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- Jan 9, 2014
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I first shared this on querytracker, where it was taken down.
I am in regular contact with 12 or so of Carrie's former clients (from when she was at Donadio and Olson and at Empire and recently at her own agency.) I've tried to compile what our experiences are. There are more details to each of these, and I will invite her other former clients to comment on this thread.
I've been struggling with how to add information to this forum to help writers who aren't familiar with this agent and who don't have access to the "whisper network"
I would strongly discourage anyone from putting their career in Carrie's hands. The following are either my own personal experiences or those of former clients that I am still in close contact with. (There are about twelve of us who talk with regularity.)
1. Carrie was often very opaque about to which editors she was submitting work. Sometimes when asked where a project had been sent she would dodge the question. She was caught in lies by clients who knew editors she had claimed to query, and they had not received submissions from her.
2. Upon breaking ties with Carrie, one client asked for a sub list so they could disclose it to a new agent, Carrie refused to give the sub list because they were no longer working together. This goes against AAR ethics of transparency.
3. Many authors were kept in multiple rounds of revisions, seemingly endlessly, without a real reason not to submit the book to publishers. We are talking sometimes *years*
4. When one author emailed her to say "these revisions have gone on long enough" Carrie promptly dropped them as a client.
5. She would say disparaging remarks about her other clients to some clients.
6. When many of us signed with her, there was no agency agreement. When one client asked for one, the agreement produced was unethical and raised many red flags. Namely, the agreement stated that the author would not share work with anyone but her, specifically meaning no beta readers or critique partners. And if Carrie felt like the work needed revisions past her capabilities, we would be asked to work with a freelance editor of her choice on the author's expense. (It was noted that around this time, she had a close friendship with one freelance editor in particular.)
7. Please, if able, research her sales through publisher's marketplace. Many of us were convinced when signing with her that she had a lot of industry connections, but in reality, she had made very few sales.
ETA Many former clients also made the choice to sign with her because of excessive flattery and promise of other projects (including write for hire work.) that never came to fruition. Many of us felt an instant connection on the phone that wasn't backed up by action.
I am in regular contact with 12 or so of Carrie's former clients (from when she was at Donadio and Olson and at Empire and recently at her own agency.) I've tried to compile what our experiences are. There are more details to each of these, and I will invite her other former clients to comment on this thread.
I've been struggling with how to add information to this forum to help writers who aren't familiar with this agent and who don't have access to the "whisper network"
I would strongly discourage anyone from putting their career in Carrie's hands. The following are either my own personal experiences or those of former clients that I am still in close contact with. (There are about twelve of us who talk with regularity.)
1. Carrie was often very opaque about to which editors she was submitting work. Sometimes when asked where a project had been sent she would dodge the question. She was caught in lies by clients who knew editors she had claimed to query, and they had not received submissions from her.
2. Upon breaking ties with Carrie, one client asked for a sub list so they could disclose it to a new agent, Carrie refused to give the sub list because they were no longer working together. This goes against AAR ethics of transparency.
3. Many authors were kept in multiple rounds of revisions, seemingly endlessly, without a real reason not to submit the book to publishers. We are talking sometimes *years*
4. When one author emailed her to say "these revisions have gone on long enough" Carrie promptly dropped them as a client.
5. She would say disparaging remarks about her other clients to some clients.
6. When many of us signed with her, there was no agency agreement. When one client asked for one, the agreement produced was unethical and raised many red flags. Namely, the agreement stated that the author would not share work with anyone but her, specifically meaning no beta readers or critique partners. And if Carrie felt like the work needed revisions past her capabilities, we would be asked to work with a freelance editor of her choice on the author's expense. (It was noted that around this time, she had a close friendship with one freelance editor in particular.)
7. Please, if able, research her sales through publisher's marketplace. Many of us were convinced when signing with her that she had a lot of industry connections, but in reality, she had made very few sales.
ETA Many former clients also made the choice to sign with her because of excessive flattery and promise of other projects (including write for hire work.) that never came to fruition. Many of us felt an instant connection on the phone that wasn't backed up by action.