Corvisiero Literary Agency / Literary Powerhouse Consulting (Marisa Corvisiero)

Someone on QT commented that agent Tara Gilbert is leaving this agency. They have a full out with her and told them that she was leaving for another agency, but taking their full with her. I don't know anything else other than that. She's one I have on my to query list.

Saritza Hernandez is leaving too. Looks like another agency is imploding before our eyes.

Apparently, the entire agency was issued a mass email and every agent has been effectively let go by Marisa Corvisiero. Additionally, some agents like Saritza Hernandez, have put up their own statements, saying they're parting ways.

Writer Beware on Twitter posted an image of Ms. Corvisiero's letter.

Tara Gilbert has announced that she resigned before the letter was sent.

Saritza responded to my query, saying she was leaving the agency and had to decline representing me, but added that she was hoping I'd consider her in the future (both for the thing I'd queried her for and different projects). I'm wondering if this is something she said to all outstanding queries, or if I could chalk this up as a 'personalized' rejection.

I am back in the querying trenches after having parted ways with my last agent a couple of years ago. Of course I queried Saritza right before this happened. I got a similar email from her.

I recently left Saritza after she left the agency. We parted on amicable terms.

Saritza is great, but the contract I signed with the agency and terminated? Not so much. It's extremely author unfriendly, contradicts my publishing contract, and gave me great pause, especially when I had a lawyer review it and told me it was a "legal nightmare." I had issues with this agency throughout the five years I was with them, but I always gave them the benefit of the doubt because I wanted to trust my agent, and we worked well together.

Avoid Marisa at all costs. Please. Also, their address is a dropbox/not a real office in New York, but is listed as such to make them look legitimate. This came as a shock to me.

Best of luck to all of you who queried agents who left! I'd wait to see where Saritza lands next. Some of the agents who left Corvisiero did not land with the most reputable agencies, though I have faith in Saritza.

Saritza is one agent I'd seriously consider querying if she lands at a good agency.

This particular agency implosion mystifies me, in that so many of the agents never saw it coming. They spoke of 'misgivings' when a lot of us saw problems years ago.

Also, to my understanding, Marisa made some comments about BLM that made many agents uncomfortable. It sparked a whole Twitter storm, which is why I think everyone got terminated... To avoid a bigger fallout. In any case, that was what triggered Saritza to look elsewhere, even before the final bomb.

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Saritza is my agent for writing and illustration, and I'm pleased to say that she's now with Andrea Brown Literary. She had multiple offers from a few other good agencies, which makes me optimistic for the future. When she was with Corvisiero, I had a real crisis of faith and almost made the decision to leave, as she had three solid MS from me and little.response. Glad I stuck with her, as she will be taken much more seriously. She really knows what she's doing. I am not sure where any of the other authors landed.

LinkWorshiper said:

Also, to my understanding, Marisa made some comments about BLM that made many agents uncomfortable. It sparked a whole Twitter storm, which is why I think everyone got terminated... To avoid a bigger fallout. In any case, that was what triggered Saritza to look elsewhere, even before the final bomb.

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Saritza is my agent for writing and illustration, and I'm pleased to say that she's now with Andrea Brown Literary. She had multiple offers from a few other good agencies, which makes me optimistic for the future. When she was with Corvisiero, I had a real crisis of faith and almost made the decision to leave, as she had three solid MS from me and little.response. Glad I stuck with her, as she will be taken much more seriously. She really knows what she's doing. I am not sure where any of the other authors landed.

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Genuinely curious: Why do you think she'll be more likely to reply to your manuscripts while working at a different agency?

Better reputation. I have a friend who used to work at Entangled, and they said certain agencies will get immediate attention and some get put on the back burner. They also said Saritza had a good rep there, but that they had expected her to find a better agency much sooner.

LinkWorshiper said:

Better reputation. I have a friend who used to work at Entangled, and they said certain agencies will get immediate attention and some get put on the back burner.

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Well, that would explain why they take three-hundred years to respond to slush pile submissions! (edit: I say this as someone who'd already had a few offers, removed my book from consideration and signed with my publisher by the time they responded to ask for extra time for my manuscript!)

Marisa came out here to Australia to take pitches at a conference last year. I always thought there was something a bit iffy about her agency, and wouldn't have pitched to her.

I refused to even query Saritza while she was with Perkins & then Corvisiero...great agent, but I had too many questions about the agencies. Now she's in a much better situation. When I have a standalone that fits her wishlist, she's my first query.

Queried Kendyll Drilling at this agency. I anticipate a form rejection but who knows.

Brigid Barry said:

Queried Kendyll Drilling at this agency. I anticipate a form rejection but who knows.

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I also queried Kendyll Drilling back in October. She requested a full later that month, but I haven't heard anything back from her since. I don't know how long these things usually take at this stage so it's all a bit nerve wracking.

After reading all the controversy stuff about Corvisiero, though, I'm worried that maybe I should just pull my submission and start the search elsewhere.

Ms. Drilling has some pretty significant health issues that she's trying to manage in addition to being an agent. The friend who suggested that I query her said that she does mostly smaller publishing houses and withdrew her query for that reason.

It's been almost 90 days and all the queries around mine have received a response so I intend to nudge soon.

Updated:

Nudged, received a full request.

My friend who withdrew said it took her a year to get back to her on a full.

I've just added this agency to my do not query list, based on the above. A shame, as one of the agents was a really good fit for me. She seems to be one of the most queried agents on QT. Is this just because most people don't research beforehand? Or have things changed?

Hasn’t this agency been on the general DNQ list since the James Dashner stuff a few years ago? Vague on some of the exact details, but remember it broadly, and I had thought she and her agency were pretty much red flag since then and some other controversies since. I recall withdrawing a query and receiving an email back asking why, if it was related to the controversy etc., it may even have been auto-generated so they must have been getting a lot of withdrawals around that time. Of course, it's been a few years so maybe editors don’t care anymore, though I’d be worried some still would.

The head agent, Marisa Covisiero, also made insensitive tweets during the George Floyd protests. https://bookandfilmglobe.com/nonfiction/corvisiero-literary-agent-fires-staff/

That was part of the big kerfuffle. Anyone with Publisher's Marketplace able to see if they're still making sales?

Brigid Barry said:

That was part of the big kerfuffle. Anyone with Publisher's Marketplace able to see if they're still making sales?

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According to PM, nothing in over 12 months.

That’s mind-blowing to me. Like you’d expect to at least see some smaller deals.

NervousAnonymous said:

The head agent, Marisa Covisiero, also made insensitive tweets during the George Floyd protests. https://bookandfilmglobe.com/nonfiction/corvisiero-literary-agent-fires-staff/

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Thanks for clarifying this. I was misremembering some of that (the firing of the agents) as also related to the Dashner incident so edited that out of my post above so as not to cause confusion/misinformation. So, yes, two controversial events - continuing to support Dashner after accusations made against him, then the tweets you mentioned followed by firing of the staff. Not sure if there was other stuff too.

I believe she let go of her entire staff, didn't she?

Stormshine said:

According to PM, nothing in over 12 months.

That’s mind-blowing to me. Like you’d expect to at least see some smaller deals.

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Like, NO ONE at the agency has made a sale in a year?! That's disturbing.

Which is too bad, because some of her new junior agents seem really nice. I guess the best thing to hope for is that they eventually move to better agencies.