AgentSpeak: Plot-Driven Fiction

March 29th, 2005 · No Comments
by Booksquare

Agent leaves lawyering, discovers that agenting doors are not easily opened, perseveres, discovers gold. For agent Theresa Park, it wasn’t love at first site with one of her major clients, but it’s the stuff of legends. Never let it be said that we are not suckers for a heartwarming story. Heck, we cry during the coffee commercials at Christmas (as this is a secret, please do not share this with people).

The first novel Park sold was The Notebook, by four-hankie bestseller Nicholas Sparks, and the way in which the author and agent found each other is the kind of you-never-know, happy—if not a touch morbid—accident that should give hope to legions of aspiring writers. Sparks had sent a query letter to more than 20 agents, all but one of who eventually rejected him. Included in the mailing was a Greenburger agent, who had, unfortunately, passed away a few months earlier but who was still listed as a contact in most agent reference books. The letter made its way to Park, and though she was not sold on the “love between old people” theme, as she puts it, she decided on a whim to ask for the manuscript.

We conclude with one of those, okay, sure, whatever moments. Park, who represents Spark, does not represent category romance. We can only presume it’s the low margin aspect of the books, because it can’t be the subject matter.

Vitals: The Park Literary Group, LLC, 156 5th Ave, Ste 1134, New York, NY 10010, (212) 691-3500. Points deducted for lack of website.

File Under: Agents