Literary Agents

A3 Artists Agency has brought in four former Paradigm agents to reestablish a literary division. Veterans Andy Patman and Adam Kanter have come on board as A3 partners and Co-Head of Television Content and Motion Pictures, respectively. They are being joined by fellow former Paradigm agents Katt Riley and Martin To on the lit team, with plans to hire more agents, coordinators and assistants while many talent agencies have been contracting in the face of the coronavirus-related Hollywood production shutdown.

That includes Paradigm, which in late March instituted temporary layoffs for 250 employees. The list included Kanter, Riley and To, sources said, while Patman left Paradigm last week, I hear.

I run a solo agency practice, Lotus Lane Literary, which I established in 2013. I work from my home-office in New Jersey and employ a part-time intern throughout the year. I do business mostly in the US, the UK, India, and sometimes in other Asian and European countries via book scouts. My roster ranges from debut to well-established writers from all over the world. Lately, I have also started selling film/TV options to production houses in India, UK and the US.

In all these years, my life has been enriched in ways I could not have imagined. The camaraderie with authors and editors is special. It is gratifying to wake up each morning and look forward to reading a new manuscript, or working with an author on an edit, or brainstorming characters and their motivations. My authors often joke that they have graveyards full of characters I have suggested eliminating from their manuscripts. I love being immersed in narrative in any form, as books not only open us up to discovery, wonder and excitement, but also help us make sense of our volatile world.

While the joys of being a literary agent are deeply enmeshed with creativity, it is ultimately a business. In an industry that works at the dichotomous intersection of art and commerce, running a profitable business is always a challenge, especially in times of global pandemics and recessions.

Because of COVID-19 lockdowns it appears more people are finding time to write. Literary agents are seeing more stories related to pandemics and viruses being submitted for them to review.

Lina Langlee has left the Kate Nash Literary Agency to join the North Literary Agency.

Langlee, whose authors include Christina Courtenay, Sandy Barker, Stephen O’Rourke and Lucy Saxon, will remain based in Edinburgh.

With a background in publishing, Langlee joined Kate Nash as a junior agent in 2018 before winning a promotion last December and being shortlisted for Agent of the Year at the Romantic Novelists’ Association's Industry Awards.

At North, she joins an agency that was set up in October 2017 by four agents based in the north of England and Scotland: Mark Stanton, Allan Guthrie, Kevin Pocklington and Julie Fergusson.