AKA Literary Agency (formerly Anita Kushen & Associates)

[Christine N.]

P.S. - She did say that she had her server worked on yesterday too; hopefully there will be no more email glitches. She feels really bad about any emails that got sucked into the void.

[Christine N.]

Okay, since I have the contract in my hot little hands, I can tell you my story.

I have signed (or will sign as soon as the contract prints out) with Terrie. And I feel completely and totally comfortable with her. She has a vision for my manuscript and named publishers that she has in mind for it that I know and would love to see buy my book.

Don't judge a book by its cover - if you pay attention to what a person puts out on the internet, and see who they talk to and who they know, you can learn a lot about them. Just because they don't announce on PM doesn't mean the deals aren't being made.

I have an agent

[LateNightLady]

Congrats! there's hope for us all

[Christine N.]

Thanks! There's an interview with Terrie at Middle Grade Ninja, which I think gives a pretty good look a who she is.

[Mia Moore]

Congratulations, Christine! And welcome to the club. I know you will be so happy with your choice! See ya on the flipside

[CH1]

Congratulations Christine, all the best with it.

[Little1]

Way to go dear! I am hoping to start subbing soon and Terri will be tops on my list

[Christine N.]

James Schinke was just hired as an associate agent: http://buffyswritezone.blogspot.com/....html?spref=tw

[Little1]

ohhh awesome! I just sent my query in Wish me luck!!!

[LateNightLady]

good luck!

[DahlELama]

I'm so interested to see Terrie discussed here. I had never heard of her before, and then suddenly she sent me a LinkedIn request. I thought she was just trying to pick up aspiring authors and found it really suspicious, but I'm glad to hear she's on the up-and-up. Not that I accepted the request; I still have no idea how she got my name.

[kellion92]

DahlELama, you were on LinkedIn, right? That's how it works -- you can look at the connections of your connections. So you probably have a writer, publisher, or agent connection she knows.

[DahlELama]

Originally Posted by kellion92

DahlELama, you were on LinkedIn, right? That's how it works -- you can look at the connections of your connections. So you probably have a writer, publisher, or agent connection she knows.

I actually don't have that many as I'm fairly new to the site, and, according to LinkedIn, we don't share any, but maybe. I was just surprised to see someone I didn't know and had never worked with request me under "colleague." Anyway, she sounds lovely and clearly she knows how network and use social media, so I'm sure she's a great agent.

[spugh2]

I hate to post on boards like this in such a manner, but I will nonetheless. For a year Terrie worked as my agent and I was very unhappy with her work, so I didn't renew my contract with her. During that time her "servers were down,""emails were not received," people fell ill (I'll give her the benefit of the doubt on that one), etc. She failed to produce evidence of queries she'd made on behalf and even told me at one point that she hadn't done any queries for a span of about six months because she hadn't "heard from me lately." Is that how that works?
Again, I hate posting things like this because it seems the equivalent of gossiping and talking behind another's back and since I have no personal gripe with her, it make's it exceptionally hard. It's only that I remember the excitement of initially getting representation, only to swallow excuses later. I've found that my experience is common enough, through this message board and other authors that have since abandoned the agency.

[honeysock]

From post #327, above: "Just because they don't announce on PM doesn't mean the deals aren't being made." This is true . . . of agents who have been in the business a long time and sold a lot of books. New agents, however, should be shouting their first few deals from the rooftops.

This thread reminds me of this one. You can read the last few posts to see what happened in the end: P or P signed a bevy of AWers right out of the gate a couple years ago, only to have to let them all go recently . . . due to no sales. He too claimed to have sold books in the beginning but wasn't "announcing" them, for whatever reason. He too was verifiably "well-connected" in the publishing industry.

Sorry to be a wet blanket, Debbie-downer, Eeyore and all that . . . I just hate seeing writers get caught up in waves of well-intended enthusiasm that isn't backed by real experience. And to reiterate what has been said on these boards over and over: a lack of experience/sales doesn't make these agents bad people. But it does make them less-than-ideal agents.

[BarbaraSheridan]

One look at the website does not inspire confidence. At least not in jaded me.

Embarrassing typo on the staff page ("Please welcome abord"), I saw a ad for writing software and one for "bigcommerce.com", and a publisher mentioned for one of the clients on the AKA main page has this on their (the publisher's) website: If you are interested in publishing your book today, please email sales@cutiepiepublishing.com

[Christine N.]

Sigh. For some people enough isn't enough. (I will mention the typo; that was a recent entry to the site since James just came on a week or so ago and it was probably done quickly.)

I have spoken to Terrie about deals. They're not mine to tell, so I won't. I pay attention to who she talks to on Twitter, and I know who's friendly with her and where they work. She's not lurking in the shadows on the outskirts, she is attending conferences and hangin' out with people you know by name. I know by name some of the editors she suggested for my book, and some because I've met them.

Now that there's a second agent in the house, I expect things to go much quicker. And yes, a year or so ago she did have email problems. But lately I have gotten replies to every single email I've sent. If I think something got lost, I tweet her. She ALWAYS replies to tweets, and barring that, I send her a message on FB.

I've always been of the opinion that you can't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need. Years back, there was an agent I really thought I wanted. Friends signed with her, and I was disappointed to get a rejection.

That agent closed up shop not long after, leaving my friends hanging in the wind. Recently that agency was brought up again here at AW, and a person I highly respect said she would not work with said agent again. I dodged the bullet.

This is the agent that said yes, and I have some faith in her. She's obviously doing well enough to keep the agency running, and it's her only job as far as I know. Business isn't cheap.

And I'm only posting this as an alternate POV.

I also talked with her regarding her large client list. Most of those she inherited when Anita sold the agency. Not wanting to leave them high and dry, she did try to keep up with their submissions, and found them...again, not my tale to tell.

We agreed to an 18 month contract, mostly because at the moment I am so busy with school and work. She took all that into account and will when she starts submitting, in the next few months. At this point I'm satisfied, time will tell.

[BarbaraSheridan]

At this point I'm satisfied, .

And that's all that matters in the end.

I apologize if I came across as especially snippy--I do that without even trying. :/

I only meant to mention my first impressions.

[Christine N.]

Hey, it's no problem. I totally get it. I did quite a bit of digging while I was waiting for a response from Terrie and paid a lot of attention to things she did and how she interacted with others and WHO, and also things her clients said on line. I didn't just jump blindly.

[DocZack]

Originally Posted by Christine N.

Hey, it's no problem. I totally get it. I did quite a bit of digging while I was waiting for a response from Terrie and paid a lot of attention to things she did and how she interacted with others and WHO, and also things her clients said on line. I didn't just jump blindly.

I just got a request for a full on "The UNbeliever." I'm happy about that.

[Christine N.]

Congrats, DocZack! Good luck!

Was your request from Terrie or James?

[DocZack]

Originally Posted by Christine N.

Congrats, DocZack! Good luck!

Was your request from Terrie or James?

Terrie. She was very nice. They were one of the groups listed who represent Urban Fantasy and I querried with my standard query and the first chapter. It is actually a good feeling that the first chapter was strong enough to get a full request...it is an indication I did something right, I feel.

The book is a military action/ UF crossover, so I was afraid that the military stuff would put off UF fans and vice versa.

Zack

[bunderful]

Terrie has my full. She has had it since June. She recently reached out to ask me some questions about it. So I'm still waiting. I personally feel that once I get a solid offer of rep. from someone then I'll start asking questions. For now - no offer of rep. from anyone - so I might as well keep trying far and wide and not judge anyone until I am in a position to make a real decision.

[charlys]

Reading these notes I agree Terri had problems with her server. I originally sent q 10/20/10. I sent e-mail asking if she got it. She was nice in her response and said no and asked me to resend, which I did 8/9/11. (too busy working on my new book to ask earlier). Terri answered w/request syn and 50 pgs - sent 8/29/11. Got reply last week - she liked my words! Actually, she said she is fond of my words but has a full list at moment. She asked me to send her my full ms and if it was okay if she read it between 11/15-1/1/2012. Hell, yeah. So, my full is in her hands - general fiction. Since I have a full ms out with a publisher by request, 2 partials and 2 other fulls out there, I'll wait to see what happens. But! I liked Terri's honesty and if I get an offer from publisher (intend to q next month as pub has had it since June) I'm going to ask her to represent me. Ho, hum, hurry up and wait is the game. Too busy with second book - paranormal, to bite my nails on this one.

[StellaArgentum]

Any new interactions with this agency? As noted up-thread, there is very little Publishers Marketplace presence, and some of the top Google hits turn up some not-so-nice stuff.