Profile Update: Closed to queries.

EQ: 11/20/2019 upmarket suspense
ER: 11/25/2019
And, yes, folks, this is a form, albeit a very nice one, and I appreciated the positive approach:

Thanks so much for reaching out about this project. The premise is intriguing, but I’m sorry to say that I’m going to step aside. Unfortunately, given my current workload, I don't feel that I could give the project the attention it deserves. Please know that the decision is not a reflection of the merit of your work. You’re a talented writer and your project deserves to be in the right hands. I wish you the best of luck with it.

Sincerely,
Jamie Chambliss
Folio Literary Management

EQ 10/21/19
RQ 10/30/19 - Lovely letter about my writing and how she thinks I'll get an agent "in a heartbeat." Ah, if only that were true. She's handling too much memoir at the moment. My timing = not so good.

97K - Memoir

EQ: Aug 16/19
ER: Aug 19/19

Women's Historical Fiction - 89K

Jamie gave a gentle, thoughtful and professional "no" that actually energized my query search. Best to Jamie as she is the kind of agent that I hope to partner up with in the future. Maynard Hurley

EQ: 04/26
ER: 04/30

Same form response as others.

EQ: 11/20
ER: 11/27 - really lovely personal message. I hope I have something to send to her again soon.

Profile Update: Profile reviewed.

Query 9/12
Request 9/14

@kstjarre and @desert_rain : I think, like most agents do if they actually personalize, she begins or some of what she says is part of her form (heavy workload, intriguing premise, not a reflection of your work), but the rest of what she says is definitely personalized. She's refreshingly personabe, warm, and kind, rare to get that in correspondense with an agent!

@kstjarre no, just one sentence about balance of projects is similar, but other than that she actually talked about my characters and that it was a difficult decision, so it was not a form

Hey desert_rain, did it look like this?

"Thank you for reaching out about this project. The premise is intriguing, but unfortunately, given my current workload, I don't feel that I could give the project the attention it deserves. Please know that this is not a reflection of the merit of your work but rather a result of the careful balance of projects I'm trying to maintain. You’re a good writer and I sincerely wish you the best of luck with this."

Even though Jamie took a chance on reading my work, she was very upfront about her workload to me as well hence is why it took her so long to get back to me on just those twenty pages. It wasn't her reason for passing, but still. She is a very hardworking agent but so kind to still care, AND actually personalize her responses. Worth the query, I was very impressed by how genuine and lovely she was. Hope others have better luck, she's so worth it.

EQ 8/9
ER 8/20
very nice, personal note. Jamie complemented my writing and cited workload as reason for rejection. it's very rare to see someone actually be nice and write a personal rejection to just a query. I'm actually surprised in a good way and don't feel bad, even though she didn't take the project.

EQ: 6/25 (first 20 pages)
6/28 - she sent me a lovely note that she thinks my book sounds "intriguing" and looks forward to reading my pages but that it might take a few weeks for her to get back to me. Never had an agent go out of their way to do that before diving in, she seems very sweet and courteous!

Okay in hindsight, the note might be a form/template that she uses in response to queries/projects that she's interested in, but still, it gives a little glimpse into her warm and caring personality, nonetheless.

7/17 I gave her a nudge to keep her posted on other agents requesting fulls, she responded in the evening with congrats and said that she'll bump me higher onto her reading list and that she's excited to dive in.

8/6 ER

A very sweet, encouraging, and uplifting personalized rejection! It's one of those rejection letters that stays with you because the agent truly showed that they cared. Her reason for rejecting was form (couldn't connect like she hoped), but she said nothing but amazing things about my writing and the story as a whole, and I truly believed her when she said that she's confident that someone else will rep/acquire it soon. I'd definitely query her again and I encourage others to do the same!