Saturday, February 07, 2009

New Agent Enters the Biz (updated)

For those of you looking for an agent, this is someone I would consider very seriously. Go look.

Update: In comments Dave asks what my criteria for this recommendation are and I've responded there. Of possible interest to those interested in my whys and wherefores.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kelly,

I'm curious what criteria you've used to recommend Sara Megibow. I've looked at Nelson a few times, and their relatively short sf/fantasy list and Denver location have always led me away. Finding a young agent, with on open list and energy is a plus, but what are you seeing that makes SM attractive?

DaveHD

Kelly McCullough said...

Two things:

1) Nelson is very smart and very successful considering the timescales under which she's been operating-—I've been following her for a while. Reading both her analysis of the business and her ongoing realistic expectations and metrics for business success leads me to believe that she's doing everything right in terms of constructing a sensible business model for agenting.

2) Sara's been there for a while and established herself in a way that had gained Kristin's confidence, which tells me that she's got the right skill-set. Combine that with her stated love of the genre and the fact that she's a new and hungry agent and you get what I feel is a likely recipe for success.

2a) If I were a new author looking for an agent I would overwhelmingly favor trying to find someone both new and reputable, so a young agent at an established agency looking for new authors would head my list. This is in slight contrast to what I would do if I were looking for a new agent at my stage in the game where I would split the hunt between agents like Sara and a very established high-end specialists in the genre.

Unknown said...

Kelly,

I'm assuming that the best reason to select a new agent at an established agency is that you get energy of somebody eager to prove themselves coupled with the expertise of whomever is mentoring them.

Which results in stuff like: a request for sample pages a day after you e-mail a query...

DHD

Kelly McCullough said...

Exactamente.