very unfair to agents, who are mostly highly professional, compassionate people. None of the agents I know personally consider writers--whether published or not--to be idiots. Most agents have a huge amount of respect for writers and their efforts, and treat us with a great deal of courtesy. If I felt an agent was scornful of writers I'd not even consider submitting to them.

Amen.

On the other hand, anyone in a people-serving profession will let off steam by joking or bitching about people they encounter who behave bizarrely or badly or cluelessly. Agents are no different in that respect from doctors or librarians or store managers. That doesn't mean they don't do their job well and passionately.

- Victoria

 

[Rob Brown]

In reading the posts since I last visited, there seems to be some complaints that I don't answer questions when asked them. Even though I wasn't aware that I hadn't answered questions asked here, apologies to those who asked them. Rather than digging back through the countless posts since then, would those who have questions about our agency or myself please ask again in new posts, I would also ask that each question be broken down into a sentence or two as it's very difficult to discern the main point of the queston otherwise. Again, I apologize for not being more open to your questions.

Robert

 

[Rob Brown]

Mr. Brown showed none of these traits, how sad for his contracted authors to find out how he really feels. But what do I know, I'm just an amateur writer.

Hi Elizabeth,

How do you know I've not shown any of the traits mentioned? Have you contacted any of my clients? Maybe you should before saying things here that are certainly not true. I've been an agent for a long time and have many clients. Do you think that if I didn't show empathy or weren't my client's advocate that I would have lasted very long as an agent? None of those who posted here recently are my clients, however, there have been some who joined in the fray and then wrote me saying they'd never come back here again. Doesn't say much for how people treat others here, does it? This part of the Water Cooler is notorious for chasing those who disagree away.

As with many here, you read what you see here and don't go much further than that. Yes, our Blog is controversial as blogs are suppose to be. A blog fosters lively discussion about a topic of concern and, if some of the comments here are any indication, ours is and has been very successful. Would you not agree? If you wish to participate in the discussions on our blog, you have only to join in. Comments are moderated, as they are here, but unless they get too rough and nasty, they are posted.

Robert

 

[Rob Brown]

It seems you've become the spokesperson for a group of people. Did they appoint youu or did you just take it upon yourself?

 

[victoriastrauss]

Back in 2007, there was some discussion in this thread about whether Robert Brown and/or Sharene Martin were connected with a publisher called Martin Brown Publishers, which shared a street address with the Wylie-Merrick Literary Agency and had published books by Wylie-Merrick clients.

Martin Brown hasn't been a very active publisher--at the time of the discussion, it had issued just 2 books, and a search today on Amazon indicates that it hasn't published any others since.

Why is this of interest? Because Robert Brown's Twitter profile now lists him as "Publisher and Acquisitions Editor at Ampichellis Ebooks an imprint of Martin Brown Publishers,LLC." (The Ampichellis website does not name its staff.) And these profiles of Robert Brown and Sharene Martin at a conference website describe them not as literary agents, but as publishers who are actively acquiring for Ampichellis (their work with Wylie-Merrick is mentioned, but in such a way as to suggest that they are no longer agents).

So what gives? Is the agency closing? The agency's blog doesn't say anything about it, but the Wylie-Merrick website has been reduced to a single page, with no way to contact the agents.

If the agency is indeed closed, the potential conflicts of interest that arise when literary agents own publishers aren't a concern. However, what about Wylie-Merrick clients whose books the agency didn't sell? Will Ampichellis make offers to them? Shades of Ravenous Romance.

At least we know the answer now to the question about Martin Brown Publsihers.

- Victoria

 

[honeysock]

Wow. Wylie-Merrick was such a high-profile agency for such a long time. Hmm.

 

[CaoPaux]

Just for the record, another W-M site: http://wyliemerrickliterary.com/index.html

I'll start a new thread for Martin Brown.

ETA: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=198419

 

[Stacia Kane]

Insomnia has sent me wandering back through the forum, and I remembered this thread so checked up on it. As of Jan 1st, Wylie-Merrick's "focus is on publishing electronic novels."

The blog is now called "Ampichellis Ebooks (formerly Wylie-Merrick Literary Agency)" and the subtitle says they're "reformed literary agents."

http://blog.wylie-merrick.com/2011/01/in-with-new-and-out-with-old.html

We have notified all of our clients as to our intentions and the fact that, past January 1, 2011, that our focus will be on publishing electronic novels. We are doing this to avoid any possible conflicts of interest.

Just FYI. I certainly wish them the best.