Herman Agency (Ronnie Ann Herman)

Queried Jill on May 23. Keeping my fingers crossed that I get a reply. Anyone else waiting? Waiting loves company.

-Debbie

I queried her on April 8th. No response yet, I'm guessing they're a no response = no kinda place.

I don't cross my fingers or track what queries are out where any more. All that angst is reserved for requested material.

Sorry to be the one to confirm your fear. There's a post in the thread from Jill herself stating that if you haven't heard after a month, it's a no. Hope you're having better luck with other agents.

-Debbie

Jill Corcoran

Has anyone recently submitted to Jill? Just curious as to her current timeframe in responding. My writing partner and I submitted a contemporary YA to her yesterday and have our fingers crossed she likes the premise and our sample enough to request more.

I queried Jill back on 8/21. I believe she's a no-response-means-no agent.

I queried Jill, and an older post in this thread that she made confirms she is a no response=no agent. Specifically, if it has been a month after you query her, it's a no.

I saw Jill on the list of top dealmakers for YA (on publishers marketplace). But looking at the website this agency seems to be more interested in marketing than the books themselves.

From the site: "Jill Corcoran, Agent: With an English degree from Stanford University and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from The University of Chicago, Jill has marketed everything from sneakers to cereal at Leo Burnett Advertising, LA Gear, Mattel, and at her own consulting company, LAUNCH! New Product Marketing. Jill is also a children’s book author and poet."

Doesn't even sound like an agent to me.

That sounds like an ideal background for an agent to me -- both literary and business credentials for selecting and selling books. BTW, a fair number of agents are also authors and/or have other side or primary employment.

I don't need an agent to be only about novels. But there is much more of an emphasis on marketing than about the writing industry.

I'm not saying that this is a terrible thing or anything, it just seems a little strange to me (perhaps just because it is different from other agent sites I have visited).

Queried with referral. Actually my referral, an intern who loved my ms even though her agent didn't, queried Jill for me (!!!) Sent in the full on 9/29. Sounds like she's swamped, so it might be a while ...

BTW I read many of Jill's posts on Poetry Fridays, including original poetry, and believe me she's all about writing .

UPDATE
Heard back yesterday and it's a no. Onwards ...

Multi-tasker

Tromboli said:

I don't need an agent to be only about novels. But there is much more of an emphasis on marketing than about the writing industry.

I'm not saying that this is a terrible thing or anything, it just seems a little strange to me (perhaps just because it is different from other agent sites I have visited).

Click to expand...

Trust me: this woman rocks as an agent, and she's only been mine for a few days. I would suggest that you DO look for an agent who is multi-talented: knowledgeable about finance, law, and the craft of writing. Marketing is a huge (and hugely important) part of publishing a book. It doesn't mean that good writing is any less important.

Good luck in your search! It's a hard road, but there are a lot of supportive people here.

I just EQ'd and received this auto reply. I believe I meet these criteria, but I'm confused if I need to resend the query. Did anyone else get this?

"I am OPEN to queries and look forward to reading your work.

Please read the query guidelines below and if you need to feel free to
resend your query.

If you are a published author please include the publisher's name and
year the book was published in the body of the email. Sales data is
appreciated.

I represent Children's Books: Picture Books, Chapter Books, Middle
Grade and Young Adult authors. No adult fiction or non-fiction, kid
non-fiction or high fantasy, no poetry, screenplays, or plays.

Thanks and have a great day,"

Any recent experiences with Jill Corcoran?

I e-q'd on 9/11 and just got a full request today. I'm delighted ... and wondering what her response time on fulls is.

I sent her a full April 2nd. Anxious but excited. Not really clear on the response time as the most recent one on Querytracker got an offer two days later, but I'm willing to play the waiting game as long as necessary, she's a fantastic agent.

For anyone interested Jill is closing to queries May 1st so it's a good time to submit if you were thinking of it.

Anyone else not get an auto-response immediately after querying but still got a response (yay or nay) from Jill?

I didn't get an auto-response (queried 2 days ago), but I don't want to resend it if there's a chance she did get it.

Hi all. Queried on the 18th of April and got a personal rejection letter today. Better than nothing, I suppose. It seems that she does reply now, so keep yr fingers crossed if you haven't heard from her yet, you might still be lucky!

Just visited Jill Corcoran's blog and saw the following:

Starting May 1, 2013 I will only accept queries from authors I meet at conferences, A PATH TO PUBLISHING participants and referrals.

Click to expand...

So it seems that, short of having a referral or being fortunate enough to attend the same conference, the only way to still query Ms. Corcoran is by paying $100 for a Skype chat via A Path to Publishing.

Sigh...

How to get an intern to read your material?

Nadini, how did you get an intern to read your material? I always wanted to have someone remotely connected to agents/the publishing industry to read some of what I wrote so I could at least get a clue from someone who actually knows the business. Not getting feedback sucks and after a good ammount of queries with no response, you kinda start wondering...

Nandini said:

Queried with referral. Actually my referral, an intern who loved my ms even though her agent didn't, queried Jill for me (!!!) Sent in the full on 9/29. Sounds like she's swamped, so it might be a while ...

Click to expand...

No one's posted here in awhile...

I queried Ronnie Herman on 9/12. Today (9/14) I received a full request, along for some clarification of the genre. I sent the materials her way. About two hours later, she wrote me back. In my query letter, I mentioned that my novel got a second prize in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. She looked up the winners and asked me why mine wasn't listed. I clarified that I hadn't actually won, just gotten to a decent qualification round. Hopefully, that confusion won't mess up my chances.

I am very pleased with how quick she's been so far. Hoping for the best.

Anyone have any experience with her lately?

Really don't know what to do here.

Ronnie got back to me, saying that I ought to send my stuff to Jill Corcoran. She also CCed Jill Corcoran on the email chain.

Do I just send Ms. Corcoran my query letter stating that I was referred to her? Do I continue on the current email chain? Do I start a new one?

I've never had a situation like this before...

First, congratulations on the referral!

What I would do is start a new e-mail and include (referred by Ronnie Herman) at the end of the normal subject line. I would treat it as a normal query, with the letter, sample pages, etc., and wait for Jill to ask for more.

Good luck!