#i would say they weren't aware or had any imprinted history

[incorrect-hs-quotes]

DAVE: do you think the army men in toy story came like preprogrammed with horrible memories of a war they never really fought in or did andys play create those memories

DAVE: like do they come out of the bucket quietly rocking muttering about hill 40 or did andy force them to kill

JOHN: …….gonna be thinking about that one. :(

[publishingwhispers]

Do you know anything about Great Dog Literary? I'm not finding very much in my research, but also not finding anything negative.

This one is difficult to say definitively.

So, if you look at the agency staff's credentials, the founder (Nealon) has mostly worked in TV and other media, and had no experience as a literary agent before founding Great Dog. This would usually be a big red flag to me.

However, the media experience clearly gave her lots of connections, because she has a good sales history. On Publisher's Marketplace, the agency has a good amount of deals, including big 5 houses, auctions, and at least one six figure deal. The majority of the deals are picture books and non-fiction books or books from authors with existing followings, though there are a few debut sales to good publishers. To me, this is a green flag: they're capable of making sales, and not just to small/digital presses.

My hesitation with saying they're safe to query comes from the fact that none of the agents have experience at any other agency, including the founder. Some have other media connections, but none have agenting experience outside of Great Dog. Each new agent is getting mentored by someone whose publishing experience and connections come from a completely different world of media.

Anecdotally, I have heard that some agents have allegedly pressured clients to accept deals they weren't happy with at small presses, without notifying other editors.

So if I were to speculate, I think it's possible that the lack of experience in the literary agenting world outside of their siloed agency means they don't follow some of the industry norms, or aren't as familiar with the nuances of publishing that make it vastly different from other media industries.

This is not to say that the agents don't have good intentions or can't represent your book well or sell it. It's just to say that I personally would be a little bit iffy about the experience beyond just connections.

At the very least, I'd personally want to ask questions about this stuff before considering an offer of representation. Like, what is their experience with contracts and how do they approach negotiation? (Contracts are the biggest area where you absolutely want someone on your side who's well-versed in book publishing specifically, not just entertainment law, so this would be a big one.) If they're a newer agent, what does mentorship look like at the agency? What is their submission strategy, which editors or imprints do they have in mind? (If it's mostly smaller presses, does that align with your goals? If they can't name any specific imprints, run. If they say they want to leverage an offer from smaller presses to get a better offer, run.)

This is a lot of explanation to basically say I don't have a solid answer, but there's lots of factors to consider and at least be aware of when querying or considering an offer.

If anyone has experience to share, the ask box is always open.