Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency

It's among the absolute best agencies in Canada, and we don't exactly have a lot of literary agencies up here in the great white north. The handle literary fiction, juvenile and teen books and some commercial fiction. No romance, science fiction, poetry, screenplays or kids picture books. The agency considers fantasy for children but not for adults. The rep Arthur Black who had a long running radio show on Saturday mornings on CBC radio - the guy is a national treasure as well as W.P. Kinsella who is a literary giant in Canada.

That's great, Little1! I've queried the Swayze agency a number of times and heard nothing back from them. They're one of the agencies that doesn't respond if not interested. They are, however, seriously legit.

Good luck!

Little1 said:

Thanks Saskatoon. They sent me an email with a requst for more information.. :S I hope they like it and chose to rep me

Sent a query on 6/25
Reqeust for more info 6/28

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That's awesome! They seriously never respond unless they're interested. Well done!

They sound great! I can't believe I missed them in my research. I just sent a query/syn/10pages.

Chumplet said:

They sound great! I can't believe I missed them in my research. I just sent a query/syn/10pages.

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Good luck!!!!

Thanks!

She's right in my backyard so I queried her even though my book didn't really fit her list. She sent a very polite, kindly worded rejection, letting me know that my book didn't really fit her list.

Class act as far as I can tell.

"Thank you for the interesting query. The concept has many worthwhile elements but due to our workload and current areas of expertise, I do not believe we are quite the right agency for this project. We are rarely able to add new authors to our roster."

I dug out the e-mail. Maybe that's what she says to everyone but it felt like it was directed at me.

Little1 said:

I just got a R. Ah well, would have been nice to have her as an agent but there are more good agents out there

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Keep on truckin'! You'll find the right one.

Drachen Jager said:

"Thank you for the interesting query. The concept has many worthwhile elements but due to our workload and current areas of expertise, I do not believe we are quite the right agency for this project. We are rarely able to add new authors to our roster."

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Got the exact same wording on my R (five weeks for the response) from a Rose Burkoff.

Still, they seem like a good outfit, repping several terrific writers.

I recently queried them and got a very fast request for a partial from an agent there named Kris Rothstein. Has anyone here had personal experience with her?

estrempler said:

I recently queried them and got a very fast request for a partial from an agent there named Kris Rothstein. Has anyone here had personal experience with her?

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She read one of my novels and was very professional. Sadly, she rejected it in the end, but she gave me some great feedback.

Thanks Feedback is always (well, almost always) welcome.

Sorry that she gave you a rejection, though.

Hmm, well I got my response back from Kris a while back, and I must say, straightforwardly, that I was completely unimpressed. In her first message to me she seemed surprised that the first five pages weren't "thrilling", which seemed strange, since I read a lot of books and usually at least the first chapter is lead in. Then I sent her a partial, and she responded with a scathing and completely unhelpful short e-mail a while later, which said nothing of substance. It claimed that my "planning" was bad, among other extremely vague, non-constructive criticisms.

I should note that this is the first piece of criticism I have received in over 60 queries, and that she is the only person to claim that my first five pages were dull. All in all, the experience was strange, and I wouldn't recommend Kris as someone to work with. The experience didn't invest me with any faith in her abilities.

Thought it time to bump this thread.

So I sent out a query Feb 22 with 10 pages (first chapter as it turned out) as per their quidlines.
Feb 27 Kris asked to see the next 60 pages
March 6 got a reply from Kris requesting the full on a three week exclusive, but suggested I read through it again to catch a few grammatical errors (she pointed out a few things to look for)
Granted 3 weeks, re-read and sent off full script. Now I'm just playing the waiting game!
For Canadian agencies, this is one of the top and I would love to be signed with them

Good luck AlishaS!! (And thanks for the bump.)

Sorry for the R and yes I agree sometimes it's better not to say anything, especially having only read such a short snippet of something. Maybe this is just her form rejection?

Anyways, keep on querying Jacki!

Jacki said:

Hello Everyone,

I queried 1/16/12 and received this response on 3/15/12. I always welcome constructive criticism, but this just seemed it would have been better to say nothing at all.

Thank you for the query which I found interesting. Unfortunately I didn't really find the way the scenario was executed believable or natural. Sorry to disappoint.

Rose

Since this agency only requests 10 pages I find it hard to understand how she could say the scenario wasn't believeable or natural in my execution. This agency states that they are interested in children's fantasy. I'm sure if they know the meaning of fantasy. Did you question in Narnia how there was another world in the wardrobe? Or in Percy Jackson how the Empire State building is a secret entrance to Mt. Olympus?

Jacki

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I'm sure it's better to question the expertise of an agent than to wonder if there might be some fault with your own work.

Have to agree with Karen here. That was constructive criticism as opposed to the usual non-reply of some agents or generic "Not for me" from most others.

Edit: Both your examples Percy Jackson & Chronicles of Narnia have openings that grab you within the first paragraph or two. Instead of finding fault with those works take a long look and see what they may have in the first ten pages that yours doesn't.