Laura B. McGrath on Middlemen
press.princeton.edu – Sunday May 24, 2026
Middlemen rewrites literary history from the perspective of one of its most important but least visible figures: the literary agent. Chronicling the story of agents in the United States from the 1950s to today, Laura B. McGrath uncovers their critical role in the making of American literature. From the famed three-martini lunch to the Frankfurt Book Fair, Middlemen takes readers behind the scenes to show how agents influence what we read. Along the way, it explains why many debut novelists never publish another book, why agents champion short story collections even though they sell poorly, how agents advocate for writers of color in a system that values whiteness, and why there are so many New York novels.
What do literary agents do?
Laura B. McGrath: Literary agents represent authors in every aspect of a book deal: they receive manuscripts, submit them to the appropriate editors, and handle every aspect of the sale. This may seem cut-and-dried, but agents exert a great deal of influence over books! After the receive a manuscript, they work with an author to revise it—and they won’t send it to editors until they believe it’s ready. They work behind-the-scenes to make sure that editors are excited about a manuscript, primed to read it favorably and buy it for as high a price as possible. They serve as confidantes and advisers to authors throughout the entire publication process, educating them about the process and advocating for them when necessary. And, in an ideal world, an agent represents an author over many years and many books, helping them strategize about their long-term career prospects. Their influence may happen behind-the-scenes and it may be challenging to quantify, but it is, nevertheless, incredibly powerful in shaping the books that we read.
Introducing The Colby Review
news.colby.edu – Friday May 22, 2026
Writer-in-Residence Zach Peckham and 23 student editors band together to create a brand-new, student-led literary journal
Zach Peckham earned this launch party. The standing-room-only crowd in the Mary Low Coffeehouse. His colleagues peppering the room. Students jockeying for space, juggling iced matcha and chilled cold brews. Even the sunlight streaming through the bay window felt deserved.
Everyone was fired up, and the buzz wasn’t from the caffeine.
Peckham approached the mic, his sandy hair slightly ruffled from the heat and energy. “I came here this year to teach editing and publishing courses and to make this object,” he declared jubilantly, holding up The Colby Review, a brand-new, student-led literary journal published by the Creative Writing Program. “I guess we were successful—we have an object!”
As faculty editor of The Colby Review, he had been anticipating this moment for months.
“I’ve had the time of my life getting to be here with you all,” said Peckham, his yearlong residency nearing its end. “And what we put together here is messy, and cool, and confusing, and fun as hell.”
The inaugural issue of The Colby Review is available in hard copy and has an online presence.
New Publisher Listing: Black Bee Books
firstwriter.com – Friday May 22, 2026
Publishes fiction and nonfiction for adult and young-adult readers, with a focus on work that reflects the wide range of communities in Wales and highlights under‑represented voices. Seeks a limited number of new titles in electronic and hard copy formats for upcoming lists, including completed fiction manuscripts and nonfiction proposals with sample material.
Words ’N’ Wishes has acquired Nigel Quiney and Paper Rose
pgbuzz.net – Thursday May 21, 2026
Rod Brown and Carl Salt add two more brands to their publishing portfolio
Nigel Quiney Publications and Paper Rose have been sold to Rod Brown and Carl Salt, owners of the Wigan-based Words ’N’ Wishes.
The news broke late last night, with an official announcement released this morning, 20 May, by Rod who said: “Words ’N’ Wishes is pleased to announce that following lengthy discussions with Paul Taylor we have completed the acquisitions of publishers Nigel Quiney Publications Ltd and Paper Rose Ltd with immediate effect.
“Words ’N’ Wishes has been very fortunate to have built a strong publishing business over the last 15 years and have been looking for a while to find the right opportunity to strengthen our market presence in what has been and continues to be a challenging marketplace.
“Once we got into discussions with Paul regarding both highly-regarded companies it was not a difficult decision to close on. Both publishers have a history of good product and therefore, with the necessary financial support and working capital, will allow them to continue to drive their product strengths.
Filipino CEO pleads guilty in $48M book publishing scam in US
msn.com – Wednesday May 20, 2026
Michael Cris Traya Sordilla, a 34-year-old businessman from the Philippines, has pleaded guilty in federal court in a fraudulent book publishing scheme that defrauded over 800 victims across the United States, resulting in losses exceeding $48 million.
Sordilla is the first of four defendants to admit taking part in the scheme, which primarily targeted senior authors by promising them major publishing deals and Hollywood adaptations in exchange for hefty upfront fees.
Innocentrix Philippines
Sordilla was the founder and CEO of Innocentrix Philippines, identified in the plea agreement as a “business process outsourcing” company.
He and his co-conspirators established fictitious businesses in the US, including: PageTurner Press and Media LLC, founded in California in September 2017, claiming to be a book publishing firm located in Chula Vista, California; Metro Films LLC, incorporated in California in April 2022, claiming to be a motion picture and sound recording company in Los Angeles; and WP Lighthouse LLC, registered in Indiana in July 2024, falsely presented as a book publishing operation in Indianapolis.
How to Write (and Direct) a Contained Story
nofilmschool.com – Wednesday May 20, 2026
Low-budget and accessible—but how do you start?
I'm on a contained story kick right now. My creative partner and I are fresh off a short film shoot and want to make something else, but we want to make it as easy on ourselves as possible in terms of production, and cheap. So, of course, my mind went straight to single-location, contained ideas.
While contained stories are easier to produce and one of the most practical formats for emerging filmmakers, they're also one of the hardest to pull off well at the writing stage. You have to have characters that are interesting enough to carry 90 minutes, as well as a plot compelling enough to keep the audience hooked.
So I was excited to find StudioBinder's breakdown today. It's a good excuse to go through the core mechanics, from the page to the set.
Literary Scout Philippa Donovan Sets Up Screen-To-Book Business Two Script Studio To Facilitate ‘Reverse Adaptations’
deadline.com – Tuesday May 19, 2026
Veteran literary scout Philippa Donovan wants to reverse engineer the books-to-screen market through her new business, Two Script Studio.
The operation will create ‘reverse adaptations‘ to allow producers and screenwriters to turn screenplays into novels at an early stage of development. Book rights are then pitched to literary agents and publishers to build an audience or developed as underlying IP for the film or TV project.
Donovan will also help writers rework dormant scripts for publishers, and is offering mentoring where a pitch deck or script is used for narrative structure.
Two Script is so-named to represent the idea that one story becomes two scripts at the earliest possible stage.
A prize-winning story published in Granta was (very likely) written by AI
lithub.com – Tuesday May 19, 2026
It’s another grim day at the human factory. There is strong evidence to suggest that a prize-winning short story published this week in celebrated literary magazine Granta was entirely generated by AI.
Jamir Nazir’s “The Serpent in the Grove,” was published in Granta in partnership with the Commonwealth Foundation Short Story Prize, which annually recognizes unpublished fiction from around the British Commonwealth. Nazir’s story, which follows a rum-drinking farmer who comes across an enchanted grove, was the recognized entry from the Caribbean region.
A set of judges chaired by award-winning novelist Louise Doughty appreciated the story’s “precise yet richly evocative” language, and selected the piece as a regional finalist from a whopping class of 7,806 entries across the board. But literary sleuths smelled a rat.
Ethan Mollick, a Wharton professor who studies AI’s effects on education and the workplace, broke down this “Turing Test of sorts” in a helpful Bluesky thread.
New Literary Agent Listing: Kate Garrick
firstwriter.com – Tuesday May 19, 2026
Looks for projects that demonstrate a clear confidence of intention and a willingness to engage with our changing world with humility and curiosity. She is particularly interested in literary and upmarket fiction, memoir, and narrative nonfiction that endeavors to contribute to the conversations that will move our society forward.
How to protect against scammers – a new guide for authors
writersguild.org.uk – Monday May 18, 2026
An alarming increase in fraudulent activity targeting authors has led WGGB and the Society of Authors (SoA) to join together to issue urgent new guidance outlining measures writers can take to protect themselves.
How to protect against scammers: a guide for authors – which is published today – follows reports of a large uptick in members contacting WGGB and the SoA for advice on scams. Much of this activity is being driven by the rise of AI, which means that scams are taking more sophisticated and convincing forms, including impersonation of agents and publishers. The scammers aim to manipulate writers to part with money or sign away their rights in return for the promise of representation, publication, promotion or important connections.
The guide includes a checklist for authors to help them assess whether offers they receive are genuine or fraudulent. Advice includes being wary of convincing-seeming email addresses which scammers use to impersonate publishers, agents, big-name authors, publicists, marketing providers and others to ‘cold-email’ authors and make unsolicited offers, including attempts to try to acquire rights in books that have not been submitted to them (a practice legitimate agents or publishers would not engage with).
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