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Posted: Tue January 12th, 2010, 10:22 pm
by michellemoran
Libby, that really is frustrating. I've read quite a number of blog posts on this subject, including one from agent Jessica Faust at Book Ends LLC.

Most agents who've blogged about this topic seem to feel that in order to take on a client who already has a deal in hand, they need to believe the author has a very long (and lucrative) career ahead of them. Small deals aren't worth it for them, since they'll have to spend just as much time on a client bringing in $5,000/year as they will a client who brings in $50,000.

This is not to say that you've made a small deal (I don't know) or that you don't have a long career ahead of you (I certainly hope you do!), I'm just paraphrasing what these various agents have written.

And David, I know that my new agent, Dan Lazar, is always looking for new clients, including writers of HF. I believe these agents are as well:

Anna Ghosh
Russ Galen
David Forrer
Kim Witherspoon
Nathan Bransford

I really can't recommended Publishers Marketplace highly enough as a resource for this kind of research. While it's definitely true that agents don't want something too similar to what a client of theirs is already producing, there's always room if a novel is spectacular (read fresh, marketable, and well-written) enough!

Posted: Wed January 13th, 2010, 5:11 am
by cw gortner
My agent Jennifer Weltz at Jean Naggar Literary Agency, Inc. is always open to historical fiction. You can learn more about her here.

To echo Michelle ...

Posted: Wed January 13th, 2010, 12:29 pm
by TonyHays
Back in my youth, I briefly considered going to law school. One day, I was bemoaning how flooded the job market was with lawyers when my daddy brought me up short. "There's always room for one more," he said, "if you're good enough."

I think that advice is easily applicable to writing. Talent and persistence do pay off.

Posted: Wed January 13th, 2010, 1:43 pm
by dgaughran
Michelle & CW, thanks for the tips. After some query and ms revision I restarted querying last week and have several rejections already, but 3 requests for partials, so that's great.

I will research the agents you mentioned with an eye to querying them.

Thanks again,

Dave

Posted: Sat January 16th, 2010, 2:23 am
by cw gortner
Best of luck, Dave. :) Let us know how it goes.

Posted: Sat January 16th, 2010, 3:14 pm
by dgaughran
Thanks I will do

Posted: Sat January 16th, 2010, 6:51 pm
by michellemoran
Good luck, Dave!!!!!

Posted: Sat January 16th, 2010, 9:47 pm
by Anna Elliott
Yes, good luck, Dave! We'll all be keeping our fingers crossed for you and waiting to hear how it goes!