The Bent Agency (Jenny Bent)

Got an extremely nice rejection this morning from Gemma Cooper. It was her second time reading the manuscript, so the email was very personalized and had a lot of comments.

It was about a three week turnaround on that full.

Brooks Sherman

Looks like it's official, so: Brooks Sherman, formerly with FinePrint Literary Management, is now with The Bent Agency.

I posted an interview with Beth Phalen, who is still pretty new to The Bent Agency, about her preferences/wishlist, etc. She gave some pretty specific answers, which is always nice

http://alexadonne.com/2014/01/30/agent-interview-beth-phelan-of-the-bent-agency/

alexatd said:

I posted an interview with Beth Phalen, who is still pretty new to The Bent Agency, about her preferences/wishlist, etc. She gave some pretty specific answers, which is always nice

http://alexadonne.com/2014/01/30/agent-interview-beth-phelan-of-the-bent-agency/

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Awesome interview! She's on my query list for sure.

Susan Hawk - urban fantasy?

Susan's coming to my local writing conference. Her site says she is looking for a select list of commercial fiction, such as fantasy. Anyone know if adult urban fantasy is included in this?

Would it be okay to ask on twitter?

I think she'd be okay with a Twitter question or - unless I'm mistaken - there is a Bent agency #askTBA happening on Monday, which would be good timing to ask? #@mollykh tweeted it the other day.

Jenny Bent tweeted about it, too. She said it will be at 3pm on the 3rd. The hashtag is #askTBA

Since this thread got bumped - I nudged Jenny with an offer a few weeks ago. She ended up stepping aside, but was suuuuper lovely. Said some very nice things, left me feeling very positive about her.

Brooks Sherman doesn't seem to have any recent sales other than PB, MG, or YA. But he doesn't specifically say he doesn't handle adult, and he seems like such a good guy. I didn't have high hopes when I queried, and he met my expectations with a polite rejection.

If you're writing for younger ages in genres he reps, I think he'd be awesome. He does a good job of promoting his authors on Twitter, too.

I *think* Susan reps only kid lit. One sec…yep, no books for the adult market: http://www.thebentagency.com/agent_susan_hawk.php


Also, Susan is my agent, and I love her, so all of you that are writing kid lit should definitely query her. We went through three rounds of revisions on 17 FIRST KISSES, the first came with a five page editorial letter full of smily faces and stuff she loved and really helpful feedback. She's really sweet and a joy to work with, and at the same time, is a total shark when it's time to go on sub

Here's an interview on my blog where she talks about what she's looking for (and also her first kiss and who her book boyfriend would be - because those are the kinds of questions I ask!).

http://rachaelallenwrites.blogspot....howComment=1403317976966#c6909654166844851043

Query to Beth last week, form rejection on Monday. It was my first rejection for this project.

Wondering if anyone has experience submitting a full to Susan Hawk? I submitted my full in April. I've inquired via email a few times to see if it's still under consideration and she is always lovely and writes back quickly to say it still is. Just curious if anyone out there is in/has been in the same situation with her having their full for a long time.

July Creek said:

Wondering if anyone has experience submitting a full to Susan Hawk? I submitted my full in April. I've inquired via email a few times to see if it's still under consideration and she is always lovely and writes back quickly to say it still is. Just curious if anyone out there is in/has been in the same situation with her having their full for a long time.

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In my experience (which, admittedly, is several years old), Ms. Hawk takes quite a while to respond (though she does respond promptly to check-ins, as you mentioned). Here's my timeline:

Queried on 18 November 2010
Ms. Hawk requested the full 28 November 2010
Received revision request from another agent in February 2011 (Ms. Hawk agreed to wait to read)
Submitted revised manuscript on 25 May 2011
Ms. Hawk requested her own revision on 12 August 2011
Queried next manuscript (which I'd been working on for months) on 14 November 2011
Ms. Hawk requested the full on 14 November 2011
Received offer from another agent on 16 March 2012
Ms. Hawk respectfully declined on 16 March 2012 with a note that she'd been on the fence

Hope that helps!

JJ Litke said:

Brooks Sherman doesn't seem to have any recent sales other than PB, MG, or YA. But he doesn't specifically say he doesn't handle adult, and he seems like such a good guy. I didn't have high hopes when I queried, and he met my expectations with a polite rejection.

If you're writing for younger ages in genres he reps, I think he'd be awesome. He does a good job of promoting his authors on Twitter, too.

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Just a heads-up that Brooks posted today to say he was actively looking to expand his adult list in both fiction and non-fiction - wish list of projects he's looking for here.

http://jennybent.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/brookss-adult-wish-list.html

same cruise

July Creek said:

Wondering if anyone has experience submitting a full to Susan Hawk? I submitted my full in April. I've inquired via email a few times to see if it's still under consideration and she is always lovely and writes back quickly to say it still is. Just curious if anyone out there is in/has been in the same situation with her having their full for a long time.

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Hi. I'm in the same boat—or cruise, perhaps. Susan Hawk seems to be quite busy. She's had my full ms since February (9 months), and she's sent me 3 lovely emails saying yes, she's still interested, but is backlogged. Because she's the top-top on my list, I still hope to hear from her with good news. But, as we've read elsewhere on AWWC, a long wait doesn't always mean good news is on the other end.
Good luck, and crossing fingers for you!

I queried Beth Phelan on 11/19/14 and received a request for a full today, 11/24. Regrettably, I'd already had my full requested by another agent along with a two-week exclusive - which I'd granted - so I had to write her back and tell her so. Here's hoping she's still interested if the first agent passes!

I queried Beth on 11/26 and received a full request yesterday 12/2 (pretty quick response with Turkey Day in the mix). First query with a new query letter too, so must be going in the right direction with the query. Will update on response time with the full, and of course what the response is!

Good Luck!

stephen andrew said:

I queried Beth on 11/26 and received a full request yesterday 12/2 (pretty quick response with Turkey Day in the mix). First query with a new query letter too, so must be going in the right direction with the query. Will update on response time with the full, and of course what the response is!

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Hope the odds are in your favor!

Got a full request from Molly Ker Hawn on Saturday morning! Here's hoping it's good news.

Congratulations, Silverrosess. May I inquire, what was your timeline from sub to full request?

Sure Maddie. I queried Thursday at 11 AM (ish), got a reply Saturday morning (which would have been Saturday afternoon for Ms. Hawn, who lives in London, England).

I queried Jenny Bent yesterday, and got a request for a full this morning. After running in circles through my house yelling "Omigodomigodomigod!!!!" loudly enough to wake the neighbors, I sent it off. (It's my first request for a full!)

I also thought it was extremely kind of her to respond so quickly, so I think that speaks well of her.

Congrats, fourteenwords! Crossing my fingers for you!

Although I'm parting with this agency at the moment, they've been fantastically supportive to me, and I've learned a lot. Anyone who finds a place with them will do well. Best of luck!

Anyone have insight into how long Jenny Bent takes to respond to full requests? Sent mine on 12/24/14.