A former public relations professional leaves the rainy safety of the Pacific Northwest to become a literary agent in New York. No, this is not a new television series, it’s Janet Reid’s life. After burning out in the PR business, Reid turned to agenting. Her agency, opened in 2003, features a mixed list of fiction and non-fiction, placed at a mix of big and small publishing houses.
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.
