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Rising Bear Literary Agency

Undercover

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I checked the AW list and I didn't see it listed. Has anyone heard of Rick Margolis and the Rising Bear Literary Agency?

http://risingbear.com/about-us/

He looks to be legit. I haven't heard of him before. Found him on Publisher's Marketplace. Nothing on the P&E about him though.

He focuses on PBs MGs and YAs and takes on a selected amount of adult literature.
 

Thedrellum

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Nothing on QueryTracker yet, but he does have sales listed on Publisher's Marketplace to Capstone and Random House's Schwartz & Wade imprint. Both of those, however, will take submissions directly from authors.
 

Undercover

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He says he's been around for 15 years and his authors have a lot of published books under their belts. I don't know if all of them are represented by him, but if they are then I would say that's impressive.
 

drunk hitchhiker

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I haven't seen this agency before, but now I'll add him to my to-query list! Seems like a right fit for me.
 

ZachJPayne

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Interesting. Haven't heard of him or the agency before, but it looks like it's on the up and up. Though I think I will wait before sending a submission.
 

ctripp

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While he says he was a reviewer for SLJ for 15 years I'm thinking the Agency is much younger then this (not sure if the copyright of 2014 is for the business or not)
I do like the simplicity and clean lines of the site and the tone of the about us and submissions pages. I recognize the one Illustrator he is representing, she did win the SCBWI Tomie award and her "cake" art IS astounding. I don't think she has Illustrated any published books yet however (though she may be working on a project he has found for her) Not often do Lit Agents rep Illustrators that are not also Authors so perhaps she has some dummy/manuscripts he is subbing in that regard.
 

Casey Karp

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I'm a little taken aback by some of the information on the Submissions page. Asking for a six week exclusive on queries seems a bit grabby, especially for a NR=N agent. Prioritizing his own convenience over prospective clients doesn't seem like a good way to start a potential relationship. And to also ask whether you've queried other agents or editors also seems pretty darn silly. Isn't the default assumption that you query widely?

Not saying I won't put him on my list, but I'm going to have to give it some thought.
 

Undercover

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I don't think the exclusive is mandatory. I think he even says that in the submissions.

I sent a query a few days ago and got a nice confirmation receipt in my email, addressing it to me with my title. He says a response may take up to 6 weeks, but if nothing then, it's a pass. I'm okay with that. I think that's a reasonable amount of time.
 

ctripp

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Casey I didn't read anything pushy about the preference for exclusivity, on the submission page. In fact I thought the tone was very nice.

>Although we’d prefer an exclusive look at your submission for six weeks, that’s not essential. But we’d appreciate it if you’d let us know whether you’ve contacted other agents or editors.<
 

Casey Karp

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Just pointing out that requesting an exclusive on a query is not industry-standard. On a partial or full request, sure--though there are plenty of people who'll point out that an exclusive only benefits the agent, not the author--but not on the initial query.

Again, I don't consider it a deal-breaker, especially since it is optional. But it's something I'm going to be considering in deciding if he's likely to be a good fit for me.
 

LisaKatz17

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I queried Rick on 11/11/16 and received a response later that day. Per his submission guidelines, I indicated in my query that the PB was with two editors. He responded with a very nice note about my work and asked if I would be willing to share with him which editors were looking at it. Looks like he's had some more sales lately -- a MG in September and a PB just last week.
 

Debbie V

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Bumping this because I'm curious too.
 

zmethos

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I queried a few months back, received an auto-response that said if I didn't hear back in six weeks it was a pass. Never heard back, so... I did at least appreciate the auto-response that set my expectations.