PLEASE NO FICTION, PERSONAL MEMOIRS, or SPIRITUAL/RELIGIOUS QUERIES. Dawn Frederick may consider .00001% of some fiction/novels through professional reference, with the understanding that 99.9999% of her representative list is always nonfiction.
Starting in Jan. 2012, Dawn will no longer respond to queries that fall within the categories of novels/genre fiction and memoirs- since these books don’t fall within her representative categories.
Jennie Goloboy will be considering fiction, so please query her if interested (of course following her representative categories for fiction). In addition, we do not represent spiritual or religious books, to which there are agents who specialize in these categories. They can be found in print and online.
Contact Information:
Dawn Frederick, Owner/Literary Agent
Email: dawn@redsofaliterary.com
Jennie Goloboy, Associate Literary Agent
Email: jennie@redsofaliterary.com
Agency Address: 2163 Grand Avenue #2; St. Paul, MN 55105
Phone: 651.224.6670
*Note: U.S. Postal service preferred w/o signature required. Thanks
NO PHONE QUERIES WILL BE ACCEPTED. Please follow the requested submission guidelines (listed below).
Preferred Submission Guidelines (for Red Sofa Literary):
We highly encourage everyone to send an email and/or query letter initially, before attempting to send a full book proposal or sample chapters. Ultimately, it will save postage and time. If there is an interest, we will directly contact the author, requesting these materials be sent via U.S. Postal Service. Once these materials are received, there is usually response time of 4-6 weeks, sometimes sooner.
Most importantly, in addition to using the U.S. Postal Service, please avoid requiring a signature of receipt. There is nothing more testing than being forced to wait for an unknown parcel/letter.
If querying via email, please only put the contents of your query IN the email. We will not open attachments unless they have been requested in advance.
There’s also the option of querying Red Sofa Literary through WEBook.com – which allows any writer to query multiple agents/agencies through the AgentInbox program.
Reading Fee Policy: You will not be charged a reading fee.
Going by the usual standards of the query process, please send them via snail mail and/or email, clearly explaining the project, who you are, and why you are passionately pursuing it. Remember to ALWAYS include the SASE – and avoid including any type of email attachment (unless I’ve requested it in advance). As for any queries by phone, these phone calls will NOT be returned, except in circumstances where the author has been referred by a current author or client. Finally, no chapters sent via email please (as they are read “off-screen”) and I’d like to protect my already tired eyes.
What I’d like to see in your FULL book proposal (if requested): an Overview/Synopsis, a Bio, Market (WHO will read your book), Competition, Promotion (HOW readers will learn about your book), Chapter Summaries, and any other pertinent info, i.e. endorsements, estimated date of completion, etc.
Most common mistakes made:
As practiced at Sebastian Literary agency, it’s essential that any author reads the newest resource material during the agent query process. Otherwise, time and possibly patience may be lost due to lack of research on the author’s part. I know what I’m looking for, so it’s essential anyone querying Red Sofa Literary consider the types of categories represented at this agency. Know who your competition is, as well as the experience of building a public platform. In summary: Do your research, follow the industry standards of queries and book proposals, and know your competition—while building your own writing platform.
Other info worth knowing:
There’s a 99.9999% chance that most agencies, including Red Sofa Literary, will not consider the majority of queries sent from prisons or jail. However there is a wonderful resource made available by Springboard for the Arts (based in MN) – that will provide a list of organizations [click here] for anyone who is artist or writer, that happens to be in imprisoned. Hopefully this will assist anyone in this predicament who is looking to be published.
