United Agents open house submissions

My understanding is that the commercial fiction category includes science fiction and fantasy... so the open window date is Monday 15th August for those of you who've got a novel in the offing.

Edit / PS - just heard I got an honourable mention in the Writers of the Future contest for what is effectively my 4th story / chapter in the C.A.T. novel that I'm currently writing... not bad considering the two big loose ends at the end (for novel purposes)... excuse me while I have a purr-in.
 
Apologies if I misunderstood - I thought it meant they were after YA sf/f rather than adult sf/f. But I wasn't sure what they meant by "commercial fiction" as a genre - I'd presumed they meant "literary".

Plenty of SF/F agents at United, though, and they mention Joe Abercrombie specifically, so ignore my previous comment. :)
 
If someone could clarify something... Is it worth sending your work in progress? I mean I see that they mentioned it, but isn't it always better to have a finished manuscript in an unlikely case that they decide the work seems interesting enough for them?
 
BDFiala said:
If someone could clarify something... Is it worth sending your work in progress? I mean I see that they mentioned it, but isn't it always better to have a finished manuscript in an unlikely case that they decide the work seems interesting enough for them?
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In this case yes they're asking for novels in progress. They accept the normal kind of submissions anyway.

This is from their usual submissions guidelines:
The Books Department is always interested in approaches from writers looking for representation and we have found many exciting new authors in this way.

Every agent has different interests and areas of expertise, so we ask that you look at each agent’s website page for more information about their current clients and the kind of authors they are seeking. Please submit your work by email to one agent only. Regretfully, we can no longer accept submissions by post.

When submitting please send us the following:

  • A cover letter introducing yourself and your work
  • A one to two page synopsis
  • The first three chapters of your novel or a non-fiction book proposal
During the submission process do please let us know if another agent has requested your complete manuscript or offered you representation.

We look forward to hearing from you. Good luck!

Speaking from experience they get back really fast.
 
Brian Turner said:
Though it lists YA, it doesn't list SF/F, which is a shame.
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It seems that the open house is for not-yet-completed manuscripts, with specific dates for the submission of various types (with, as Serendipity has said, SFF probably being covered by "commercial fiction").

A quick glance at the people they represent shows that they represent Joe Abercrombie and Dan Abnett. (The former is even mentioned in the Open House announcement.)
 
I got a bit confused, seeing what they are asking for and knowing what is usually expected (and what Brian pointed out). I figured that people with more experience might say things like: ''Oh no! Don't go for that! It's a bad idea! I did it last year.'' or ''Go for it! You've got nothing to lose.'' You're all very helpful with your comments, thanks :)
 
I notice they ask for a synopsis, but couldn't see if they specify a length / word count for this. My synopsis is currently 1500 words and I'm struggling to get it much smaller. Anyone think this will be a sticking point?
 
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