• Guest please check The Index before starting a thread.

Belcastro Agency (Sharon Belcastro)

ctripp

Christine Tripp
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
493
Reaction score
30
Location
Ottawa, Ontario Canada
Website
www.christinetripp.com
The Agency has made deals with Champagne Books (a publisher here in Canada I've never heard of but perhaps someone here has?)
Looking at the publishers contract on their site, a few things stand out that I wouldn't be happy about. First thing I read was the Author is responsible to copyright the book/pay for costs associated. I'm no expert on contracts other then children's books in print, perhaps this is fairly standard in these genre's, with small ebook presses? I must say, it's not usual to even SEE a sample contract on a publishers site.
http://champagnebooks.com/store/index.php?id_cms=2&controller=cms
 

Pisco Sour

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 7, 2013
Messages
902
Reaction score
87
Location
Mad woman in the attic
Back in October I signed a one-book, one-year contract with Sharon Belcastro. The book was a previously released novel and the edits were light. Although we did get requests for fulls, ultimately the book did not find a home. I don't blame Sharon; I suspected this book would be a hard (re) sell. I told Sharon I was only interested in submitting to trad houses, no digital presses (since I could do that myself). She did what I asked and went to bat for the novel. I received regular updates and submission spreadsheets and her communication was great even when she was on holiday. Also, she forwarded e-mails from editors who read my partials and fulls, and I read for myself the reasons they were passing on my book. Rejection is still rejection, but I appreciated the feedback. For the curious, some of the houses sub'd to: Penguin Random House, Hachette, Harper Collins, MacMillon, Simon & Schuster. For my records I have the spreadsheet with names of the editors, the imprints, date subbed and responses.

In June I asked Sharon to release me from my contract so I could enter a contest for un-agented writers and she graciously agreed. So, really, I have nothing but positives to report on Sharon and her agency. Could she have sold my book if we'd stuck it out longer? Like I said, the book is a hard sell but... Possibly. Am I disappointed my book didn't sell? Sure, but without Sharon none of the editors who read the book would ever have seen it since I could not submit to themselves myself. Could Sharon have sold the novel to a digital press had I agreed to sub to them? I tend to think 'yes', but that's not what I wanted. So that book is trunked for now while I pursue other writing opps.

Hope this helps!
 
Last edited:

xtinakayebooks

Registered
Joined
Jan 16, 2018
Messages
1
Reaction score
1
I just signed with Belcastro (Ella Marie Shupe) recently and I can tell you that they are very professional and good at their jobs (both Ella Marie and Sharon). I have noticed that most of the "negative" Comments are directed at one of two things: 1) Their physical location not being in NY; and 2) Their lack of sales to the BIG pubs. I can't address the second concern because I haven't gotten that far with them yet, but I will say that it does take agents a while to finally make that first BIG sale and establish that relationship so they can continue to sell to them. Every agent has to start somewhere and I know that because I'm currently an agent in training. But as to the first concern regarding their location, I'm sure we can all agree now that so many agents work remotely that location isn't so much of a concern as relationships with the editors at all the BIG houses (which takes us back to the other point). All I can tell you is that I've had another agent beore and that one went crazy and is now no longer an agent. This was with a MAJOR NY agency, too. So even the "best" agencies don't guarantee the best representation for authors. I picked Ella Marie over one other agent (semi-well-known) due to her thorough and thoughtful comments on my book and the fact that she has some really great revisions in mind prior to submitting the book. So I feel like I've made the best choice for me at this point in my career, but I will gladly keep you all posted as this story progresses and I continue on this journey with Belcastro.
 

ctripp

Christine Tripp
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
493
Reaction score
30
Location
Ottawa, Ontario Canada
Website
www.christinetripp.com
xtinakayebooks, I agree, things have changed since the posts here from /08. The internet has improved drastically and meetings with Editors (other then perhaps a few trips to NY every year to meet up) are not necessary to maintain relationships.

As to it taking time for an Agency to establish itself and start making sales to the bigger or at least medium advance paying publishers, Belcastro has been around for 11yrs now, which would make them an established Agency, not new, so if they haven't sold to a large publisher by now, it's doubtful they ever will.

Something I find very odd is, they don't list their Authors. They list the book titles, they even have a blurb about each book and a "buy" link on each title (more like a publisher) Agents don't typically get into the job of promoting per say. Yes, they certainly will tweet and cheer for their clients newest books but I've not seen this much marketing before.

Edited: I'm sorry, have to take back that they don't list their Authors. MY bad, they certainly DO, I just didn't scroll down far enough!
 
Last edited:

Scythian

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 4, 2018
Messages
201
Reaction score
40
Some people prefer small publishers to self-publishing, because they only want to write and not have to do the other stuff with the editors and the cover artist, etc. So when someone asks an author like that "What's the point of working with this small publisher, when you could do the same thing by yourself?" the answer is "But I don't wanna. I want someone else to do this for me."

In this sense, I see the point of the "indie agent" who doesn't pull off the big house deals, but connects the writer to indie publishers. As in the example above, the author can, of course, submit to the indie publisher direct, but obviously enough people don't like doing that, and prefer to have someone else do it in their name. All sorts of issues tend to creep up during the submission, contract-signing, editing, design, publication, promotion and rights reversal stages, and it's nice to have someone handle that for you (presumably). Some people just want to do what they like, but minus the hassle.

I've seen about half a dozen agencies operating on this level, and they clearly show what they sell and to whom, which I think is what counts. Plus maybe they can raise the author's chances of reaching the top tier in the indie field, while on their own, the author could only generate a bite from the less-badass indies (some of whom do say things like "Agented submission are not required, but will receive precedence over unagented ones."). In short, a need of the market is being catered to, presumably with honesty and effeciency.

This still puts them way up above the level of certain agencies whose submission guidelines say things like "compare your fiction project to three books in the same genre published in the last two years and give us a breakdown of your projected readership demographics, and provide relevant names of publishers and editors who would be interested in your book and then names of their pets and the horoscopes of their parents". Yeah, and maybe I should poop instead of you as well, eh?

On the subject of poop, if anyone can explain why the logo of the discussed agency appears to be an open book with a suspicious pile atop it, and a fly circling above, I'd be much obliged.
 
Last edited:

JustWonderin

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
61
Reaction score
9
I haven't but I have been skeptical of this agency. I submitted a MS, received a full request, and then got a pass because my story "couldn't be both YA and a mystery at the same time." I'm not joking.
 

Snitchcat

Dragon-kitty.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 2, 2006
Messages
6,344
Reaction score
975
Location
o,0
I think the logo is a beehive with a bee flying around it? But I couldn't tell you why they chose that.

Just to clarify: That's not a logo; it's an icon for the About page.

The actual logo is in the top left corner of the page -- a bee next to the agency name.
 

Fiender

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 25, 2008
Messages
1,188
Reaction score
418
Location
New York
So, having read this thread, I feel like I might be interested in submitting to this agency, (Ella Marie Shupe, or Cortney Radocaj) but I can't find sales or client info for any of the agents on their website. Don't suppose if anyone knows if they've made any sales in the last couple years, or who their clients are? :(
 

Sonya Heaney

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 16, 2019
Messages
565
Reaction score
85
Location
Canberra
So, having read this thread, I feel like I might be interested in submitting to this agency, (Ella Marie Shupe, or Cortney Radocaj) but I can't find sales or client info for any of the agents on their website. Don't suppose if anyone knows if they've made any sales in the last couple years, or who their clients are? :(

I'm pretty confident the authors' books they're retweeting on their Twitter accounts are their clients.

I would be wary of this agency. They're selling to presses with vanity publishing arms. One is a publisher I got an offer from as an unagented aspiring author, and I turned them down because they were ... not ... good ... Most of their deals are with publishers who don't offer advances and who you can get a contract with on your own - without handing over 15%.
 

Fiender

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 25, 2008
Messages
1,188
Reaction score
418
Location
New York
I'm pretty confident the authors' books they're retweeting on their Twitter accounts are their clients.

I would be wary of this agency. They're selling to presses with vanity publishing arms. One is a publisher I got an offer from as an unagented aspiring author, and I turned them down because they were ... not ... good ... Most of their deals are with publishers who don't offer advances and who you can get a contract with on your own - without handing over 15%.

Ahh, fair points. That is a shame.
 

Sonya Heaney

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 16, 2019
Messages
565
Reaction score
85
Location
Canberra
So, I just discovered I still had their website open in a tab, and found their list of authors buried in purple-on-grey text at the very bottom of the page.

I did find that they made this deal recently, which is more promising than their others.
 
Last edited:

DanielaTorre

...
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Messages
1,427
Reaction score
212
Location
BFE
Anyone have any information on Kaitlyn Johnson or Hannah Vanvels? They seemed to have jumped ship from Red Sofa over to Belcastro. Johnson has an extraordinary amount of followers on Twitter and Youtube, but she's only been an active agent for a year. I wonder about her sales.
 

Woollybear

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 27, 2017
Messages
9,720
Reaction score
9,697
Location
USA
I queried Kaitlyn in July 2018 and she was one of the agents that actually replied (with a rejection in 10 days), and I appreciated that she turned around the response, as almost half do not.

Of course, that could be agency guidelines and not agent guidelines.

She may have been a junior agent, I don't know, but she has been looking at queries for at least two years.

No idea about Hannah Vanvels.
 

merlot143

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 29, 2012
Messages
416
Reaction score
24
I don't know about the other agents but I did query Sharon B and wish I hadn't. She read the full manuscript and turned it down. Her feedback was patronizing and didn't make sense. To put it bluntly, my impression was she wouldn't know how to sell it.
 

Girlsgottawrite

I write at work...
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 26, 2017
Messages
363
Reaction score
97
Hi,

Has anyone worked with Kaitlyn Johnson at this agency?

Anyone have any information on Kaitlyn Johnson or Hannah Vanvels? They seemed to have jumped ship from Red Sofa over to Belcastro. Johnson has an extraordinary amount of followers on Twitter and Youtube, but she's only been an active agent for a year. I wonder about her sales.

CCbridges and DanielaTorre- I have not worked with her as an agent, but I can say that she is a fabulous editor and her prices are very reasonable. She helped me with my submission package, answered all my questions and was super sweet. As soon as I started submitting the new package, I began getting requests. Just wanted to put that out there for anyone interested.
 

goddessofgliese

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 25, 2013
Messages
317
Reaction score
187
Location
Gliese, obviously
Website
www.katechenli.com
CCbridges and DanielaTorre- I have not worked with her as an agent, but I can say that she is a fabulous editor and her prices are very reasonable. She helped me with my submission package, answered all my questions and was super sweet. As soon as I started submitting the new package, I began getting requests. Just wanted to put that out there for anyone interested.

I used her submission package. I was not impressed.
 

arkady

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 21, 2005
Messages
584
Reaction score
63
What about Cortney Radocaj? I haven't been able to find out anything encouraging about her. Has anyone else?

 

heykatydid

Business Lumberjack
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 16, 2017
Messages
215
Reaction score
29
Location
Back home
I have a few friends agented through Belcastro, but looking through their book page, I don't recognize a single book on there and some of the covers are very unfortunate. The only author name I recognize on their page is the author who is also an agent with another agency. I very much like my writer friends who are represented through Belcastro and they all seem to LOVE their agents there, but a lot of these look like mid/indie press books. I worry most of these places don't require an agent to sub to or are ebook only - which is perfectly fine if that is what the authors want! Just not what I want.
 

TrixieWants

Registered
Joined
Aug 12, 2016
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
I have a few friends agented through Belcastro, but looking through their book page, I don't recognize a single book on there and some of the covers are very unfortunate. The only author name I recognize on their page is the author who is also an agent with another agency. I very much like my writer friends who are represented through Belcastro and they all seem to LOVE their agents there, but a lot of these look like mid/indie press books. I worry most of these places don't require an agent to sub to or are ebook only - which is perfectly fine if that is what the authors want! Just not what I want.
I agree, they are on my do-not-query list