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Nelson Literary Agency, LLC (Kristin Nelson)

Kaybi

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My book is totally womens science fiction, I think it is a good idea and I definately think someone will want it, if not I plan on self publishing. I am a tech nerd so I will probably podcast chapters like a serial and then allow people who want to buy the whole thing to go to my website and purchase it.
That's the plan anyways. I'll put it into action in a few months or after 20 to 30 rejections. That will give me time to find the capital needed to self publish.
 

Deb Kinnard

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Kaybi, have you ever thought of (legit) small-presses? There are quite a few that aren't WIBCs (well intentioned but clueless) or scams. PM me if you want and we'll discuss further. Fortunately I'm not a publisher myself, but have been around the s.p. block a time or two.

Yog's Law: money flows TO the author...
 

revolocard

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Any recent word on query turnaround times with the magnificent Ms. Nelson?

Also, on the agency's site, under submission FAQ, she outlines what to put in a 12 page book proposal. Does she ever ask for a proposal? Should I have one ready? Or does she just put that there as general information in case other agencies ask for them? Any experience here?
 
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alias octavia

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I queried her right after the beginning of the year (1/5) and got a request for the first 30 pages 3 days later. My partial has been out with her for 2 weeks now.
 

Saskatoonistan

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I'd queried her last August and was asked to send the complete manuscript for my novel "Shade Fright". I was rejected just before Christmas with one of the most concise critiques of my work I've ever had - liked the story, need to do a rewrite basically. I will send it to her again once it's done.

If anyone's interested, Kristin has a great blog posting about her statistics from last year entitled "A Year In Statistics". Here's what her numbers look like in terms of anyone's chances of landing her as an agent last year:

21
books sold

22
foreign rights deals done (and that includes several overseas auctions)

2
number of new clients

35,000
estimated number of queries read and responded to (and yes, that is up from last year)

88
full manuscripts requested (up from last year)

3
number of projects currently on submission

1
major motion picture deal

3
auctions

1
Pre-empt

8
new deals for previously published clients

6
deals for debut clients

700,000+
number of copies in print for my bestselling titles this year

100,000+
number of copies in print for my bestselling debut this year

8
conferences attended

2
number of New York Times Bestsellers

1
Number of books named to Publisher’s Weekly list of top books of the year

350
number of holiday cards sent

6
number of Starbucks eggnog chai consumed in the last week

Lots
number of late nights reading on the couch with Chutney

All
number of great days loving my job
So if she requested your full manuscript last year, you (like me) were one of 88 people out of 35,000 queries. I take heart in the fact that I was one of the 88 out of 35,000 and so should you if she requested a full. It tells me my writing doesn't suck (always a good thing, yes?) and it reminds me I still have a lot of work to do in refining my craft.
 
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frandavea

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I got a request for the first 30 pages, and was sent a password to upload the sample. Even though I formated the files in the requested format, a page popped up telling me to try again (this happened several times). Anyone else had trouble with this?
 

Red.Ink.Rain

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Yay! She's looking for sci-fi! *dances* Another agent to query once CoS is done!

(I really need to write the dang book instead of daydreaming about who I'll send it to.)
 

Tasmin21

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Frandavea - I had problems submitting my partial to her for the same reason, but I can't for the life of me remember how I finally got it to work. Sorry I can't be more help.
 

MDRoberg

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I just barely sent off a query. I found her through AgentQuery and poked around the site. I was so impressed with her style and her information there on the site that I zapped off a query before I could get anxious over it.
 

astonwest

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Frandavea - I had problems submitting my partial to her for the same reason, but I can't for the life of me remember how I finally got it to work. Sorry I can't be more help.
I don't recall having any issues submitting a partial to her when it was requested last year...
 

DeadlyAccurate

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I didn't see that this has been mentioned, but Kristin Nelson's assistant, Sara Megibow, is now acquiring projects of her own. From the Nelson Literary monthly newsletter (Don't get their monthly newsletter? I highly recommend you do):

Sara Megibow said:
In terms of genre, the Nelson Agency still reps romance (everything but inspirational and category), science fiction and fantasy, young adult, middle grade, chick lit, commercial and literary fiction and some memoir. Personally, I love super sexy and intelligent romances. In the sf/fantasy world, I am looking for the story and characters to be as compelling as the world. In terms of YA and MG, I am excited to see more projects set in the real world (as opposed to vampires or werewolves, although, of course, those are still okay). Finally, I am itching for some fabulous historical fiction (like MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH) or multicultural fiction both for younger readers and the adult market.

Queries still go to their one submission address, though.
 

alias octavia

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I got a request for the first 30 pages, and was sent a password to upload the sample. Even though I formated the files in the requested format, a page popped up telling me to try again (this happened several times). Anyone else had trouble with this?

Did you ever get this resolved? I was reading on querytracker that people had trouble with docx files. They had to save it as just a doc. I submitted a doc file and it worked just fine.

Anybody waiting to hear on a partial from KN? Has anyone gotten a response recently? My partial has been out to her for over four weeks now.... I heard that she normally turns them around really fast. Hmmmm.
 

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Anybody waiting to hear on a partial from KN? Has anyone gotten a response recently? My partial has been out to her for over four weeks now.... I heard that she normally turns them around really fast. Hmmmm.

It took her eight weeks to get back to me on a full...
 

revolocard

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Has anyone tried querying Sara? Has she done any interviews aside from what she said on Ms. Nelson's blog? I googled to no avail. As in awe I am of Kristin Nelson, especially with her signing Sarah Rees Brennan, I'm actually starting to think Sara Megibow's the better match for my book. And I was going to query the Nelson Agency tomorrow! Good thing I checked this thread!
 

Vandal

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Has anyone tried querying Sara? Has she done any interviews aside from what she said on Ms. Nelson's blog? I googled to no avail. As in awe I am of Kristin Nelson, especially with her signing Sarah Rees Brennan, I'm actually starting to think Sara Megibow's the better match for my book. And I was going to query the Nelson Agency tomorrow! Good thing I checked this thread!


I got a polite, one-day e-jection from Sara a few days ago.
 

Wonderlander

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I submitted to their general submissions address but addressed the query to Sara Megibow, and have just been asked for a partial.

My first partial request for this book! YAAAAY!

They sound an awesome agency.
 

Wonderlander

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good luck, wonderlander!

Ta very much! I'm thrilled, to be honest. Hopefully they'll like it.

I submitted to them on the 7th, which was a Saturday, and the reply was in my inbox Wednesday morning (I'm based in the UK, so it must have been sent Tuesday night from Denver, and whoever sent it was working fairly late, I think). It showed they must work pretty hard, and it wasn't like there was an enormous hurry to respond. It created a very favourable impression, to be honest.
 
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lm728

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[Agent] Sara Megibow of the Nelson Agency

I read on Kristin Nelson's blog that Sara's currently accepting; did anyone query her? What was her response time, etc.?
 

MCarter

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Sent them a query last week, liked the look of the agency even though my story doesn't seem to fit their usual type of book. However, got a request for sample pages. Remaining cautiously optimistic.