It seems that Ms. Benrey has been making sales and is legit, however, here's where agents like her turn me off (this is not an indictment against Ms. Benrey, just something you should think about):
1) Not that she's obligated to accept slush, but it appears the only way to get her to look at your ms is if you fall into one of the 3 categories Barbarique calls out. I can deal with the 'referred by another author' and 'previously published', but the 'meeting me at a conference' one really irks me. It's akin to "you gotta pay to play" (assuming she's paid to appear at conferences). I'm seeing more and more agents adopt this policy - mostly in the Christian arena - and it troubles me. I mean, even William Morris accepts slush.
2) I brought this gripe up in another thread, but be weary of fiction agents who require you to put together a marketing plan/proposal package as part of your original query. I would suggest that this requirement could be a symptom of one of several things (ie, agent doesn't do this full time so she doesn't have time, agent doesn't have any connections, agent is lazy, agent doesn't know how to market novels, agent wants only writers who've given serious thought about their work, etc). There may be a perfectly legitimate reason for making a novelist do this, but a good fiction agent doesn't need an author to tell her how well a book is going to sell and to whom it should be marketed.
Gerry, Nancy & Dub,
Thanks for chiming in. It's always great to hear first hand testimonials.
As I stated before, Ms Benrey (or any agent for that matter) is certainly free to enforce any 'rules of submission' she likes so as to limit the slush in her office, but when an unpublished author's only way (outside of a referral) to get his or her query in front of an agent is to PAY to get into a conference that said agent is being PAID to attend, this CAN give the appearance of being fishy ("Pay to Play"). Hence, threads like these pop up on internet message boards where a perfectly legitimate agent's reputation might wrongly be questioned.
I think the three of you speaking up for Janet, however, removes a lot of doubt (if any existed) about her worthiness as an agent.
rwam, you make a great point. I think, although I can't be sure, that some of those caveats are intended to keep writers away who aren't completely donfident of their work. I ignore those caveats, mostly. If they read a query and it strikes their fancy and they don't respond because the writer didn't play by their rules, then...too bad for them, I say.
Gerry
I am so happy that I found this resource as there is nothing better than the net when it comes to research as this has been the best way to get info. I don't know what we did without it as word of mouth takes a while without the net anyways!
Thanks everyone for the info and happy writing.
As I stated before, Ms Benrey (or any agent for that matter) is certainly free to enforce any 'rules of submission' she likes so as to limit the slush in her office, but when an unpublished author's only way (outside of a referral) to get his or her query in front of an agent is to PAY to get into a conference that said agent is being PAID to attend, this CAN give the appearance of being fishy ("Pay to Play"). Hence, threads like these pop up on internet message boards where a perfectly legitimate agent's reputation might wrongly be questioned.
I posted on the Kathy Green thread, but I also wanted to ask if there is anyone else that is represented by Ms. Green. I have TWO offers for representation from the Janet Benrey agency and the Kathy Green agency, and I am leaning toward signing with Ms. Green. I've researched them both, and my phone interview with Ms. Green was outstanding.
Any other information anyone can provide would be helpful.
I write non-fiction, and if you're curious to see an excerpt of my upcoming book, you can take a peek here:
www.chollowayhill.com
GOOD LUCK to all!!!!
Cathy