List of Agents who take Graphic Novel queries

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comicbookwriter

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How's everyone's querying going?

I wanted to extend a very warm and appreciative THANK YOU for providing a catalog of interested agencies and managers. I have a lot going on right now and a title being released from a major publisher but I have no representation.

Thanks to this list, I sent out my material and have several major management groups interested in my work.

Of course, most of this could lead to nowhere, but at least people know I exist and you never know what that could lead to.

Thanks again!!!

CBW
 

myrmidon

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Baryonyx

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I tooled over to Publishers Marketplace and found a few recent deals by people who aren't on the list.

Eric Ruben
Kristin Nelson
Al Zuckerman of Writers House

Sorry to be way off topic here guys!

I have to ask, how are you doing with getting your Graphic Novel published?

Remember you back in query letter hell mentioning the agency/publisher who were meaning to get back to you and well. . .didn't.

Did they end up finally getting back to you about it? Hope you've had some success :)
 

elae

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Congrats, comicbookwriter! Can you PM/rep me who you ended up with? I'm curious and like to keep the list up-to-date with agents who are actively taking on GNs (vs those who say it and later decide the market isn't for them).

And Miss Plum, thanks for the new names! Can you share the PM deals? (or just the author or genres). I actually have a bunch more I need to add when i can get a minute of free time... gah. Comic-making is time consuming.
 

Miss Plum

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Zefiris, check your PMs.

elae:

  1. Anne Elizabeth's THE PENDULUM, in which a Greenwich gal with too much money and too much magical power, struggles to rein in her power and use it for the forces of good, to Sea Lion Books, for publication in October 2011, in a seven-book deal, by Eric Ruben
  2. NYT bestselling author Gail Carriger's first three books in the Alexia Tarabotti series: Soulless, Changeless, and Blameless, to Kurt Hassler at Yen Press, by Kristin Nelson
  3. F. Paul Wilson's REPAIRMAN JACK, graphic novels and comic books based on 3 book YA series with Tor, to David Dabel at Dabel Brothers, by Al Zuckerman at Writers House
All three are listed under "Graphic Novels" at Publishers Marketplace.
 

elae

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Information on her/her agency is not as out there as I'd like but I notice Cheng Caplan Company (Angela Cheng Caplan) is not on your list and I know she represents Brian Wood...?

http://www.chengcaplanco.com/

I've added her to the list! I know she represents Warren Ellis' film/TV stuff too, but he has a different literary agent.

Zefiris, check your PMs.

elae:

1. Anne Elizabeth's THE PENDULUM, in which a Greenwich gal with too much money and too much magical power, struggles to rein in her power and use it for the forces of good, to Sea Lion Books, for publication in October 2011, in a seven-book deal, by Eric Ruben
2. NYT bestselling author Gail Carriger's first three books in the Alexia Tarabotti series: Soulless, Changeless, and Blameless, to Kurt Hassler at Yen Press, by Kristin Nelson
3. F. Paul Wilson's REPAIRMAN JACK, graphic novels and comic books based on 3 book YA series with Tor, to David Dabel at Dabel Brothers, by Al Zuckerman at Writers House

All three are listed under "Graphic Novels" at Publishers Marketplace.

I took a look-- #2 and #3 are both novel adaptation sales, so I don't think I'll list those agents for now. There seem to be a lot of agents who will sell adaptation rights, but not represent GNs themselves.

I did add Eric Ruben to the list. Does anyone know anything more about him? Does he have any other sales? He seems to be a lawyer, so I'm not sure how he splits his time.
Sea Lion Books seems to be brand new, and all of their other planned titles are adaptations (and multi-book ones at that). The 7-book deal certainly made me pause; I wonder how a brand new company is managing that?

Other changes/info!

First, Bernadette Baker-Baughman has gone back to Victoria Sanders agency, so Baker's Mark seems to be closed. Her Twitter says "Send queries to my attention at [email protected]".
http://www.victoriasanders.com/

Beth Fleisher of Barry Goldblatt/BG Literary says she does *not* represent adult graphic novels. She's looking for "1) hybrid books "like wimpy kid" in terms of style, 2) middle grade and younger; 3) perhaps YA if it's YA fantasy adventure, or something that really stands out from the pack."

Additions!

Seth Fishman - Gernert Company
http://www.thegernertco.com/
http://motherwrite.blogspot.com/2010/07/interview-with-agent-seth-fishman.html
"This fall, the graphic novel FARM 54 will be published by Fanfare."
"His interests are wide-ranging–basically whatever is well-written and creative–but they boil down in particular to literary and commercial fiction, popular (fun) science, young adult, sci-fi/fantasy and graphic novels (of both a traditional and literary bent)."

Yukari Shiina
http://world-manga.com/
http://twitter.com/ceena_
Represents Ken Niimura (previously drew I Kill Giants), Felipe Smith, Philippe Cardona to JAPANESE publishers. Don't query her if you want to be published in the US! She only sells to the Japanese market. Manga-influenced artists take note.
Connected to/judged Kodansha's International Comics Competition (one of THE major Japanense comic publishers)
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/japanamerica-galapagos-vs-global/
"Thus far, the number of non-native artists World-manga.com has managed to import and publish matches its years of operation: exactly three"

--

Also of note, art agency Pickled Ink was having a call for entries (deadline today, sorry for the late notice) to choose an artist for a graphic novel-- but they were asking for "character design of two lead characters; and a 20 frame sample sequence and a front cover design." Only the winner would be paid (£1000), and you have to be either a student or just graduated. No mention of publishing plans, just that they have a writer and the project needs an artist.
http://www.pickledink.com/
http://www.pickledink.com/images/stories/PickledInk_Artists/PDF_Pickled_Award.pdf


Whew. Sorry for the delay. And thanks again for all the new names and updates!
 

myrmidon

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Wow. That's terrible news about Bakersmark...it's also odd considering that the website is still up and running - with a current twitter...guess time will tell what the deal is.

Thanks as always for the great updates elae.
 

elae

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I know Gretchen left Baker's Mark a while back (I think she's doing freelance editing now?), so I think it makes sense for Bernadette to go back to her original agency. I'm pretty sure she'd kept some ties with them even while independent.

She changed her Twitter description to list victoriasanders.com-- I figure she just didn't want to have to switch her account name? The Baker's Mark site doesn't look like it's been updated in months! No clue if they'll have it redirect.

And good luck with your book on sub! Hope it's going well.
 

Miss Plum

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Bernadette is still considering graphic novels, however. I got a request from her (I'd signed with someone else in the meantime).
 

elae

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Right-- she's still on my list, just relocated. She's still looking for the same genres as before.
 

myrmidon

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@elae: Yeah, I guess it's only the twitter that looks like it's updating on closer inspection. Still a bummer. I liked those gals - and I liked BakersMark. Anyway, onward and upward.

My agent and I came THIS CLOSE to selling to a huge house, but things went pear shaped and we pulled from sub (we only did a small 7 house submission initially). I went back to doing some revisions based on publisher feedback and just turned it back in to my agent last week. So settling in for the wait. I'm hopeful he'll be happy with it and we'll go back out in December to a larger list and a few that were interested but ultimately passed...but that may be too optimistic. Regardless it's been exciting and horrible and crazy all rolled into one.

How goes your new agent search? Maps & Legends is looking great - I can't imagine that's not helping you get some bites...?
 

Miss Plum

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myrmidon, arrrrggghhh. Better luck in December. You'll let us know how it goes, right?
 

daviidwilson

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do you find agents are more interested in adult or YA graphic novels?
From what I've seen, the majority of agents (at least those who represent graphic novels) represent both adult and YA. If they only do YA, it's because they specialize in children's books/MG. The only other one I see on my list that wants just YA/younger GNs is Rosemary Stimola, despite representing some adult fiction.

Veritas Literary Agency doesn't seem to express any interest in YA, and neither does Rob McQuilkin of Lippincott Massie McQuilkin. Same with Samantha Haywood of the Transatlantic Literary Agency.
The Susan Rabiner Literary Agency represents primarily "narrative nonfiction", so you may not want to bother if yours is fiction.
Others, like Evan Goldfried, say they are specifically interested writer/artists, not just scripts.

I'm sure there are more, but those are just the ones I see at a glance. The overarching thing I see is a lack of interest in superhero-themes. YA is probably an easier sell, because of the manga boom, but strong literary works are also a draw (because of the success of Persepolis, Fun Home, etc). Adult "genre" fiction is most likely toughest to sell, but that's just a feeling I get...

Feel free to post how long your query responses take, you guys! If anyone wants to know how long my turn-around was for any agent in particular, just ask. :)
 

elae

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Yeah. That's spam. Ignore the above post.


Myrmidon, I hope your second round goes well! I can only image how frustrating it must be to get soo close but not have a deal in your hands. Good to hear you'll send the revised MS to the close-call editors. Hopefully that'll be enough of an improvement to grab 'em. :)

The agent search is slow and sadly not so hot at the moment. I've almost exhausted my list (since this title is very much adult, I had to cut out all agents who only rep kids/teens titles). I have 4 fulls out right now and 11 queries.
I've gotten some great feedback from agents, just no offers, haha. I was blown away when Judy Hansen called me to give me feedback a few months ago. She was wonderful to talk to.

Mentioning In Maps & Legends does seem to help (especially being able to say "previously published by DC Comics imprint Zuda"). IM&L is in a completely different style from SOME DID REST (the project I'm querying), so I think it's useful to show my range as well.
 

elae

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Hey guys! Updates to the list. It's been a while, I know, but I've got a few tidbits now...

First off, it looks like Beth Fleisher has left BG Literary and started her own agency, Clear Sailing Creatives. If you look at my last update, you'll see she's only interested in younger-audience GN projects, however.

Related to that, there's a contest going on where you can win a query critique from Beth through WriteOnCon, an online kids-MG-YA convention. The deadline is March 15.

Another agent on the GN list is offering a similar prize: Marietta Zacker

I know we've mentioned Weronika Janczuk in this thread-- she's on the list because she offered to represent a graphic novel last year, but her current "looking for x projects" doesn't list graphic novels at all. This post from July last year also says "I don't have much of an interest in graphic novels", and her recommended twitter list of GN authors is now a dead link (which I assume means her interest has waned even further). What do you think-- should I keep her on the GN-agents list?

Emily van Beek has left Pippin Properties and joined Folio Lit. Not 100% sure she's still repping GNs; anyone know?

Lippincott Massie McQuilkin Agency was already on the list with Rob McQuilkin, but Will Lippincott just sold a graphic novel in a pre-empt at the beginning of March, so I've added him to the list as well.

Also new: Nicole Aragi of Aragi, Inc. She seems to represent Daniel Clowes, but according to everything I can find is closed to queries and has a very high profile (and limited) client list.

And Charlie Olsen of Inkwell Management represents Matt Kindt and had recent sales to DarkHorse and First Second. His Twitter is also the very nice ComicsisPeople, so I have a feeling he's a personal fan!

I think that's all for this update. Anyone else have any news?
 
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Brendon Jacobs

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Hey all, how you all doing? Still writing I hope.

I'm a bit confused. I want to contact these people but I was told by these other people the last time I contacted someone that my book is too long...is that even possible? I'm going to have to divide the book into two parts, (700 A5 pages each) with pictures here and there. There are 14 chapters or Episodes in the story (this character's story) and now it seems I will have to divide it into two parts. Still they told me 700-something pages is far too long. I can't cut it any shorter...it is very involved and there are a (sniff) load of characters in it who all have their own agendas and goals not to mention their personalities and err...special skills.

What do you think? If I don't divide it, it will be 1400-something pages (A5) but if I divide it into two books or 'seasons' (which fits my book's structure perfectly) then it will be 700-something pages each.

Anyway now that that's over. Is Evan Goldfried really that good?

Please get back to me on the pages count issue. May I ask for your opinions? Divide it or don't divide it. It's not my fault I got a long story...it's just that the characters are very busy. And there is a lot going on in their little world.

Thanks :)
 

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Rather than equivocate...

Nobody will publish a 700 or 1400 page graphic, illustrated or just plain ol' prose novel from a writer with no established track record.

Not no how, not no way.

And even if you did have a track record, 700 pages is still beyond too long. Way beyond.

For it to even be considered, you'd have to have a JK Rowling or George RR Martin track record.
 

Brendon Jacobs

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Awesome, it's a book with illustrations. So 700 pages (A5) is out of the question. So how much is the standard limit? There's a lot of climatic points where I can end it. For example the end of the 6th episode Which will make it 600 (A5) or so pages. There's 14 episodes in total but that's far too long. So at first I thought maybe divide it in two seasons but that would be 700 pages (A5). Or should I cut it at the 4th which will make it about 535 (A5) pages? The Assassin's Creed book was about that long. However if I cut it there then I hope people like 'cliffhanger' endings. What's your opinions? If I cut it at 535 pages there's no way I can avoid that cliffhanger ending and I do know some people hate that (I for one love it).

:)
 

Rob Lefebvre

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I am not sure how accurate this info is, but I seem to remember hearing for a first time author it is usually 80000-10000 words. For a Graphic novel I think it is under 120 pages. Obviously there is quite a margin, but I think shooting somewhere in that range is probably good. If I am wrong feel free to correct me. Best of luck.
 

Brendon Jacobs

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Ai Rob my man...120 is too short... :/ But not all of it is pictures though just here and there, there is a picture and each Episode (or chapter) has a front cover plus at least one full page picture about a very in detailed scene (normally a door breach or a 11ft war machine jumping through a equally large window)

I've been thinking about it all day...500 pages is about my limit. It's the shortest I can go without not making sense. My Episodes are broken up into 'Acts' but only for bookmark purposes (think of it as adverts in a Tv Series).
 
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