Literary Agents

If you're an author these days, you're getting at least five emails a week from people who claim to be book club presidents, social media experts, Goodreads gurus, and more. The shadiest ones are "I like your book. Can you tell me more about it?"

It's only designed to hook you in with flattery, so they can sell services. But how do you tell who is legitimate? What if you overlook an opportunity because you're wary of the scams?

This week, I have seen this email going around where an email from rebeccalogan.editorial@aol.com purports to summarize your book with an easily recognizeable churned AI summary and then claims she wants to know about your current and future literary projects.

Now, it's getting insidious when scammers are impersonating real people or real book conferences in the guise of extracting money from you. 

Recent discourse has begged the question: Why aren’t men reading fiction? Are they reading anything at all? In this monthly series, we’re talking to men in literary spaces about the books they think other guys should check out right now. Whether it’s revisiting a classic, getting engrossed in a memoir or devouring something fast-paced and action-packed, there’s bound to be something here for any reader to enjoy.

If you have yet to pick up a book this summer, you are truly missing out on months’ worth of stellar new releases and debuts. Luckily, we have another superb collection of books to read this month — titles that are both old and new — from literary men with curated taste. Feast your eyes on one of these before the end of July.

If you’re looking for some more recommendations, I thought I’d share what books I currently have on hold at my local library. There’s Yesteryear, the Caro Claire Burke debut about a modern-day “tradwife” influencer who goes back in time to the 19th century; The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, an epistolary novel that follows the life of a retired lawyer through sent letters and Theo of Golden by Allen Levi, a bestseller that feels reminiscent of Tuesdays with Morrie.

BOURNEMOUTH will become the heart of romance fiction this autumn as it hosts the return of the Romance Writing Festival.

Taking place at the Marsham Court Hotel on Saturday, October 3, the festival will bring together bestselling authors, literary agents, and publishing professionals for a day dedicated to romance storytelling.

Highlights of the 2026 programme include a live interview with Sunday Times bestselling author Katie Fforde, hosted by BBC South’s Edward Sault.

Internationally acclaimed author Sharon Kendrick, who has sold more than 30 million books worldwide, will lead a masterclass on story ideation, alongside bestselling novelist Sue Moorcroft.

Here’s an interesting question: how many white American men born after 1984 have had a literary piece published in the New Yorker? The answer is zero. How did we get here, and who let this happen?

Every literary generation used to produce its Roth, Updike, Bellow, Wolfe, McCarthy, or Franzen. Today’s literary establishment shows no interest in producing young men of comparable prominence, especially if they’re straight and white. This is not a new or underdiagnosed problem; in fact, it appears to be a point of pride for the new generation of literary critics and publishers alike. Penguin Random House has no problem publishing its demographics yearly and celebrating the slow but consistent decline in white editorial staff.

Acclaimed novelist Joyce Carol Oates had no issue tweeting that “a friend who is a literary agent told me that he cannot even get editors to read first novels by young white male writers, no matter how good; they are just not interested.” And, without a hint of irony, followed up that statement with “this is heartbreaking for writers who may, in fact, be brilliant, & critical of their own ‘privilege.’” Although she is willing to recognize that young white men may be talented and barred from literary opportunities, she cannot help but equalize the statement with ludicrous notions of “privilege” where there is anything but.