Literary Rambles

...here are a few wedding photos!  They were taken by my best friend and her boyfriend who are just starting their photography business, DarkLight Pictures.  I think they turned out really good!

This week's Agent Spotlight features Catt Lebaigue of Heacock Hill Literary Agency, LLC.

Note: Please read the "What's the Buzz" section below before querying this agent. 

About: "Catt LeBaigue worked as an author’s representative for the Heacock Literary Agency, Inc. for five years.  Previous to that she spent eighteen years in the television and film industry at Sony Pictures, Paramount, Warner Bros. Studios and others.   She grew up in the diplomatic community, living abroad, and returned to the U.S. to attend CSUSB, B.A. In the late seventies and early eighties she worked as an intern at Heacock Literary Agency  reading manuscripts and answering query letters for the Heacocks, knowing one day that she would leave the film industry to work full time as a literary agent." (Link)

Status: Open to submissions.

What She's Looking For:

Genres of interest: Children's fiction, picture books, middle grade, chapter books, young adult. 

Her particular interest include the following:  "Fantasy fiction, mysteries, detective novels, animal stories, chapter books." (Link)

What She Isn't Looking For:

Juvenile nonfiction, adult fiction, adult nonfiction.

Editorial Agent?

Unknown.

Quotables:

"We prefer to work with clients for years and we look for authors who want long term relationships. We keep our client list small." (Link)

"The Heacock Hill Literary Agency was founded with a vision to get significant books into the marketplace, books with the potential to uplift humanity and fortify consciousness.  Books can change the individual from the inside out and individual consciousness can transform the world."  (Link)

Web Presence:

Heacock Hill web site.

AAR.

LinkedIn.

LitMatch, QueryTracker, and AgentQuery.

Clients:

Pam Calvert, Stephen Cosgrove, Larry Dane Brimner.  A client page on the web site is currently under construction.

Sales:

As of this posting, Ms. Lebaigue is listed on Publisher's Marketplace as having made 1 deal in the last 12 months.  Recent sales include 1 picture book.  Note:  I do not believe she keeps PM updated, so this isn't likely to be a true representation of sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes (only).

Snail-Mail: No.

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

E-mail queries only.  Include name, contact information, a few brief paragraphs about the manuscript or proposal, approximate word count, and a bio or statement about yourself.   Feel free to include a few pages or chapters in the body of the e-mail but not the whole manuscript.  No attachments. 

See the official guidelines here.

Response Times:

The agency's stated response time is one week, but Ms. Lebaigue generally seems to respond within a day or two.  She takes longer on requested materials, of course.  About one to three months, from what I can tell. 

What's the Buzz?

As you can see, there isn't a lot of information available on Catt Lebaigue.  She was very recently an agent for Heacock Literary, a long-time agency with verified clients and sales. However, the agency (not Catt) did acquire a "Not Recommended" status on Preditors and Editor, due to a newer agent that has made one iffy sale in his two years with the agency and has acted in an extremely questionable manner, Tom Dark. 

As of this month, Nov 09, Ms. Lebaigue established the Heacock Hill Literary Agency, after the retirement of Rosalie Heacock, in honor of her late uncle James B. Heacock.  Whether or not this was related to their bad wrap with P&E or simply because it made sense to separate the agencies with Ms. Heacock's full retirement, I do not know. 

The bad news is the Tom Dark is joining the new Heacock agency as well, and it's unfortunate because Catt seems to be legit.  She has a few clients (though I could only find the three, Stephen Cogrove is a big name client), has made at least a few sales, is a member of the AAR and SCBWI, is listed in a few market books, and I found a couple conference schedules with her listed on them.  Her client, Pam Calvert (author of PRINCESS PEEPERS and an active Blue Boards member) is happy to sing her praises, but she seems to be the only client actively doing so online.

If you're interested in querying, I strongly recommend you read through this string of posts on Absolute Write in order to fully understand the nature of the controversy surrounding her associate, Tom Dark, and then draw your own conclusions about the situation.  Tom should have no direct influence on Ms. Lebaigue's dealings; however, the thread shows he might have used her e-mail accounts in the past, and one has to wonder why she'd continue to associate with an agent who is potentially dragging her reputation, newly founded agency, and late uncle's name down. 

For now, there's nothing to suggest Catt is anything but respectable (except as noted), but I'll keep you updated as best I can on the agency. If you have any further information or input on this, please inform me.

Contact:

Please see the Heacock Hill Literary web site for contact and query information.

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail.com

Note: These agent profiles presently focus on agents who accept children's fiction. They are not interviews. Please take the time to verify anything you might use here before querying an agent. The information found herein is subject to change.

First order of the day, BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER. Mine tried to crash on me this morning. I hadn't done a backup for two months, so I was definitely feeling the panic. Fortunately, I was able to get into safe mode just before throwing it across the room. Got everything backed up and it seems to be working fine now. I don't trust it though. I'll be backing up daily.

Current word count: 7,283.

Goal last week: 11,670.

Accomplished: 2,240.

Words 'til finish: 42,717/2500 words a day until Nov 30th.

Goal this week: 15,000.

Today's tip features a neat little writing tool and comes to you from the fabulous Heather Lane. Make sure to stop by and visit her blog, Edited to Within an Inch of My Life. But check out her tip before you go. She picked it up from Verla Kay's awhile ago, and it's a good one!

From the comments:

Would you consider all the agents you profile "vetted" in the sense that, if they appear on this list, we can assume they're good agents who aren't just scam artists? They all seem to be true agents, which is nice. I know that I've been very weary of untrustworthy agents.

Yes! I only profile legit agents that have verified sales and/or work with (or have worked with) a well-known agency with verified sales and clients. If they're Spotlighted on my site, you can be assured they're trustworthy agents and agencies in the sense of legitimacy (no guarantees on the way they handle themselves and their clients, however, but so far all the agents I've spotlighted seem to be great).

If someone requested a profile on an agent who wasn't legitimate or trustworthy (hasn't happened yet), I would put up a warning post rather than a profile. Likewise, if something fishy came up about an agent I've already Spotlighted, I would notify everyone with a similar post and put the information on their Spotlight until I could get an official thumbs up or thumbs down from our writerly watchdogs over at Writer Beware.

If you have any more questions, please ask!

This week's Agent Spotlight features Michelle Andelman of Lynn C. Franklin Associates, LLC.

About: "Michelle Andelman has worked as a literary agent, specializing in the children's market, for five years, currently with Lynn C. Franklin Associates, and previously with Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Her authors write middle-grade and Young Adult fiction, but also the occasional picture book, chapter book, or adult market memoir or work of fiction." (Link)

Status: Open to submissions and actively building a selective client list.

What She's Looking For:

Ms. Andelman is building a selective children's list for the Lynn Franklin agency and is particularly interested in middle grade and young adult:

"I like my middle-grade quirky and charming, and my YA daring and emotionally driven, whether fantastic or realistic. I am on the lookout for innovative storytelling, fresh genre crossings with YA romance -- dystopian YA romance, for example, or YA horror with a core love story, and coming of age memoir." (Link)

"...interest in fantasy, sci-fi, thriller, adventure, romance, graphic novel, and serious literary projects. She's drawn to high-concept, commercial tween and teen lit if it's edgy, gritty, and daring or all sweetness and light. Stylized but authentic voices, magical realism, Jewish themes, interesting story structure, freak and geek protagonists, identifiable quests, and fully realized storyworlds always catch her eye. (Link)

Pet-Peeves:

"I don't like an opening line that's 'My name is...,' introducing the narrator to the reader so blatantly. I might be prompted to groan before reading on a bit further to see if the narration gets any less stale. There are far better ways in Chapter 1 to establish an instant connection between narrator and reader. I’m also usually not a fan of prologues, preferring to find myself in the midst of a moving plot on page 1 rather than being kept outside of it, or eased into it." (Link)

Her Advice for Writers:

"My best one word of advice: professionalize. A new writer who has done her homework on the children's market ahead of time, and submits to agents in a way that suggests a professional approach to a writing career, is going to stand out. Professionalizing may mean doing a few different things that make all the difference: joining a critique group that can help you polish your manuscript before you query, researching and approaching agents according to submission guidelines, crafting a query that aims to pique interest in—rather than fully explain—your project, and joining the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI)." (Link) 

Editorial Agent?

Yes.  "She prides herself on being an agent who can be as strong on editorial as on advocacy for her clients, and she remains committed to working with debut novelists and bringing new voices to market." (Link)

Web Presence:

Agency's PM page.

Twitter.

LinkedIn.

LitMatch, QueryTracker, and AgentQuery.

Clients:

Michelle Anderman's clients include: Matt Blackstone, Kirsten Hubbard, Kristin Briana Otts, and Shari Green.

At Andrea Brown, she represented Emily Horner, Albert Borris, Lauren Strasnick, Dia Reeves, Melissa Hart, and Joy Preble, among others.

Sales:

As of this posting, Ms. Andelman is listed on Publisher's Marketplace as having made 2 deals in the last 12 months.  Recent sales include 2 young adult.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes (only).

Snail-Mail: No.

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

Fiction:  Query letter with short synopsis and up to ten sample pages in the body of the e-mail. 

Non-Fiction:  Query letter with short outline and synopsis. 

Indicate "query adult" or "query children's" in the subject line.  You might consider putting Ms. Andelman's name and the title of your work in the subject line as well.  No unsolicited manuscripts, no attachments.

See the agency's Publisher's Marketplace page for details, and some query tips by Michelle here.

Response Times:

I can't find it openly stated anywhere, but the agency appears to have a no-response policy if they're not interested.  On materials she is interested in, Ms. Andelman seems to make requests relatively quickly, generally within a few days. 

What's the Buzz?

Great!  Michelle Andelman made a great reputation for herself when she was at Andrea Brown and represented many talented authors that are just now starting to debut.  I've seen a lot of open praise for her and her clients seemed really sad to lose her when she left Andrea Brown in 2008.

On that note, I think there was some confusion when Michelle left Andrea Brown rather suddenly to become a book scout for Franklin and Siegel, only to turn up again as an agent for Lynn C. Franklin Associates several months later.  The link you may or may not be missing is that Lynn C. Franklin is co-owner of Franklin and Siegel.  So, after joining Franklin and Siegel as a book scout, Ms. Andelman joined the representation side of the agency as well.  You can read about Franklin's literary / scouting agency on their Publisher's Marketplace page under the "Specialized Training, Work Experience..." section. 

That said, the agency is absolutely legitimate with a large, established list of clients and sales.  And I think there are a lot of writers out there who are happy that Michelle is back in the agenting world, specializing in children's!

Worth Your Time:

Interview with Michelle Andelman on Editors, Agents, and Blogs, Oh My! (2009).  

Query Writing Tips by Michelle Andelman on the Guide to Literary Agents Blog (2008).

Agent Advice Interview with Michelle Andelman on the Guide to Literary Agents blog (2007).

Contact:

Please see the Franklin Associate's Publishers Marketplace page for contact and query information.

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail.com

Note: These agent profiles presently focus on agents who accept children's fiction. They are not interviews. Please take the time to verify anything you might use here before querying an agent. The information found herein is subject to change.

I haven't done my NaNoWriMo words for today yet, but here's my Wednesday update, as promised:

Current word count: 5,043.

Goal last week: n/a.

Accomplished: 5,043.

Words 'til finish: 44,957/1729 words a day until Nov 30th.

Goal this week: 11,670.