Yeah, we’ll leave the wondering about creativity and agency names to another day. As of July 1, Friedrich will be sharing offices (and probably coffee makers — you know how these agency things go) with The Gernert Company. Joining Friedrich will be agent Paul Cirone and assistant to the agents, Andy Marino.

Vitals: 136 East 57th St, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10022, (212) 838-7777 (phone – verify this as it’s actually the published number for The Gernert Company).

Before opening her own agency in 1992, Amster worked on the editorial side. She spent 10 years as an editor at Pantheon and Vintage and was editorial director of Globe Pequot for two years. Her big-house background gives her plenty of contacts in New York — something that’s a requirement with an LA-based agency.” A lot of the people I came up with are now heads of houses. We’re veterans. Just knowing how it works and knowing how decisions are made and knowing the pressures editors are under — it’s all really helpful,” Amster says.

Amster’s likes and dislikes (like: plot-driven literary fiction; dislike: straight romance) and style are noted. As is a caution:

Amster requests that authors research her before pitching. “I feel there’s a lot of information available online. You need to do your homework first or you’re going to make me cranky,” she says.

Mmm, cranky.
Vitals: Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises P.O. Box 27788, Los Angeles, CA 90027-0788.

• Pitching an Agent: Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises: A veteran editor is now a veteran agent
• Betsy Amster at Publisher’s Marketplace

In addition to lots of talent and enthusiasm, Folio is also adding an internal public relations department to their agenting, well, folio. This seems like a natural extension of the relationship — aren’t agents somewhat in the PR business anyway? Publishers seem to be responding with enthusiasm:

“The discussions we’ve had with big houses have been overwhelmingly positive,” Hoffman says. “The editors in particular like it, because they know that, effectively, we’re all on the same team and we’re all working towards a common goal. The people that we’re working with are professional enough and good enough. And we coordinate everything we do with the publishing houses’ PR and marketing departments so that nobody is stepping on anybody’s toes. What we’re doing is, we’re giving our authors that toolkit to do what they need to do to complement publishers’ efforts.”

Naturally there’s more in the article, including the all important “pitch the right agent” caveat. The Folio website is helpful in providing enough insight to make that easy.

Vitals (for those who misplaced them): Folio Literary Management LLC – New York Office: 240 W. 35th St, Ste 500, New York, NY 10001; Washington, D.C. Office: 1627 K Street NW, Ste 1200, Washington, D.C. 20006.

• Pitching An Agent: Folio Literary Agency: A new agency looks to newspapers, magazines and the web for authors with talent and ideas
• Folio Literary Agency

• James Freyed by agent who sez ‘trust broken’ – Kassie Evashevski of Brillstein-Grey dumped James Frey. Turns out he lied to her, too.
• Kate Rogers moves to Mountaineers Books as editor-in-chief.
• National Lampoon Plans to Yuk it Up in Print

– National Lampoon, not satisfied with the highly-lucrative direct-to-video market opens an publishing division. Ten to twelve titles annuallly, distribution by Holtzbrinck, presumably funny.

• Juliet Ulman was named senior editor at Bantam Dell.
• Per Publisher’s Lunch: “At Harcourt, editor-in-chief Becky Saletan has been promoted, given the additional title of associate publisher.”

That was a dull week, wasn’t it?

“At an independent bookstore, people still come in and ask booksellers for recommendations. I did a tremendous amount of hand selling. That’s what made me want to become an agent. I saw that you could really say, ‘I love this book and here’s why I’m passionate about it and go home and read it.’ If they loved it they’d come back and ask for more. There was nothing better than to stand around all day and convince people to read the books that I loved.”

Though she signs some clients based on queries, the primary way to capture her attention is through a client referral. Of course, after you’ve crossed the threshold, you need a great voice and story to be offered a drink from the bottomless pot of coffee. Short stories capture her heart (though still prove to be a tough sale), great fiction makes her happy, and she’s looking to expand her non-fiction list. No genre fiction. Her big suggestion: a professional query letter pitching something she, well, represents.

Vitals: Barer Literary LLC, 156 Fifth Ave, Ste 1134 New York, NY 10010. No email queries.

• Pitching an Agent: Julie Barer, Barer Literary LLC – Though she has a soft spot for short stories, this agent is looking to add to her list with some nonfiction, too
• Barer Literary, LLC

Folio picks up where major publishers leave off. We provide regional and local publicity that can dramatically expand an author’s profile and increase sales. We serve as a full-service speakers’ bureau, finding venues and audiences for our authors of both fiction and non-fiction. And we serve as licensing agents, finding new and innovative ways to leverage our clients’ work and develop new income streams—all while maintaining the integrity of their original artistic vision. And that’s just the beginning.

A note on superagencies — do not expect leaping tall buildings, swinging carefree through urban canyons, or bulletproof capes. Those are myths. Or so we’ve been assured; it’s not like they’re going to admit to x-ray vision anyway.
Vitals: Folio Literary Management, 240 W 35th Street, Suite 500, New York, NY 10001; Folio Literary Management, 1627 K Street NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20006.

• Folio Literary Management

Reid’s eclectic tastes include genre fiction:

While Reid represents various types of fiction, she is one of those rare agents who is interested in selling mysteries. “Good mystery writers, I think, they have to not only be able to write really good novels, but they have to write them within the constraints sometimes of the genre. I mean justice has to be done, there has to be this, there has to be that. It’s like writing a haiku a little bit. ‘Oh, I’ll just dash off a genre novel, like it’s something easy.’ Yeah, right.

Mystery isn’t the only genre Reid will consider (though she’s not generally a science fiction person):

For fiction, Reid is open to mysteries, chick-lit, and novels set in the West. “I am a passionate advocate for why chick-lit is not frothy pink crap that everyone should be ashamed to read,” she says. “I look at Jennifer Weiner, I look at Sophie Kinsella, the Shopaholic series, which, OK sue me, I love. That kind of stuff. I don’t get a lot of it because I don’t have romance on my list and a lot of people consider that a subset of romance.”

Vitals: JetReid Literary Agency, Am Co Center #106, 201 E 10th St, New York, NY, 10003. Query via snail mail only.

Confession time: we have a backlog of interviews to post. We’re going to sneak them in as soon as possible. We would appreciate your pretending that we’re on top of things rather than desperately trying to catch up.

• Pitching an Agent: Janet Reid, JetReid Literary Agency: A solo agent has her eye out for mysteries and loves smaller presses “passionately”—though she has sold to the biggies, too
• JetReid Literary

Agent Jennifer Jackson tackles rejection from another perspective — hers. First she sets the scene:

She spends the next couple hours, reading and sorting through various submissions. Many of them are competently written but just don’t have that something special that will make them stand out from the crowd. Some of them, frankly, make her wonder if she lives in the same universe as the writer’s mother who has declared the book the best magnum opus ever written. And then she opens a package, glances at the first page, reads a bit further, and discovers that she’s fallen in love all over again. This is what she was looking for. This is the manuscript that will restore her faith in author-kind. This is the best thing she’s read, well, since the last manuscript that had her taking on a new client. She reads it on the way home, she stays up until 3am, and she calls the author the very next morning to offer representation.

As the agent and her new author embark upon their honeymoon, the manuscript goes forth in the world. And learns the hard, cold truth about reality: avoid it.

She continues submitting and time passes. Someone makes an off-handed comment about how difficult it is to launch first-time authors. She has a crisis of faith. Why doesn’t anyone want this book? Surely, if they wanted it badly enough they would find a place for it. Is she the only one who loves it? Worse yet – could she be wrong? She goes back and reads the rejection letters, of which there are now several. They are painful to behold. Do they question her ability to perceive good story? Maybe she’s just not cut out for this agenting gig after all. Her anguish brings her back to the manuscript. Perhaps there is something she missed; something she might now see that she’s more experienced. She can find it if only she tries hard enough and then a sale will be certain.

• Not Right For Us At This Time…

Firebrand will represent approximately 70/fiction, 30/nf (popculture and narrative). In fiction, I’m going to focus a large bit on young adult & children’s literature (primarily from 12-21) and I’m also going to be looking for adult fiction — while I don’t plan on acquiring any more Sf/F at the moment (I’m happy with my list in that respect), I’d love to see more romance and mainstream fiction.

Vitals: Firebrand Literary, Attn: Nadia Cornier, 542 Hamilton Street, St 203, Allentown, PA 18101. Equeries will be accepted. See the site for details and instructions.

• Agent Obscura
• Firebrand Literary

But we’ll confine ourselves to encouraging writers with ways to get themselves turned down by agents or publishers, and trust that you’ll understand how to apply these lessons in a broader context. Nor are we going to insult anybody’s intelligence by telling you about the really basic, simple ways that a writer can ensure that no one will read her query letter, let alone her manuscript. We’re sure you already know about obvious things like using unusual fonts and paper, though we will point out that a really fuzzy, beat-up printer for your letter and manuscript is certainly a plus. Extra points if you could dig up a dot-matrix, though of course the real prize goes to those who handwrite their letters. That takes a special person.

• Screwtape Takes the Comm