New Leaf Literary & Media

In case you haven't heard, agent Jordan Hamessley has parted ways from New Leaf Literary. All of her clients were dropped. A lot of rumors are going around, and I don't know which (if any) are accurrate, but I would approach this agency with care.

Turtle2023 said:

In case you haven't heard, agent Jordan Hamessley has parted ways from New Leaf Literary. All of her clients were dropped. A lot of rumors are going around, and I don't know which (if any) are accurrate, but I would approach this agency with care.

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I was typing this at the same time!

Yeah, major Twitter kerfuffling going on. And some very upset ex-clients tweeting about how they're back in the query trenches again after an abrupt email last night.

The awful stories about this agency (and its history of this harsh business practice) are coming fast and furious on SM, now. Not that every client is unhappy (we're not hearing from those clients, obviously), but the theme seems to be that if an agent isn't selling their clients' manuscripts for big *enough* deals, the agent gets the boot (or quits, perhaps under pressure), and the clients are left high and dry. So many stories of writers with pub contracts in place--some with books coming out in the next few months--just kicked to the curb. Of course, the agency still gets their cut, and now they don't have to do any work for the writer. Amazing.

There also seems to be a significant turnover and burnout issue with their younger agents and assistants. I don't know what color flag this agency needs, but somehow yellow doesn't seem to quite encompass what's required. I had a years-ago interaction with Suzie Townsend that so put me off, I nixed them entirely, but there is no question they've been around a long time and have some very successful clients.

As always, I suppose, due diligence and having thought a lot about what you want and need from an agent before you start querying are really important. If you're querying to end up at "I got an agent," then there's probably no risk in including them. But if publishing and being in a mutually respectful business partnership with an agent is high on your priority list, more caution would be advised.

ElaineA said:

As always, I suppose, due diligence and having thought a lot about what you want and need from an agent before you start querying are really important. If you're querying to end up at "I got an agent," then there's probably no risk in including them. But if publishing and being in a mutually respectful business partnership with an agent is high on your priority list, more caution would be advised.

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We can research until the cows come home but until there's more industry transparency, we won't know what's going on behind the scenes. We're not in their offices, privy to their private communications or even aware of their culture beyond what they present on SM.

Twitter may be a car crash right now, but I'm hoping writers finally smash that wall down with help from the good agents. It's a business partnership and we deserve all the information.

Apparently, New Leaf Literary fired an agent and dropped the agent's entire client list by email on Friday night. Even authors in the middle of deals. And they have done this before multiple times.

Be wary of this agency if you are querying.

I queried Stephanie Kim at New Leaf Agency in 2021 and she requested a full. When I informed her of an offer of representation, she replied that she was too busy with her clients' submissions and had no time to read my manuscript. She left the agency a few months later. Imagine if I'd signed with her. I'd be dropped too and be back in the query trenches.

This breaks my heart. All of it.

An agent there requested my full in January. Received a very kind rejection a month later. It didn't feel lucky until now.

The Authors Guild has issued a statement on recent events regarding New Leaf Literary here.

More updates on this today. Publishers Weekly has an article with quotes from New Leaf Literary as well as former clients here. A Twitter user has posted screencaps of Publishers Lunch Digest here with further statements from NLL/Joanna Volpe.

Jordan Hamessley has also made a statement on twitter here. A former client has commented on the Publishers Weekly article here.

Do read it all yourself, but TL;DR: NLL's stance is that Hamessley parted ways with the agency amicably, and the authors/illustrators NLL let go with no offer of further support were "inactive" clients. If a client had negotiations or contracts, those are still being handled by NLL, either by placing that client with a different agent or as a temporary measure. If a client who was mid-negotiation was let go, NLL claims this is because Hamessley's records were not up to date.

Hamessley says she does not consider the split amicable and her records were up to date. The former client says she was terminated with no offer of support and had five active projects with Hamessley.

Julia Joy said:

More updates on this today. Publishers Weekly has an article with quotes from New Leaf Literary as well as former clients here. A Twitter user has posted screencaps of Publishers Lunch Digest here with further statements from NLL/Joanna Volpe.

Jordan Hamessley has also made a statement on twitter here. A former client has commented on the Publishers Weekly article here.

Do read it all yourself, but TL;DR: NLL's stance is that Hamessley parted ways with the agency amicably, and the authors/illustrators NLL let go with no offer of further support were "inactive" clients. If a client had negotiations or contracts, those are still being handled by NLL, either by placing that client with a different agent or as a temporary measure. If a client who was mid-negotiation was let go, NLL claims this is because Hamessley's records were not up to date.

Hamessley says she does not consider the split amicable and her records were up to date. The former client says she was terminated with no offer of support and had five active projects with Hamessley.

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Thanks for putting this all together. New Leaf has been on my list but now I'm a bit wary. I guess I'll see how they respond to the controversy.

ETA: this had some more links to twitter threads that are pretty much the nail in the coffin for me:


What a shame. They seemed like a great agency.

Another update yesterday...

Victoria Strauss has posted this on Writer Beware : Call For Change: Current and Former New Leaf Literary & Media Authors Speak Out

I'm sharing this post with my author friends who are querying or ready to query. Let's all spread the words. Maybe they'll change their behaviors when no new authors query them.