Profile Update: Closed to queries.

EQ: 2/8/21

DO NOT SUBMIT TO AGENCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After sending them a proposal I worked on for 2 hours (not worth it, trust me), they rejected it within an hour.
Claim #1 - I had no social media links ANYWHERE when they were in the signature of the query letter email.
Claim #2 - Very uninteresting.
Very cruel & rude, I found. A literary agent should be looking over your proposal, taken proper time that is needed in order to do so, and reading over your chapters instead of rejecting just by one quick look. He even said that he's "getting away from the Christian genre because it doesn't sell as much anymore" where, on the bio of the Hartline website, it actually says otherwise.

Profile Update: Open to queries.

Profile Update: Closed to queries.

EQ 6/17/19 (Requery Venom)--same day rejection--(passed, said to remove cuss words and to edit it more since I can't hire editor and my betas said it was fine. Maybe Cyle Young or Linda Glaz told her this, since it's been edited in the past year. She had no other agents to look it over. So I digress on what she said.)

Does anyone know per the query requirements on the website, do they want nothing written in the email (other than the subject line) and everything in an attached file? That's how I'm reading it but just want to be sure. This would be the only agency I've come across that wants solely an attachment.

Thanks donedeal. Both URLs end up in the same place.

Hey Patrick - new website for this agency: http://hartlineagency.com/

Does not accept new authors unless you've met at a writer's conference

"Please do NOT submit any material that would conflict with the Christian worldview."

Joyce took the time to exchange views with me about first-time writers. She was very kind and supportive in this dialog, and I appreciate her doing so. The last words:

Be sure to include your copywriting experience in your bio. This is impressive and will get the attention of an agent. Your story sounds very interesting and I think you have a good chance of getting published. Just remember, sell yourself, do not feel like you are bragging. As unfair as it sounds, it’s important.



I wish you the best in find the right agent and publisher. Don’t give up. I think you have the drive to make it in publishing.

Joyce wanted to know what qualified me to write my book. Here's my answer:

Dear Joyce:

Thanks so much for taking time to respond to my query, however, in taking a closer look at what you folks do, I must say that I am not even remotely a good fit for you, so I must apologize for adding you to my list in the first place.

I am a bit perplexed, however, at your question of why I am qualified to write my book. How does one become "qualified" to write a book? The answer is simple. By writing it! There are no qualifications in fiction. There is ability, talent, perseverance and a few other elements that give someone the ability to write a book. Perhaps you are confusing the two terms.

I have the ability to write a book because I have done so - over 60,000 words. What would make me qualified? A degree in creative writing? If that were true, we could eliminate probably every classical writer over the last 400 years.

I will grant you that "life experience" could be considered a "qualifier" for writing. If you have none, it is more difficult to write, but not impossible. Look at Emily Dickinson. She spent most of her prolific life in her room dreaming about life experience and writing beautiful poems about those dreams. I can just imagine the rejection letter you would send her.

That's interesting. I had a bad experience with Andy Sheer last year.

3/1/13, I queried Joyce with Chain Venom. Today she passed. I'll try Diana with CR next month.

10/18/12 - went to check out new agent Andy Scheer and saw this on P&E:
Hartline Literary Agency: We're not hearing good things. A literary agency.