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[Packager] Alloy Entertainment (Les Morgenstein)

maddythemad

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Is this an agent? I saw him (her?) in the acknowledgments of Pretty Little Liars and Flawless, both by Sara Shepard, and Googled him/her. The only results that came up were from P&E, who seemed to think he/she was legit, but I couldn't find any other information. There's no "Les Morgenstein" on agentquery, and I couldn't find any mention of him/her on here either. There was also a "Leslie Morgenstein" listed on P&E, who doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere else. I also Googled "17th Street Productions" (which P&E says is their agency), but didn't find a website or anything. Anyone have more information on Les and Leslie? Are they the same person?

Thanks for any info you can give me! It's possible that I'm missing something terribly obvious-- I'm not very computer-savvy. If that's the case, I apologize in advance for wasting everyone's time. :)

~ Maddy
 

jamiehall

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All I've found is a lack of information too - but I looked in the standard books (the Writer's Market, and the Writer's Market "Guide to Literary Agents", both the 2007 editions). So it looks like print and Internet searches are turning up very little information even between the two of them.
 

maddythemad

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Ahh... The Kaavya Viswanathan scandal. Well, if Leslie Morgenstein is associated with that, I might not want to query him. Thanks for the info, guys.
 

victoriastrauss

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Morgenstein is not an agent, anyway, but a book packager specializing in YA material.

This article provides some insight into how Alloy works.

My theory about that scandal is that Viswanathan didn't write the book, and the person who did got lazy.

- Victoria
 

Provrb1810meggy

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Probably because, well, as far as I know, (correct me if I'm mistaken) the Opal Metha thing is an isolated incident. There are quite a few popular books that came from Alloy, including the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.
 

maddythemad

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Yes, I was just starting to think that as well. I have been reading the acknowledgments on many YA/chick-lit books, and a lot of them seem to come from Alloy. But thanks for pointing that out, Megan. :D
 

Aprylwriter

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Yeah, it sounds like Kaavya hired a ghost writer to write the book, and everyone else thought they would make a lot of money from her. I don't get why people do that. What's the point of being an author if you didn't really write the book? What's the point of writing if you just want to make a lot of money? The good part of being a writer is the effort you put into your writing, no matter how long it takes to get published.

I've just begun reading the fourth book in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." It's pretty good.

Apryl
 

James D. Macdonald

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What's the point of being an author if you didn't really write the book?

My guess is that she (or her parents, or her College Application Coach) wanted to put "Published author" onto her college application.
 

maddythemad

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What's the point of being an author if you didn't really write the book?

My guess is that she (or her parents, or her College Application Coach) wanted to put "Published author" onto her college application.

Hadn't she already gotten into Harvard? I think that was part of her appeal. "Smart! Pretty! Seventeen! .... who cares if she can write a book?"
 

ILSinTexas

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I'm bumping up this thread, because I'm thinking about querying Sara Shandler with my MG fantasy. I saw a recent sale she made on Publishers Marketplace, which is similiar to what I write.

Anyone have any experience with her or the agency?
 

lisa17

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Recieved this from Alloy. Is it simply a license to steal? We have reviewed your pitch and sample pages, and would be happy to see a full manuscript. We do want to warn, however, that we do have a project currently on our list that is similar in approach, but we were interested in the tone of your pitch.
What should I do? Send it? Send part of it? Help?
 

Becca C.

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Recieved this from Alloy. Is it simply a license to steal? We have reviewed your pitch and sample pages, and would be happy to see a full manuscript. We do want to warn, however, that we do have a project currently on our list that is similar in approach, but we were interested in the tone of your pitch.
What should I do? Send it? Send part of it? Help?

It sounds, to me, more like they're warning you that they may reject simply because they have something a little too similar to your MS already.
 

Mustafa

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Recieved this from Alloy. Is it simply a license to steal? We have reviewed your pitch and sample pages, and would be happy to see a full manuscript. We do want to warn, however, that we do have a project currently on our list that is similar in approach, but we were interested in the tone of your pitch.
What should I do? Send it? Send part of it? Help?

They're not going to steal it. I just got a rejection from another agent (at a different agency) and her reason was that one of her authors had a book very similar that she was already shopping. If she can't place one, she's not going to be able to place two.

ETA: I don't see the submission guidelines for this place. How did you guys know how to submit to them?
 

lisa17

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They're not going to steal it. I just got a rejection from another agent (at a different agency) and her reason was that one of her authors had a book very similar that she was already shopping. If she can't place one, she's not going to be able to place two.

ETA: I don't see the submission guidelines for this place. How did you guys know how to submit to them?

Submission Guidelines here: http://alloyentertainment.com/articles/the-collaborative-initiative/
 

theresa.mcclinton

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Alloy Entertainment

I read the other thread on Alloy, but it was geared toward a specific person, and toward the "packager" known as Alloy.

I'm new to the term, "packager." I read a bit about what everyone has said, how they come up with the ideas, hire authors to write a book, then keep half the royalties and all the movie rights to the books. But I ran into an author on Twitter who just released her debut novel with Allow Entertainment:

http://alloyentertainment.com/authors/elena-perez/

And she just queried them, here:

http://alloyentertainment.com/articles/the-collaborative-initiative/

She launched her book in July.

My question is, if you aren't one of those authors who are hired by Alloy to write a book (which I see nothing wrong with, as long as you know what you're getting in to) then is Alloy a good publisher?

I see many well known, successful books and book series done through them. Does anyone know how their editors are, how the exposure is, and how well authors tend to do sales wise when they weren't hired outright by Allow to write a book/series?

If anyone has any feedback, I'd love to hear it. Thanks!
 

Polenth

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On their own site it notes:

Acquired projects will be shaped by The Collaborative and the author together, before determining the next steps for publication. AE will retain the rights to produce each property in film, television, and new media. Authors will share in profits, across all platforms.
Which doesn't sound different to the way they handle their other projects, other than the initial idea coming from outside. I'd be cautious about what rights they're going to take, as the book packaging rights deals aren't the best. You don't want to give anyone the right to fire you and get someone else to finish the series in your place.
 

AlishaS

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In there guidlines is there's this line...
Please also note that we are only interested in manuscripts which have not previously been submitted to publishing houses.

Are they talking like the big six? Or any press. I have a manuscript out with only a few smaller (more ebook scale) presses, do you think I could still submit?
 

Undercover

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The Collaborative

I haven't seen this one before. It's a new listing in my Book Markets for Children's Writers 2013 book:

http://alloyentertainment.com/articles/the-collaborative-initiative/

It says it's owned by Warner Bros. This one's a little different. It collaborates with authors to prepare books for publication and helps place them with the appropriate publishers, but retains all the rights to produce the properties in film, television and new media. Alloy, which was acquired by Warner Brothers Television Group last year, is the developer of "Pretty Little Liars" "Gossip Girl" and "Vampire Diaries."

It says you can submit to an email address they've provided, but it just comes up MAILER DAEMON and rejects it. The same email is listed in the Market Book, so somebody either made a boo-boo or it's closed.

Has anyone got any info on these guys?