Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency

Jessica Regel

I queried her earlier this week and just heard back this evening (definitely the only time I've heard back from an agent in the evening) that she wants an exclusive on the first 3 chapters. I have the full out with another agent, and honestly had just gotten back from Office Depot with supplies to start sending out the paper queries to the agencies that require them.

This thread has been so helpful. I feel like I now sort of know how to politely share my inability to honor the exclusive, but I wonder, do I have to offer more terms. Can I just ask if she is still interested in seeing it on a non-exclusive basis? I just sent out a batch of e-queries on Monday night and haven't heard from two of the other agents, and two from the previous week, so I could still get requests from them....

Any thoughts? I'm going to fire off an email pretty soon.

redsoxfan83 said:

I queried her earlier this week and just heard back this evening (definitely the only time I've heard back from an agent in the evening) that she wants an exclusive on the first 3 chapters. I have the full out with another agent, and honestly had just gotten back from Office Depot with supplies to start sending out the paper queries to the agencies that require them.

This thread has been so helpful. I feel like I now sort of know how to politely share my inability to honor the exclusive, but I wonder, do I have to offer more terms. Can I just ask if she is still interested in seeing it on a non-exclusive basis? I just sent out a batch of e-queries on Monday night and haven't heard from two of the other agents, and two from the previous week, so I could still get requests from them....

Any thoughts? I'm going to fire off an email pretty soon.

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Jennifer Weltz asked me for an exclusive also. Like you, I had partials at other agents. I sent her the following email and she had no problem with it--although she subsequently rejected me!

Thank you for your interest in my novel, XXX. I have submitted the material to other agents, so I'm unable to grant an exclusive at this time. Should I receive an offer of representation, I will be happy to contact you immediately before making any decision. Pursuant to your guidelines, I've attached the first three chapters and a copy of the query letter if you still wish to review.

Still active?

I hope people are still checking this thread, because I have a question about Jessica Regel.

Like most of you, she requested an exclusive on the 1st three chapters. I have a partial out with another agency but sent the chapters anyway, letting Jessica know that I already have submissions out.

From everyone's posts, it sounds like she gets back to everyone to say it is ok and she will still consider the submission. I never got that confirmation email. Has anyone else had the same issue? I don't want to bug her to confirm.

Should I just sit my impatient behind down and assume she got it and plans to read it? Or move on?

Both - assume she got it and that she'll read it without the exclusive. Move on to other projects and/or more querying and inquire after three months for a status update if you haven't gotten one. Good luck!

Hope nobody minds a newbie bumping this...

Jessica Regel is right in the middle of her two-week exclusive and I'm so anxious! Two more agents have requested in the meantime and I've been honest in saying that I granted an exclusive and I'll get back to them as soon as it's over. I know another writer who is represented by Jessica and she says that she's absolutely wonderful. But if she's not interested, that doesn't help me... *sigh*

Well, everyone here seems to think that the professionalism and speed with Jean V. Naggar are worth it, so I guess I'll keep waiting.

Okay, the two-week exclusive is up today...if I don't hear from her today, I'll send out to the other agents who've been waiting. I sent Jessica a polite follow-up, saying that I hoped she'd consider continuing to read on a non-exclusive basis.

Jessica requested the first three chapters from me as well. I couldn't grant her an exclusive because I have a full in another agent's hands. Hopefully she'll still want to read my work!

I hope no one minds me bumping.

I sent out a batch of queries on May 6th via post mail, and Jessica Regel was the first to respond to me via email on May 12th. She said she had read my query with interest and asked to see the first three chapters with a two week exclusive read. I gave it to her and sent her the first three chapters over email. Two days ago, which was three days after I emailed her the chapters, she called me asking to see the full manuscript with a two week exclusive.

Yes, this agent is fast, fast, fast! I dropped my manuscript yesterday so it won't ship until Monday. I'm not expecting a long wait before I hear an answer back from her, so we'll see what happens! *fingers crossed*

Good luck Epiphany! Be sure to let us know...

Epiphany said:

I hope no one minds me bumping.

I sent out a batch of queries on May 6th via post mail, and Jessica Regel was the first to respond to me via email on May 12th. She said she had read my query with interest and asked to see the first three chapters with a two week exclusive read. I gave it to her and sent her the first three chapters over email. Two days ago, which was three days after I emailed her the chapters, she called me asking to see the full manuscript with a two week exclusive.

Yes, this agent is fast, fast, fast! I dropped my manuscript yesterday so it won't ship until Monday. I'm not expecting a long wait before I hear an answer back from her, so we'll see what happens! *fingers crossed*

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Good luck on your full, Epiphany! My timeline with her was similar (query sent 5/9, partial requested 5/12), except I haven't heard back on the partial yet. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to grant the exclusive she requested, as I already had a full out with someone else. Hopefully that won't count against me.

Thanks guys! I'll make sure to post on this thread whether or not she wants to represent me.

I'M THE BIGGEST MORON!

Okay, so I thought that she told me two weeks as an exclusive, but I emailed her this morning and it was actually a month.

Oops? Only I could manage to confuse two weeks and a month.

Good news is that she revealed to me that her first reader "really enjoyed it" and that she is going to read it over the weekend.

omgomgomgomgomgomg.

E-queried J.Regel on June 10th and received e-jection on June 11th.

Ms. Regel has had my ms for a month, but she initially asked for a two-week exclusive. I couldn't grant it because I already had a few subs out, but she said this was fine. So should I disregard the initial timeline she asked for? Should I e-mail her and see what's up?

I'd wait. A month really isn't that long...

Update with Regel:

So.....

I got rejected with a one-sentence email saying that it was "too slow-moving" for her. Does that mean that she didn't finish it? lol. Sounds like. It's okay though, I'm pretty sure that two of her clients just won huge awards so she will most likely have her hands full for a while. I just wish I didn't grant that exclusive... =/

I got a request from Regel this morning

I was so thrilled, that she wrote back and so fast, her first day back from a Nebraska Writers Conference, but now I've pretty much accepted the fact that I will send her my first three chapters and she'll reject them.

I know, I shouldn't be so negative, but it just seems impossible today to get super good news.

Good luck, samitestar! She still has my partial, but I'm going to wait another few weeks before e-mailing her. Maybe she's backed up (she requested it around 5/20).

I'm expecting a rejection, but I guess there's no harm in hoping for the best.

Hope, the food for writers everywhere

Maybe we'll both get lucky and she'll want to represent both of us!

I wrote a YA scifi, what did you send in?

Jessica Regel

I sent Jessica Regel a query and a synopsis on May 13. She got right back with me that same day and asked to see a sample via email and said she required an exclusive.

Thanks to the advice I read on this board, I let her know that another agent (Jessica Sinsheimer at Sarah Jane Freymann) was already considering it, and the next day she wrote back to say more or less, "Eh, it's ok, send it anyway, but let me know if you get any offers." She did ask for one week to give me her response.

Then stupid, stupid, STUPID me decided I needed to make some quick changes before I sent it to her (the kind of changes you look at later and go "wtf was I thinking?"). I'm not sure that she wouldn't have rejected it anyway, and now I'll never know!

Sure enough, a week came and went and one week to the day she got back with me via email and let me know that she didn't feel strongly enough about the project to offer representation. Short, simple, clean.

I got the impression that she was very professional and polite. Before I queried her, I found this article about her that might help when querying her: http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.co...a+Regel+Of+Jean+V+Naggar+Literary+Agency.aspx

According to the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2009, the Jean V. Naggar agency is a long-standing, reputable agency, as many of you have already commented.

I hope some of this helps!

I queried Jennifer Weltz on April 7, never heard back. I suppose it's a "no," but I'd like to ask whether anyone else has had a similar experience with her or perhaps a response after a long wait. Thanks.

J.M. Hunter, I just got a rejection from Jessica Regal too. I felt my heart jump into my throat when I saw an email from her, then it dropped down with despair.

C'est la vie, huh? If it were easy everyone would get published and we'd end up bogged down with bad poetry, lame James Bond knock offs and romance novels that would make Fabio's books look like Shakespear in comparison.

I just got a request for a synopsis (ugh, but it had to be done, right?) and the first 100 pages from Jessica Sinsheimer at Sarah Freymann Agency.

Anyone know anything about her? I heard she likes to read stuff first and that she's enthusiastic about new authors, but any little tidbits would help.

Warlock's Bride - Coming soon to NCP
Tagged - trying to get an agent to represent me, this is day 11!

That's too bad, samitestar - but don't worry, this is definitely a rough process. I've had too many rejections to count.

Jessica Regel still has my partial, no word from her. I'm starting to wonder if something went wrong in cyberspace, since you submitted yours a month later. Maybe I should e-mail her?

I'm expecting a rejection, but it would be nice to get it and move on.

Yes, the Jean Nagger Literary Agency has an excellent reputation, but I'd only query Jessica Regel as a last resort. She's not known to be the sharpest bulb on the Xmas tree, or the brightest. For example, she'll ask for a two-week exclusive, and then when several weeks pass, lie to the writer and say it was a four week exclusive and it's the writer's mistake, when that wasn't the case. Her honesty is seriously in question here. No, I haven't had a personal experience with her - this is what I've heard from other writers who have worked with her, and around the New York City publishing world, where I live.

I think you should email her

socact said:

That's too bad, samitestar - but don't worry, this is definitely a rough process. I've had too many rejections to count.

Jessica Regel still has my partial, no word from her. I'm starting to wonder if something went wrong in cyberspace, since you submitted yours a month later. Maybe I should e-mail her?

I'm expecting a rejection, but it would be nice to get it and move on.

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A month is a long time. The worst that can happen is she 1) didn't get your partial and you can resend, or 2) she's still considering it (which could be good, huh)

I'm a bit discouraged, because it seems like I write amazing query letters and then not so great books. Sad today.