Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Literary Agent Joanna Stampfel-Volpe - The Inside Scoop


Now that things have calmed down (for now) over on the QueryTracker Blog, I wanted to take a moment to give you all a behind-the-scenes peek at what went on during our first contest, and, more importantly, give you the inside scoop about literary agent Joanna Stampfel-Volpe.

First of all, to those who entered our very first contest, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! It was a smashing success. We received 300 entries in just four hours, and nearly 600 entries in all. We also received numerous thank-yous and well-wishes from many of the entrants. It was a thrill for all of us at the blog to provide an opportunity for our readers to get noticed. I really loved getting to know you all better!

Now about Joanna. She handled the overwhelming number of entries with grace, aplomb, and even enthusiasm. She read every one of the 600 entries. At last she narrowed it down to 27. She read those 27 over and over, even aloud to her husband. She comments about the process here. Joanna even went so far as to invite all entrants of the contest to query her. Words cannot describe how amazing she is to work with. Anyone who is represented by Joanna has won the Agent Lottery. This gal is one in a million.

Here's a sneak peek at what we have coming up on the QTblog.
  • Literary agent Anna Webman of Curstis Brown has graciously agreed to be interviewed
  • Joanna Stampfel-Volpe will be guest blogging about hooks
  • A contest! Yes, another opportunity to showcase your work to an agent.
So if you're not a subscriber to the QTblog already, be sure to join!

If you have any questions or comments about the QTblog, or can think of ways to improve it, I would love to hear from you! Leave me a comment after this post, or send me an email.

suzettesaxton@querytracker.net

Have a fantastic day and a glorious weekend.

Suzette

14 comments:

Unknown said...

I loved the contest--it was so cool to see the winning entries! I wonder if we'll ever know which were the top 27...???? :)

Thanks for the heads-up on upcoming QT stuff! I <3 QT!

Suzette Saxton said...

I'm so glad you loved the contest - and QT! Joanna hasn't said if she's planning on revealing the top 27 or not. It would be so interesting to read them all, wouldn't it?

J.N. Future Author said...

I never got to enter....how sad.

It sounded like it was tons of fun!

Michelle D. Argyle said...

She is certainly a great agent. Thank you for giving us some more information!

Anonymous said...

I think it's great when agents come out of their shell to lend a helping hand and encouragement to writers! I think this was an awesome turnout and so happy for all those who participated!

Hopefully my novel will be wrapped up enough so next time around I can enter the competition!

Keep it all coming your doing a great job!

Unknown said...

I'm so glad it was such a success! That's wonderful!

Jessica Nelson said...

Oh man, I missed the contest. Erk. I'm glad it was successful though! How fun for all of you. :-)

Carrie Harris said...

I missed the contest too, but it seems like a lot of fun! I'd love to see those runners up!

Tess said...

You all handled that brilliantly and I'm sure learned a lot in the process. Fun stuff!

Dave King said...

An absorbing blog. Thanks for alerting me to it.

Alex Moore said...

i must say that not only do you have an engaging voice in your posts, but you have some awesome blog posts. dipped in awesomesauce, as anthony would say :D write on!

IJ said...

Hello Suzette,
I'm honoured that you tuned in.
You've got a great blog going on & its ever so informative. I like the Query Tracker concept. Your site will certainly teach me lots about the writing world. My background is medicine but I do love to create stories in my head. Now I have started writing them down, thanks to my sister who writes very well- CathM. Well, its a pleasure to have located your blog.

Suzette Saxton said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Suzette Saxton said...

Thanks you guys! You all have made my day.

No worries about missing this contest - we have another coming up soon!!