firstwriter.com's database of literary agents includes details of 2,544 English language literary agents and agencies that don't charge reading fees. The database is continually updated: there have been 71 listings added or updated in the last month. With over a dozen different ways to narrow your search you can find the right literary agent for your book, fast.
News
The television business is becoming increasingly global, fueled by the rapid expansion of the major streaming platforms. That also goes for the major Hollywood talent agencies.
Reps have always looked for opportunities beyond the U.S. But now, because of the increased demand for locally produced international content, they have stepped up their efforts. Also factoring into the acceleration is the ongoing impasse (and legal battle) between the Big 4 talent agencies and the Writers Guild of America which in April ordered its members to fire their agents if they hadn’t signed the guild’s new Code of Conduct.
Currently seeking nonfiction in the categories of biography, memoir, history, science, business, “big idea” books, pop culture, cultural criticism, true crime, and narrative nonfiction, particularly with a strong hook or something stemming from a quirky journalistic/academic/personal obsession.
Respected TV and film literary boutique The Rothman Brecher Ehrich Livingston Agency, a member of Association of Talent Agents, has reached a deal with the Writers Guild.
“Rothman Brecher Ehrich Livingston is pleased to announce that it has signed a new Franchise Agreement with the WGA,” the principals said in a statement to Deadline, declining further comment.
RBEL is the fourth established ATA member mid-size agency to break ranks and sign with the WGA, joining another literary boutique, Kaplan Stahler, as well as Buchwald and Abrams Artists, and comes only a week after the guild’s most recent pact with Abrams Artists. Verve, which is not an ATA member, was the first notable agency with writer clients to reach an agreement with the WGA in May.
Folio Literary Management has acquired the Emma Sweeney Literary Agency (ESA), effective January 2, 2020. The latter, founded in 2006, represented such authors as Sara Gruen and Edgar Cantero.
In a release about the deal, Folio said authors at ESA have won a host of major literary awards, including the Nobel and the Pulitzer. And Gruen's 2006 novel, Water for Elephants, has Folio noted, sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
Articles
Yesterday I shared part 1 of my interview with literary agent Iris Blasi of Carol Mann Agency about getting your nonfiction manuscript published. Today, Blasi discusses the specifics of selling memoir as a genre, author submission deal breakers, and how authors can best position themselves to get signed by an agent.
You mentioned memoir, where you’re basically selling yourself. Is memoir different in terms of what it takes to sell one?
The ways memoirs are pitched to agents and publishers is different. Generally in the nonfiction world, books can be sold on proposal. That’s the summary, comp titles, marketing and publicity section, about the author, annotated table of contents and a couple sample chapters that show how you would do this if you had an advance and a book deal. The flip side is that on the fiction side, the vast majority of fiction is sold with a completed manuscript.
Charles Heaton Allen recently acquired a literary agent using firstwriter.com's database of literary agents. We asked him about his writing, and how he found success.
Adrienne Schwartz recently acquired an agent using firstwriter.com's database of literary agencies. We asked her about her writing, and how she found success.
Rae Phillips recently acquired an agent using firstwriter.com's database of literary agencies. We asked her about her writing, and how she found success.
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