Agent Feedback: Jennifer Rofe

Every once in a while I receive feedback on an agent through e-mail that a writer wishes to share. Until the day I get us a forum going, I've decided to share them this way. The most recent is on Jennifer Rofe of Andrea Brown and comes from a hilarious writer, Ann Marie, in Greece. I've really enjoyed my ongoing correspondence with her and I'm trying to get her blogging. Her original e-mail is as follows:

After spending the morning ‘googling’ about my favourite literary agent, Ms. J Rofe, I felt I had to express my thanks to her and the Andrea Brown Agency in general for their kindness and consideration.

I recently submitted a query from Greece where I have lived and worked for the last 20 years. In this part of the world, it is fairly common to see people still using donkeys as a means of transport and even to use the animals dung as a form of energy. Although in the past we owned one of these noble beasts, we never actually tried the latter ‘natural fuel.’ Possibly my British upbringing (and the availability of a national sewerage network system in the UK ) caused me to be reticent about going to those extremes!

Anyway, the point is that I live in a modern Greece with many Third World elements despite its grand and ancient past. So imagine how thrilled I was when I sent my recent query and within hours had received a very polite e-mail acknowledging the receipt of my work. I know that it was just a standard reply sent to all those who submit their work to this particular agency. However, this e-mail caused me to feel euphoric for days on end just knowing that this project of mine had managed to reach its intended destination all the way across the Atlantic. Thank goodness I won’t have to agonize for the next couple of months wondering whether my e-mail was received or not!

So, once again, thank you for this consideration to writers; remember that not all of us live in places with the modern conveniences that perhaps most Americans take for granted!

All the very best!
Ann Marie

Agent Feedback: Steven Malk

I received this e-mail quite awhile ago on Steve Malk and wasn't quite sure what do with it. I've been toying around with the idea of creating a forum where we could discuss the profiled agents, report feedback, response times, etc. but I'm not sure there'd be enough interest, especially with AW and Verla's already in place to provide such outlets. Something to kick around. But in the time being, the author of the e-mail has given me permission to share it with all of you here (as he wanted it shared in some way) and link it to Mr. Malk's profile. Please note: The content and opinions posted below are not my own.

After I had queried countless agents, and gotten just as many rejections, I decided to go for broke and query Steven Malk (who I hadn't considered, because he seemed too "big" to even bother with). A week later I got a request of a full. A few weeks later, his new assistant Alena Gribskov e-mailed me to say that with Lindsay Davis's departure, they were backlogged, and wanted to let me know they were still considering it. Then, one week later, she called me to make sure it was still available. Another week passes, and Steven called me himself. We had a very nice half-hour conversation, discussing my novel, and while he didn't offer representation, he was impressed with my writing and asked for current project ideas. As of now, he likes my idea for a novel, and I am in the process of working on it.

What I've found from my experience, is that (and I'm sure it varies somewhat between agents) but Writers House in general is such a caring, well organized agency. Both Steven and Alena have been helpful, as well as they have encouraged questions and contact--which for me as a college student, who's just starting out, is completely reassuring. The reason he wanted to work with me on creating a different novel, is because he said the first novel sets the tone of the career, and he wanted something to do that a little bit more than my previous one did. This tells me that he truly does care more about the author than the sale, which made me instantly withdraw my other full request (which was to a new agent at Trident--whom I would never recommend because they have such careless policies about never replying).

Just as a moral to this story, that might be helpful to pass on, I think it's important that people don't pass up an agent just because they think they are to hard to "hook." By the same token, it's probably not a good idea to try and get an "easier" agent if they aren't right for you.

Hope my feedback helps somebody,

Ryan [redacted]