Agents

We suspect we wouldn’t know a big commercial book if it hit us in the head, but apparently some authors write them, recognize them, and market them. If you have this particular skill set, Nicholas Ellison is looking for you. Also, it helps if you’re already established, but that’s not a requirement. Ellison, Jennifer Cayea, and Abigail Koons like the good fiction, the stuff that sells (and can, potentially, sell to Hollywood), the usual smattering of clever non-fictions, no romance, but humor is a big plus. Read the interview to discover if this is the match of your dreams. The […]

Martin Literary Management offers a twist on the Hollywood style: rather than pushing fiction (even the truest of true stories is fictionalized for your viewing pleasure), they focus exclusively on non-fiction. Non-fiction with a People magazine sensibility. Yes, non-fiction that appeals to a wide range of readers and tastes. Sharlene Martin likes works that can be marketed to studios, and she likes authors who are willing to invest in their careers. To learn more, as always, check out the MediaBistro interview. The details: Martin Literary Management, 17328 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 138, Encino, California 91316. Pitching an Agent: Martin Literary Management

Have we dwelled on agents and what they do recently? We confess, we have a rather romantic view of literary agents. We see them as the ones who feed and nurture their talented clients. Lots of chicken soup, lots of creative banter. Hmm, it is quite possible that we are confusing literary agents with movies starring Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Doris Day, and/or Rock Hudson. Probably also Cary Grant. Being one of the two-brain lobed creatures, we carefully compartmentalize the agents we encounter into business-oriented and editorial-oriented. For example, the fine folks at DeFiore and Company are business-oriented. Yet they’re

It’s hard to work up emotion when you think the body’s been buried forever, but we’ll give it our best shot. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Well, so much for crying on cue. As it turns out, there was one agency out there still collecting a piddly 10% commission on sales, but no more. Who knew? The Wylie Agency is succumbing to the industry standard 0f 15%*, effective the beginning of the new year. An agent simply can’t survive on less these days. It’s the cell phones, we’re convinced. And the Internet. And probably the price of coffee. * – Math not

We admit it: we have a hard time separating our fiction novels from our non-fiction novels. Where is the line? Isn’t that what makes creative non-fiction so compelling? Is it any wonder we’re of a certain age and still trying to figure out where we fit into the world? We like the B.J. Robbins Literary Agency (and associate Missy Pontious) because they’re located in a place we know and understand — North Hollywood (we lived there once upon a time, and it’s really not like regular Hollywood, though the Mexican food is excellent). We like the fact that they consider

If we were the literary non-fiction type (and we suspect we aren’t), we’d definitely add Elizabeth Wales to our potential agent list. Wales Literary is definitely a small agency with a decidedly political bent — but without a geographical bias. The agency is based in Seattle, good because: The distance from New York, Wales says, is actually an advantage. “We’ve had enough success that when I go to New York, editors know me, and expect me to have discovered some interesting new talent,” she explains. Get the whole scoop at MediaBistro Contacting the agency: Wales Literary Agency, Inc., PO Box

Paul Bresnick struck out on his own not too long ago after various stops at the editorial desk, dot-com world, music writing, and agenting with others. The agenting was especially alluring because it allowed him to fulfill his first desire: editing. “By the end of my career as a trade editor, I felt that I was spending most of my time working for the marketing department as opposed to being an editor.” Being the pragmatic sort of agency, Bresnick is looking for a wide range of works, except genre fiction. We imagine this level of pragmatism is forthcoming. We loved

Maria Massie has left Inkwell Management and joined Lippincott Massie McQuilkin (way to get the name on the letterhead!). Now for the bad news, Lippincott has a domain, but no website. Since there’s a name change involved (addition of Massie), it’s possible they will need to start from scratch on the website thing (luckily, this will be easy). To ease the pain, we’ve linked to information about the agency courtesy of MediaBistro’s “Pitching” series. Contact information is: Lippincott Massie McQuilkin, 80 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1101 New York, New York 10011, (212) 337-2045. Because an empty office is a lonely office,

Donna Bagdasarian has joined the Maria Carvainis Agency. While we’d love to point you the Carvainis website, sigh, it appears to exist in name only. However, in what we see as positive first steps, they do have a domain name and Bagdasarian does have a listing at Publisher’s Marketplace. Contact info is: Maria Carvainis Agency, Inc. 1350 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2905, New York, NY 10019, (212) 245-6365, (212) 245-7196 (fax). Donna Bagdasarian

Soon, a heaping lot of people will have completed 50,000 words of a novel (we plan to be one of the elite, but realize we will be nowhere near finished). While we’d normally linger on the joys of revising, today we’re going to pretend we’ve done so and move on to what one does with a completed manuscript. We’ve heard of various uses: some use them as lovely, if a bit ragged, doorstops. Some pile them under beds, presumably as secondary support in case of unexpected collapse. Others use the blank sides of the pages for scratch paper. Some even