Query: 3/10/23
Rejected: 3/14/23

97k Adult Sci-Fi/Time Travel

Received similar form letter from her intern (Adam) like others have--only didn't specify reason, as noted in other replies:


"...Unfortunately, Marisa is not the best fit for this project at this time, so we are kindly stepping aside.

Due to the sheer number of queries that we receive, we are not always able to provide more specific feedback for every author. However, we highly recommend viewing–if you haven't already–BookEnds Literary Agency's Youtube channel for valuable advice on the querying process and the business of publishing from an agent's perspective: https://www.youtube.com/@BookEndsLiterary.

Please keep in mind that this industry is incredibly subjective, and our response is solely one agency's opinion. We strongly encourage you to query other agents because one may love your story just the way it is! Thank you again for providing us the opportunity to review your writing, and we wish you the best of luck in your publishing endeavors."

So no specific reason/flaw cited in the rejection--just not Marissa's cup of tea(?)

I am profoundly grateful for the polite, encouraging, and helpful rejection letter from the intern. It specified my sample chapter was too much telling and not enough showing. I reread it and completely agreed. This has motivated me to do necessary rewriting of that segment and possibly throughout the novel. Thank you.

Query: 18march
Answer: 21 march
74k urban fantasy

got the same form rejection from the literary intern as e.g. sblore below -
"Even though we found many incredible qualities in your work and loved the intriguing concept of this story, the narrative fell heavy on dialogue at times, leaving us craving more sensory descriptions, subtext, and emotions from the characters."
seems like they have a few standard rejection letter patterns

FQ 3/17/23
Form rejection: 3/21/23

128k contemporary fantasy, form rejection from her literary intern

Really quick rejection letter which is so appreciated. The letter was very helpful. It had why they had rejected my book. So I am editing away and having fun! Thank you so much, Linda DeFrahn

FQ: 3/16/23
FR: 3/20/23

Upmarket 85K

Submitted: 3/8/2023 NA Fantasy 88k
Rejection: 3/16/2023

I did get the rejection from an intern but this was possibly one of the best rejections I've ever received. It was personalized, it referenced characters by name, and gave examples of what they liked and didn't like. The main critique was:

"Even though we found many incredible qualities in your work and loved the intriguing concept of this story, the narrative fell heavy on dialogue at times, leaving us craving more sensory descriptions, subtext, and emotions from the characters."

I personally love dialogue because I get bored with exposition, but I have a few friends that love exposition more. As we've seen in other rejection letters, writing is subjective, but I will definitely look into finding a happy medium between the two.

I know some people feel discouraged by rejections, and I was beginning to, but after this one I feel a little more hopeful.

Rejected by her Intern. Standard form rejection.

Rejected 5 days after I sent the query. From the comments, I can see that some other writers got the same response from an intern. "Even though we found great qualities within your query and synopsis, we didn't connect with the sample pages as strongly as we had hoped to champion the project."

I was responded to quickly (5 days) and politely (with the same response as jmwilmarth below)

Dear Katherine,

Thank you for submitting your query for A TRIP TO THE MOUNTAINS to Corvisiero Literary Agency and allowing us to consider it. Unfortunately, Marisa is not the best fit for this project at this time, so we are kindly stepping aside.

Due to the sheer number of queries that we receive, we are not always able to provide more specific feedback for every author. However, we highly recommend viewing–if you haven't already–BookEnds Literary Agency's Youtube channel for valuable advice on the querying process and the business of publishing from an agent's perspective: https://www.youtube.com/@BookEndsLiterary.

Please keep in mind that this industry is incredibly subjective, and our response is solely one agency's opinion. We strongly encourage you to query other agents because one may love your story just the way it is! Thank you again for providing us the opportunity to review your writing, and we wish you the best of luck in your publishing endeavors!

Warm regards,

Adam Cyzner
Literary Intern on behalf of Marisa Corvisiero | Corvisiero Literary Agency

88k literary/upmarket fiction. I pitched via Zoom to Marisa at the Midwest Writers' Workshop Agent Fest in early November and submitted a requested partial (50 pages) on 11/21/22; full request was received 1/18/23; full manuscript sent on 1/29/23 after I finished a few more edits.

Update: Extremely kind, personalized rejection (it did not in any way seem to be a form) received 3/2/23 that concluded "We're rooting for you!"

In the time since I submitted to Marisa and a few other agents, I started working with a developmental editor and just received my editor's feedback earlier this week. Marisa's comments, for the most part, were consistent with the long analysis I received from my developmental editor (who is herself a published author in my genre). Will be retooling my draft before round 2 of submissions. I appreciate Marisa's time and care in responding to me.

FQ: 3/1/23

romantic SFF @100,041k

Form Query - 10/13/22 Hist Fic 138k
Full request - 12/12/22
2/11/23: nudge; received response from her intern, Alexandra, on 2/13/23 to say she was still reading it and that evals can take 3 - 4 months.
2/23/23: rejection from her intern. She offered her input, which to me didn't really make sense because I prefer (and I think the general consensus in the writing community?) strong dialogue and showing over telling: " Heavy reliance on dialogue, especially in the first act of the novel, keeps your protagonists at arms' length from your readers and the imbalance with internal narration leaves the impression the dialogue relies on showing rather than telling."
Interestingly enough, @thewritethings says below that they were told they relied too much on telling instead of showing!
I won't take this one too personally because it seems the intern is just inexperienced. I have three other agents and one small press still interested in it :)

I suspect thewritethings' comment was read. This is the feedback I received today. I don't have any feelings about it one way or the other, except glad to get a response. I know they receive hundreds of queries daily, and every agency has to figure out the best way to handle the volume.

I submitted on 2/16 and got this rejection on 2/20.


Dear

Thank you for submitting your query for XXX to Corvisiero Literary Agency and allowing us to consider it. Unfortunately, Marisa is not the best fit for this project at this time, so we are kindly stepping aside.

Due to the sheer number of queries that we receive, we are not always able to provide more specific feedback for every author. However, we highly recommend viewing–if you haven't already–BookEnds Literary Agency's Youtube channel for valuable advice on the querying process and the business of publishing from an agent's perspective: https://www.youtube.com/@BookEndsLiterary.

Please keep in mind that this industry is incredibly subjective, and our response is solely one agency's opinion. We strongly encourage you to query other agents because one may love your story just the way it is! Thank you again for providing us the opportunity to review your writing, and we wish you the best of luck in your publishing endeavors!

Warm regards,

Adam Cyzner
Literary Intern on behalf of Marisa Corvisiero | Corvisiero Literary Agency

During my MFA, I workshopped my sample pages in classes and with my thesis advisor, a well-known, respected author. Joy Williams visited our program, read my sample pages, and said, "Do you know what you have here?" I have been working on my manuscript for over six years. I have been through several, several rounds of beta readers and painful revisions before I finally had a finished product to query. I am currently sitting on five offers of representation from experienced, reputable NYC agents who told me they have no edits and think my manuscript is ready to sell as-is. I am also waiting for the 11 other agents who requested my manuscript to finish reading, some of who also come from top-tier, respected agencies (Writers House, to name one).

From this agency, I received one of the responses from the interns that told me to "show, not tell" and "send my pages to beta readers." I respect and appreciate a rejection (I have many!) because someone who isn't passionate enough about my work to represent it isn't going to sell it well anyway. But I am put off by how I received this rejection, and I am begging this agency to please change their rejection letters. Sticking to a short form like, "Thank you for querying, but I am not the right fit," as so many other agents do would be far better than the canned advice authors currently receive.

I know this agency receives many queries, and the interns have a big job sorting through them. I assume this agency is acting with the best of intentions in giving "detailed" rejections as they do; however, I don't think it's the best practice to send these form rejection letters under the pretense of giving personalized advice. I found mine incredibly demeaning and condescending and came away quite insulted, and from reading other comments on this page, I'm far from the only one. I normally wouldn't write up a comment on the agent's or agency's page, but I believe it is too important and other authors need to hear: do not revise your sample pages based on pre-written advice from an intern who otherwise has no education or experience in this field.

Most of all, I am concerned for the authors who query this agency and think the advice they receive is personalized to their work, or, worse yet, for the authors who query this agency early in their process and come away dejected and ready to give up. If I hadn't already received four full requests on my manuscript by the time I received my rejection letter from this agency, I would have been devastated and probably would have stopped querying for a time. I worry that's going to happen to authors who don't have requests yet.

If you haven't sent your work to beta readers, sure, go ahead and take the advice to get feedback on your pages. But if you have been through rounds and rounds of edits and know you have the absolute best piece of art you can make, please don't revise your pages, and please don't give up. You will find someone who loves your work.

UPDATE: I signed with a powerhouse of an agent after receiving 5 offers, and I couldn’t be happier. For those who get manuscript requests from this agency, congratulations! For those who don’t, please don’t read anything into the intern’s comments. They don’t mean anything.

FQ: 1/29/23
FR: 2/14/23

984 word PB

Submittee 2/11/23 Womens Fic 74K words
Rejection 2/14/23 with a very nice, personalized letter with rationale (from intern)

FQ 2/14/23

76K Speculative fiction

FQ: 2/6/2023
Rejection: 2/12
Polite personalized rejection from her intern.

115K fantasy