THE YING/YANG PRINCIPLE

YING

Susan Schulman, literary agent of Louis Sachar who wrote the YA phenomenon Holes, asked to see the full manuscript of Godtalk. Wow. I almost couldn't breathe. At the bottom of my query letter, she handwrote "send the full ms in September." Apparently she has her hands full right now.


YANG

In June, Sara Crowe, of Harvey Klinger Literary Management, asked me to e-mail her the full manuscript of Godtalk, which I did on June 23, 2006. Yesterday I received a very nice e-mail response from her saying that she was "torn" because she liked the idea and my writing was good, but that she wasn't enthusiastic enough about the project to take it on; primarily, she said, in an effort to keep her client list small and manageable. I was so stoked, though, that she even was "torn," as she said. A big-time NY agent was thinking about actually representing my book and (maybe) almost said, "yes."

It's a new step for me.


MORAL OF THE STORY:

Over the course of the two and a half years I was pimping it through the mail, three agents asked to see Bad Moon Rising, none of them in New York (not that an agent HAS to be in NY, but it doesn't hurt!). Charlotte Gusay, who is now not recommended by P&E because she charges fees; Appleseeds Management, who is in Northern California, and who I think is a "boutique" agency, to put it kindly; and The Nancy Ellis Agency, who was censured for hording her clients' advances.

However, in the six months of sending out Godtalk, three agents have asked to see the full manuscript--all of them in New York! One that I met at the writers conference (Serendipity, although they've had the manuscript for over three months), Sara Crowe (mentioned above), and now Susan Schulman, who reps one of the most successful YA novels in recent history. People seem to be responding to something in this premise/story/novel.

All in six months.

Steps forward/Steps backward/Steps forward.

Ying/Yang.