Query: 9/12/2022
Personalized rejection 3/16/2023
I was in the maybe pile for quite a while, and she was very friendly in the rejection but blunt, and said she didn't connect enough to the characters. Granted, that was my original unrevised query lol

102k Urban (Paranormal) Fantasy

Form Query: 04/27/22
CNR: 07/26/22
Rejection, personalized: 03/16/23
(thanked me for patience with reading time, explained why it wasn't a fit and would like to be considered again for a future query)

epic fantasy, 101K

Form Query: 6/2/22
Rejection with some personalization: 10/3/22

97k YA contemporary fantasy

FQ: 6/16/22
FRej: 1/27/23

YA Fantasy. One of the best rejections I've ever gotten. I appreciate the time she took to do that and will definitely be querying her again.

@Scribblin
The inclusion of the question on the form is proof that the door is open. Agents aren't asking "Do you have the right to tell this story" -- they're already giving you the benefit of the doubt there. What they're asking is "Are you able to tell this story as well as an own-voices writer?" They're asking you to think about your story one last time so you can confidently say that you have no harmful stereotypes, no unconscious bias, no white saviorism, and that the world will be better with your book in it, not just for white readers but marginalized readers as well. But they're also considering the hard truth of the market; they can take on only so many clients, publishers can only buy so many books. If it's between "white author writing from a BIPOC perspective for white readers" and "Author of color writing from a perspective they understand intimately," I would really, really hope they choose the latter.

@Seilann
The door can be open to everyone without being closed on anyone.

@Scribblin
Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird in the 60's, a time when authors of color were given almost no platform in the U.S. These days, there are efforts to give AoC more shelf space and the ability to tell their own stories. Furthermore, Lee's MC and narrating character in that book is a white girl. She writes from a white perspective, not a BIPOC one.

@Utopiandreams

I guess Alex Haley and Harper Lee never got your memo.

@scribblin
No, they cannot.

The one thing that rubbed me wrong (and it's not unique to her, but many agents these days) is a requirement on the form that you justify how you can write about a person of color if you are not a person of color. What B.S. ANY writer can write about ANY topic/character/theme. ANY writer. And needs no justification.

It looks like she has responded to most of them except those who submitted between 8/24-9/25. Everything before and after is pretty much all responded to. I submitted 9/12 and have not heard anything. @JustinJoseph

Has she responded positively to anyone lately? I know she said she responds in 3-4 months. I wonder if it might take longer because of the holidays.

@JustinJoseph from her timeline it looks like she's catching up on the top of her inbox, then hopefully she'll go back to the ones she skipped (a huge swath of August-September).

FQ: 08/02/22
ER (form): 1/02/23

YA Horror

Form Query: 6/3/22
Semi-personalized rejection with 1 line of feedback: 12/16/22
Adult Fantasy 85k

Sucks that it's a rejection, but as so few agents offer feedback these days, even a little bit was much appreciated!
-
Thank you very much for your submission. You're a great writer but I found it hard to be hooked in [MAIN CHARACTER]'s emotional stakes because her circumstances are so obviously unethical - by making the princess already critical of her state, it feels like we have to wait for much longer than necessary for the 'story' itself to start. I'm sorry, but your project is not a perfect fit for me at this time so unfortunately I will have to pass. Thank you for considering me and best of luck with your future queries.

On the timeline, it looks like her last big chunk of responses are back 7/30/22 and before. There are some sporadic rejections and reqs after that, but for the most part, you submitted after 7/30, likely she hasn't seen it yet.

FQ:9/1
Hopefully, I’ll get good news soon.

FQ: 6/29/22
Agent like from pitch event: 9/22/22
Rejection with helpful feedback: 10/18/22

FQ: 6/16/22
10/4/22: Notification of query being transferred to another agent who it may be a better fit with