Monday, January 18, 2010

Secret Agent Unveiled: AMMI-JOAN PAQUETTE

A round of applause for the gracious, super-speedy Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency!

Joan's bio:

Ammi-Joan Paquette joined the Erin Murphy Literary Agency as an associate agent in early 2009. Recent sales include Elliot and the Goblin War, by Jennifer Nielsen (Sourcebooks, 2010); Ophelia Live, by Michelle Ray (Little, Brown, 2011) and Maple T. Rittle and the Quest for a Miracle, by Erin E. Moulton (Philomel, 2011). Joan represents all forms of children’s and young adult literature. She looks at projects in most any genre, but is particularly drawn to tight plotting, a strong lyrical voice, and complex characters.

Joan's current special interests: middle-grade action/adventure; mysteries; humor. Food stories are always welcome. Cultural diversity and exotic settings are a plus.

Next up: Joan's winners! Stay tuned.

14 comments:

  1. Okay, I totally lost my bet who the SA was this month.

    Thanks Ammi-Joan. After your comments, I've gone back to rework my voice. It's much stronger now. I owe you a huge thanks!

    I can't wait to see who the winners are. I might not have guess who the agent was, but I'm hoping I'm right about the YA winners (I didn't read any MG).

    Thanks again, Authoress, for doing this. :D

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  2. I just looked up Ammi-Joan's agency website. They're closed to queries. So even if she found your opening intriguing, and you fixed the problems she mentioned, you still can't query her. Oh well.

    Because of that, I have my fingers double crossed that my favorites win. :D

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  3. Very cool. I had looked at the Erin Murphy agency last week and noted their closed status. Having a possible way in is great.

    Thanks for your comments, Ammi-Joan. I read them all. They were very helpful in getting a feel for what was good, what worked, and what worked for you personally.

    *sigh* I guess the winner's post will go up after I leave for work (yes I have to work today). Can't see blogs at work either. *sigh* Gotta love that delayed gratification.

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  4. Thank you Ammi-Joan!
    Can't wait to see who the winners are either.
    I know I'm not one but still exciting!

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  5. I'm still shocked by the SA's identity. It's like someone just told me that Miss Ellie shot JR.

    Applause for Ammi-Joan. Her comments were very insightful!

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  6. Thanks Ammi-Joan for taking the time to critique all of us in the contest.

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  7. Yes, she was quick and helpful! Thank you for doing this Ammi-Joan, and thanks to Authoress for hosting.

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  8. Ammi_Joan,
    Thanks for taking the time to give us very specific and concrete things to work on- its so much more helpful than the simple "it just didn't work for me." I'm excited to get to work on the points you raised in my piece.
    Thanks again

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  9. Ammi-Joan, thanks for the awesome comments. I found yours super-helpful! And thanks, as always, to Authoress for giving us this fantastic opportunity!

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  10. Thanks so much for the wonderful (and quick!) comments on everything. I found it incredibly helpful!

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  11. I'm really grateful for your taking the time out to leave comments on the 50 queries but perhaps Authoress should put up a note that says she's not open to queries? (every site I looked up says they're closed to queries and are open to referrals, only)

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  12. Thank you so much for the comments, Ms Paquette. I read them all as it was a great learning experience to see your feedback on different genres and styles. As others have mentioned, they were specific and extremely helpful. Also so quick!

    Authoress, thanks for giving us a chance to 'submit' to an agency that would otherwise be closed to us. What a great opportunity!

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  13. Thanks so much to both Authoress and Ms Paquette for this month's awesome SA contest. The comments were all really thoughtful and it was great to read through them :D

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  14. Congrats everyone!

    Okay, so I'm not an authonomy fan but but a friend told me I had to read this "amazing book" book. I figured it was hers, so I followed this link: http://www.authonomy.com ReadBook.aspx?bookid=15979#chapter

    Loyalty right?

    The spelling is horrible, the grammar is terrible, Its sexist, racists and just wrong in so many ways. But I loved it. Go figure.

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