@PamCemen weird because I sent her a query on 5/09 and she did not get back to me...

@rwatson I'm considering mine CNR, too, given what I've read.

Shameful since I thought she and I would click since we have similar backgrounds!

I just hit the send button with my query and first 10 pages and am now rethinking everything having read the below...

EQ: 5/28/20
Update - CNR: 6/27/20, can't be bothered now, given what I've read.

105k adult sci-fi

105K sci-fi

This is on website:
JLA has read through all queries submitted through 5/19/20.
The about face discussed below may have been because her father died. She seems to have gone through an existential crisis. I will consider carefully before signing her. If she has burned the bridges with publishing houses, that's a concern. Is there evidence of that or is it just speculation.

EQ 6/11/20
Memoir 85K

@rwatson, I'm in the exact same boat. I'm just letting it sit, but if she does request more, I'd probably politely back out. Next time I'll probably check the comments here first.

EQ: 5/28/2020

125k high fantasy

This will be my last comment on this thread, but if someone does sign with her, you have to think about this as a business, because it is. She has probably burned through all her editor contacts, or, if she hasn't, editors might be extremely hesitant to work with her/sign her clients, due to past and current behavior. Not having an agent is better than having a bad agent. Good luck, everyone!

She was indeed a reputable agent for a time. But everything took a real nosedive around a year or so ago, and since then she's dropped all her clients and completely changed course. Don't be fooled by her success with old clients, trust me. Check out the thread about her on Absolute Write if you still need convincing.

@HairyBaby: I thought it was just me. I have to re-read whatever she writes three, four times, trying to make sense of it.

@PaigeTurner: Wow. Her old form rejection sounds SO different from the way she speaks/writes now on social media, her website, etc. Nowadays, her writing is so difficult to parse (even on Twitter) because of her overuse of academic jargon.

For all those on this thread... I am with you. I queried twice when she was back at D4EO. And I thought her standard reply was strange with ITEM #3. (see below)--- and if you notice, that page can no longer be found.... she deleted it.

What agent sends rejections while in the same breath promoting her "EDITORIAL services" side hustle?
Could this be why she is not with her other agencies due to conflict of interest? I don't know. But when I had queried her again, she had removed item #3 in her second rejection, so I think that may be why she started her own agency. There are several agencies on Absolute Write that talk about 'conflict of interest' - as some agents/agencies have this cross conflict that Victoria Strauss said 'isn't right' - and for writers to take note.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************

Thank you v. much for taking the time to submit a query and pages. Unfortunately, this project does not sound like a fit for me at this time, and so I will have to pass.

As I do not have the time to always give personalized feedback, please note these general pieces of advice I extend to all writers, if you haven't already considered them:

1. Sign up for a QueryTracker forum account, and run your query and first pages across other forum participants; you can also use them to find a critique partner.

2. Be thinking about plot and pacing, especially with regards to scene structure--the way that you begin, move through, and end individual scenes; the compactness of your query and your pages; as well as the development of your characters' emotional lives. See resources here: https://bit.ly/2PNKIN5. A huge part of the journey to publication, as well as career-building, requires a constant perfection of one's craft.

3. I also offer targeted editorial services and mentorship for writers who feel the need for it. Those details are available here: https://bit.ly/2zXpS93.

I wish you the best in your querying endeavors--as this is a subjective business, another agent may feel differently.

Warm wishes,
Weronika Janczuk

Literary Agent
D4EO Literary Agency
e: weronika@d4eo.com
b: lightningbugspub.wordpress.com
t: @WeronikaJanczuk

I do have screenshots of some of the outrageous claims, if anyone has their doubts.

ANSmith: What I have noticed about this agent is a history of making outrageous claims and then deleting them. I don’t have screenshots, because I never thought I would need them. The fact that she has twice wrongly claimed to be somehow affiliated with Janklow & Nesbit is also really concerning and suggests to me that she may have burnt some of the bridges she established in earlier phases of her career when she did indeed appear to be a good agent.

I've been following this thread since it started, because several years ago, this agent *did* give me detailed, spot-on feedback on a partial. But it's looking truly as if she's lost her way. I hope she recovers.

On another note, she is planning on starting a consulting firm or something. It's on her non-agenting website: "My consulting firm, T.Heart Consulting, will launch in September 2020, in affiliation with my program at New York University, where I’ll complete the degree that manifests the urgent interdisciplinary philosophical-theological-psychological-engineering matrix that underlies my project and my love of human persons."

I, too, would think carefully before submitting to her.

ANSmith: The thread on AbsoluteWrite about her is similarly concerning. Also--it's hard for her to be making submissions and deals when she dropped all of her clients after leaving D4EO and has only recently re-opened to queries.