Corvisiero Literary Agency / Literary Powerhouse Consulting (Marisa Corvisiero)

They are also open to submissions now, so it's probably time for a new thread.

Karen Junker said:

Today on Twitter I met Michelle L. Johnson--she's an intern with the agency (but working toward becoming a full agent) and also runs her own editing business (besides being an author herself) at http://www.michelleljohnson.com/editing-services/

I will let you draw your own conclusions.

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I just wanted to pop in and mention that on my website is a statement that says:
"Please note that , under no circumstances will Michelle represent your book as an agent if you have contracted her editing services."

That statement has been there all along. Any paid editing I do is for authors who have no interest in querying me. I have not crossed this line, nor will I.
A lot of agents come into the business from an editing background, and that is a good thing, for they can then help you (should they represent your book) to bring out the very best in your book. All of this work, however, doesn't pay my rent.
For the first few years while building a client list, I still need to make a living. As an agent I do not receive any remuneration until the book is sold - that means months of editing, pitching, submitting, negotiating, etc. before seeing any kind of payment.
So I privately edit books for two independent publishers, and a handful of private editing clients.
I have had people query me who, after rejection, have asked me to edit their work. I flatly refused. I will not do that, nor would I refer them to anyone. If someone needs an editor, there are lots out there to find. I won't risk my reputation by giving people a referral that people may see as a conflict of interest.

I hope this answers your questions.

Thank you, Michelle.

There's no tactful way to say this, so I'm just going to say it. Michelle's novel is published by Koehler Books (an imprint of Morgan James, which requires authors to buy mass quantities of their own books). Koehler offers "co-publishing" contracts (authors pay $5,000 or more), and also claims to offer traditional contracts. Even if Michelle didn't pay a fee to publish, I'd be concerned that an agent who chose a predominantly fee-based publisher for her own book might feel such a publisher was a good choice for my book as well.

- Victoria

victoriastrauss said:

There's no tactful way to say this, so I'm just going to say it. Michelle's novel is published by Koehler Books (an imprint of Morgan James, which requires authors to buy mass quantities of their own books). Koehler offers "co-publishing" contracts (authors pay $5,000 or more), and also claims to offer traditional contracts. Even if Michelle didn't pay a fee to publish, I'd be concerned that an agent who chose a predominantly fee-based publisher for her own book might feel such a publisher was a good choice for my book as well.

- Victoria

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Interesting that you brought that up, Victoria.
I wrote that book on contract with Koehler Books after receiving a (disturbingly minimal) advance. It was a "traditional" contract. My book was published without my paying any fees whatsoever.
It was written, published, and released before I became an agent.
Since that book has been published, Koehler bought in with Morgan James and changed his business model, as well as many of his standard business procedures.
In my effort to disassociate myself from Koehler Books, I have been working with a literary attorney to get the rights to my book back. The book has been pulled from the shelves, but my rights have not been given back to me yet.
My trials with Koehler Books are part of the reason I have chosen the path of the literary agent, Victoria, so that I may be not just a representative of authors who are my clients, but an advocate for authors and their rights.
Perhaps there are those that would argue that you wouldn't want to risk your life with a firefighter who has a burn scar on his face - but in my opinion the firefighter who has been burned knows the danger of the flame and may very well be your best bet to keep you away from it.
Metaphors aside, Victoria, I only submit my clients' work to the top publishers. Publishers they are unable to submit to themselves. That is my job, plain and simple.
Every one of my clients whose work is out on submission has an average of 4 (out of the top 6) major publishers considering their full manuscripts.
I hope this clears things up for you.

~Michelle

Michelle L Johnson said:

I hope this clears things up for you.

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It certainly does for me.

N.b. vague pronoun references pave the road to Hell.

Looks like Michelle started a new agency. Heres the link. http://www.inklingsliterary.com/site/mobile?url=http://www.inklingsliterary.com/Home_Page.html#2610

Just a bit of an edit on the link http://www.inklingsliterary.com (I was getting that 404 error)
http://www.inklingsliterary.com/

Thanks. Tried posting from my phone which apparently didn't work that well.

Yeah, the link said mobile something so I figured it was that.

I'd still wait a while too in looking at the client page. Assuming she was the agent of her clients for the books that were published last year. Most of the publishers look like start ups or ones you don't need an agent for. Unless Michelle is including the clients she only did edits for in the list? If that's the case they shouldn't be on the Agent site.

As Tromboli said up thread, maybe this one should be split off now?

Here's the new thread for Inklings http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=263507

Jamie is a newer agent so some of the clients listed are hers that are on sub now (I have a friend who is repped by Jamie and she LOVES her)

Just a quick one. I saw on the previous posts that Corvisiero had no sales to one of the Big 6, but they now have a sale to Harper Collins, so it looks like they're getting somewhere now.

Any updated opinions on them? The sales list on their website lists a lot of sales to places like Ellora's Cave, but those are almost all erotica sales, which don't bother me as much (I don't know that Random House is buying a ton of erotica).

They also have a few recent sales to HarperCollins, as well as Baen and a couple Simon and Schuster imprints. They're still not chock full of Big 5 sales, but it seems promising. They've expressed some interest in my manuscript, and it seems like the agency is at least trending correctly, but some of the comments here still make me hesitate a little. Anyone with access to Publisher's Marketplace have anything to add?

EDIT: And as an aside, might I suggest a name change to 'Corvisiero Literary Agency?' I know you merged the two threads to keep the conversation together, but given that LitPow is on hiatus/restructuring, but people are still submitting to the Corvisiero agency, the latter may be more relevant than the former.

I know that Marisa and I went back and forth for years with her promising to read my manuscripts, etc. She is notoriously hard to get in touch with. Don't know if that's true for her other agents. Clients I talked to seemed happy with the agency. I eventually gave up and got my own deals.

popgun62 said:

I know that Marisa and I went back and forth for years with her promising to read my manuscripts, etc. She is notoriously hard to get in touch with. Don't know if that's true for her other agents. Clients I talked to seemed happy with the agency. I eventually gave up and got my own deals.

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Was this after you had signed with her?

Let's put it this way - she used words something to the effect of "yes, I will help you with your book." Vague and confusing. I was never sure what the hell was going on. So, after a couple of years, I gave up and moved on.

Since this is a query one agency only -- and the agent you queried has left, and it's been almost a year - is it all right to query another at this agency?
Thanks!

I would think it's okay. Did you ever get a response?

Why the splits?

I'm wondering why so many people have split away from the Corvisiero Literary Agency?

Is it because Lit Pow is defunct or some other issue?

I have no inside information or anything, and it might be that LitPow lead to some people leaving. But keep in mind that 1) agents coming and going from agencies is extraordinarily common, even in Big Famous Agencies, and 2) Corvisiero seems to take on a lot of apprentices. Again, no idea what exactly this entails, but in general, I'd think that apprentices would plan to eventually join another agency (or start their own).

My agent and one of her partners came from there. People come and go and start their own agencies. Their new partner was formerly with JABberwocky. It happens.

That's good the hear, because I have been wanting Marisa as my agent since getting into the business.

Anyone know anything about Cate Hart?

Sent my query in on Monday to Marisa with the synopsis and sample. Because I prefer her as my agent, I also told her I would keep it exclusive for 2 weeks.