A warm round of applause for our witty and kindhearted Secret Agent, Barbara Poelle of Irene Goodman Literary Agency.Barbara's bio:
Originally from the west coast, Barbara Poelle worked for a Bay Area Publisher before accepting the offer to join Irene’s team. A voracious reader and award winning debater, Barbara is not only able to devour manuscripts, but fight for them as well... and her very brief stint as a stand-up comic comes in handy for those particularly raucous debates --both in the office and at home. With her strong background in editing and copywriting, Barbara has no qualms about helping writers turn a “maybe” into a “yes”, and values client communication above all else. Barbara is passionate about mysteries, memoirs, non-fiction relating to social issues and family relationships, and romances, but will be a proud promoter of any writer with a strong, unique voice.
Here's what Barbara is currently looking for:
"Thrillers, mysteries, literary fiction with a commercial edge, historical romances and commercial fiction, and some non-fiction, mostly by referral. I am not looking for (nor would I be the right person to read) YA, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, contemporary romance, children's books, poetry, or erotica."
Did anyone guess her identity?
At any rate, Barbara has not yet chosen the winner, so stay tuned! In the meantime, you've got some "inside information" to help you decide whether Barbara is an agent you'd like to query, either now or some time in the future.
Many thanks, Barbara, for giving us your time, your expertise, and your heart!
Thank you both for this great experience!
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you Ms.Poelle for actually LIKING historical romances set in Scotland!
:) Terri
What great authors your agency represents. Thanks so much for your input. Ooh and you have the same first name as me!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your valuable time! The contest was fun and your input was very greatly appreciated :)
ReplyDeleteHey Barbara,
ReplyDeleteMy cousin Fran's has nothing on you. Thanks for taking the time to critique my "first" (inside joke--see SA #20) submission on misssnarksfirstvictim.
I'm not one to wait, so I went ahead and sent my query into your agency--after applying a few edits based on your gracious feedback.
Thanks again for taking the time.
And Authoress, same goes for you. Thanks again.
-Rick
Pleased to meet you, Barbara! I will definitely query you, but not quite yet.
ReplyDeleteIf I might be allowed a question (yes, give them an inch and they'll try to take a mile :), I'm having trouble placing my work in the right genre.
Can a story that doesn't introduce the hero right away, and doesn't necessarily follow the formula of the romantic happy ending, still be considered historical romance? My story has another element beside (maybe even above) the romance, and it's not exactly "steamy" in today's sense.
Anyway, thanks SO much to both you and Authoress for your time and professional input, graciousness, and all-around peachy keenness!
I'll share my thanks as well. The Secret Agent exercises have been a great help to refining that all-important first page.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking time from your busy schedule to stop by and critique.
I would like to add my thanks as well to Ms. Poelle for so generously taking time to not only read our 'hooks', but to comment on them. And to Authoress, for once again, setting up a wonderful learning experience.
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DeleteElizabeth- As a debut novelist it is best to think of the romance genre as a bull's eye and you want to hit it in the center as clearly as possible, so if things are not genre specific, you may want to go back and refine.
ReplyDeleteWho is the winner?
ReplyDeleteThank you Ms. Poelle for selecting me as the First Place Winner.
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