QueryTracker Blog

Helping Authors Find Literary Agents

Monday, May 25, 2009

Choose Your QueryTracker King & Queen

Thank you for the many, many nominations for QT King and Queen. There are a lot of fantastic agents out there! We still need you to VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITES so they can preside over the final week of our carnival, when all the winners will be announced. Details on how to vote are at the end of this post. Here are the twenty agents who received the highest number of nominations, with samplings of why they were nominated:


Joanna Stampfel-Volpe “She has a keen knack for knowing what works and doesn't work. She's in tune with the publishing world and what readers want. Her nurturing way helps guide her clients to success while making good choices for editors and publishers. She is definitely an asset to the publishing world.”

Janet ReidJanet's blog has helped me learn more about querying and what an agent's life is like than almost any other agent blog out there. I follow a ton, but hers sticks out to me because she's not afraid to be candid, which is what we honestly need. She tells us what she hates in queries, she tells us what kind of writing she can't get enough of, she tells hilarious stories about being accosted by writers at events. It's the Bible of What-Not-To-Do.”

Kristin Nelson “Her blog is great! She not only tells us what she's listening on her iPod but has some great examples on how to write specific queries for the plot paragraph. I know I have used her examples and referred them to anyone I can who needs a detailed genre example to look at and study.”

Barbara Poelle “She was very nice. Rejected my proposal but with nice comments and suggested another agent who might be interested (told me to use her name as a referral).” “Barbara Poelle is a hoot. I met her at a conference and she is the funniest person ever. She used to do stand up comedy. Darling.”

Colleen Lindsay “I nominate Colleen Lindsay of FinePrint Literary Management, author of The Swivet. The Swivet is my favorite agent blog because it offers a great mix of agently advice, market news, and nerdly wonder. Before I found Querytracker.net, I used her blog to prepare to market my manuscript.

Jessica Faust “I would like to nominate Jessica Faust, who critiqued my pitch on her blog and, although she declined a second look, gave me the Eureka moment I needed to revise my project.” “Great blog. Really throws herself into what she does!”

Lindsay Davis “She’s been nice in the correspondences we’ve had.” “Lindsay Davis gets back to you quick! I’ve been lucky enough to submit my full to her, and though she ultimately rejected me, I still enjoyed working with her.”

Holly Root “She's been really nice in my correspondence with her. She gives good advice on the Waxman blog and in interviews she's given on the web. And, she's got my partial right now.She seems like a class act.”

Mollie Glick “An associate within her firm pointed me to Mollie Glick. She got back to me right away, and was very upbeat about the project I was working on.”

Rachelle Gardner “I'd like to nominate Rachelle Gardner, who is just all around fabulous. She's seems genuinely compassionate, gives terrific advice, and makes herself very approachable.”


Donald Maass “He rejected my query, but took the time to hand-write a letter on his own stationary and put his own stamp on an envelope. That letter not only complemented me on my writing style, but gave positive suggestions on how to improve my project.”

Chris Richman “He stays in close contact with his clients, goofs off on Facebook, is good with helping on revisions, and keeps his clients updated. Seems like a great agent to have. And he's cute!”

Jim McCarthy “I nominate Jim McCarthy if for no other reason he used the word ‘juncture’ in my full rejection.”

Steven Malk “During my manuscript critique, he not only answered all my questions but really took the time to help me as a writer for the long haul.”

Brendan Deneen “Because he judged the contest. It was really awesome to know the top 50. He didn’t have to do that.” “Easy to work with. Nice, even though he looks like a movie star.”

Steven Barbara “The man responds fast. He's great.” “Always approachable, always willing to help a writer out on their journey. And always friendly rejections!”

Nathan BransfordI love to follow his blog and he seems to be very concerned with giving writers a chance. I got to meet him in person at the last conference I went to, and he was so nice about answering all the writers' questions (even the crazy ones).”

Stephen Fraser “Stephen Fraser is wonderful. He gives personalized notes when he passes on your material.” “Great at conferences! He even set aside his chocolate cake to answer the questions he was bombarded with. And he came down the aisle to the song Secret Agent Man. Fun!”

Michael Bourret “I’ve met two authors who are represented by Michael Bourret, and he sounds like the kind of agent anyone would dream of having. Rumor has it, he’s one of the nicest, most up-beat guys out there!”

Jonathan Lyons “Because he responds lightning fast, even if it's a no. A fast response is always appreciated in my book.” “I like the submission form! It takes the guesswork out of querying.”


TO VOTE: Click this LINK, which will take you to the voting page over on the QT main site. You will need a free QueryTracker membership. You may vote once for King and once for Queen, so make your choices wisely! Voting will close Friday, May 29th.

What can I do with the membership? QueryTracker.net is the best way to find an agent and track your queries. It makes the querying process simple! It also tracks data from all 15,000 members, painting a clear picture of what to expect from each agent. From the moment you enroll, you can use your QT membership to find the perfect agent to represent your work.

As always, if you have any questions just let me know. You can leave them in the comments of this post or send me an email, address in the sidebar at right.

Have fun!

Suzy

Suzette Saxton's idea of a perfect day includes a picnic lunch, laughing children, and her laptop. When she's not writing books for kids, Suzette can be found gardening, doing finish carpentry in her home, or walking in the canyon in which she lives.

3 comments:

Stina said...

Wow this was incredibly easy! Got to vote for an agent who gave me amazing feedback on my ms, and for one who brought the YA community a brilliant new talent. What more could I wish for? Great choices from everyone who nominated an agent.

Suzette Saxton said...

Thanks for voting, Stina!

B.J. Anderson said...

I can't wait to see who wins!! :)