Literary, Subsidiary, and Foreign Rights Agents A Mini-Guide by John Kremer Copyright © 2011 by John Kremer All rights reserved. Open Horizons P. O. Box 2887 Taos NM 87571 575-751-3398 Fax: 575-751-3100 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.bookmarket.com Introduction Below are the names and contact information for more than 1,450+ literary agents who sell rights for books. For additional lists, see the end of this report. The agents highlighted with a bigger indent are known to work with self-publishers or publishers in helping them to sell subsidiary, film, foreign, and reprint rights for books. All 325+ foreign literary agents (highlighted in bold green) listed here are known to work with one or more independent publishers or authors in selling foreign rights. Some of the major literary agencies are highlighted in bold red. To locate the 260 agents that deal with first-time novelists, look for the agents highlighted with bigger type. You can also locate them by searching for: “first novel” by using the search function in your web browser or word processing program. Unknown author Jennifer Weiner was turned down by 23 agents before finding one who thought a novel about a plus-size heroine would sell. Her book, Good in Bed, became a bestseller. The lesson? Don't take 23 agents word for it. Find the 24th that believes in you and your book. When querying agents, be selective. Don't send to everyone. Send to those that really look like they might be interested in what you have to offer. Review the books they've already sold to see if they fit in with the types of books you have written and/or want to write. Also, unless you know for certain that the recipient welcomes unsolicited queries by email, stick to the old-fashioned paper methods of query letters. Never send an attachment with an email query. The film and TV rights agents listed below primarily target individual producers rather than studios. They look for producers whose past work indicates an interest in a “same but different” project. Other top agents for women’s fiction and romance: Laura Bradford, Jennifer Schober, and Kevan Lyon. Six Steps to Finding a Literary Agent by Hillel Black 1) Almost all literary agents are listed in The Publishers Market Place or LMP, a huge, expensive, 1,229 page volume which you should be able to find in a public library. It contains their actual and email addresses, and a brief description of the kinds of book they represent as well as titles recently placed. Note from John: About 200 to 500 agents are listed in those directories. They are not nearly complete. 2) Approach an agent with both an email and letter that cogently describes your book - the description should not take more than a paragraph or two - followed by a brief bio that makes clear why you have the authority (called a platform) to write the book if it is nonfiction. Or a brief description of your novel in which the premise shouts, "Yes, I would like to read that manuscript." Whatever you do, skip the hype. Big turnoff. 3) You need to able to send the agent a proposal that includes an overview, a table of contents in which you include a paragraph or two describing the contents of each chapter and two sample chapters if the work is nonfiction, or at least one hundred or more pages if a work of fiction. 4) Conduct a thorough search and list and describe the competition for your book, especially nonfiction, and spell out how your book is different. For fiction, name works similar or genres that were and are successful. 5) A way to find a potential agent appropriate for your work: cruise a book store, select a volume similar to yours and check out the acknowledgment page that often lists the name of the agent for that work. Then in your email and letter write that the recipient represented such and such work which you enjoyed reading and that your work is of the same genre and might be of particular interest to the agent. 6) Provide an estimate of the number of words of the work and length of time it would take to complete it. Tip submitted by Hillel Black, freelance editor of over 20 New York Times bestsellers and member of the Consulting Editors Alliance. Visit http://www.hillelblack.com. — Reprinted from The Book Marketing Expert newsletter, a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com. A A+B Works, Amy Jameson, 615 Fort Washington Avenue #2E, New York NY 10040; 212-923-1219. Email: [email protected]. Web: http://www.aplusbworks.com (not active). Formerly with Janklow & Nesbit for seven years, she opened her own agency in the fall of 2004. She specializes in children's books, especially young adult fiction. She will do some books for adults as well. Sold rights Shannon Hale's YA novel The Goose Girl to Bloomsbury Children's Books. Sold audio rights to Shannon Hale's YA fantasy novel Enna Burning to Full Cast Audio. Carole Abel, Literary Agent, 160 West 87th Street, New York NY 10024; 212-724- 1168; Fax: 212-724-1384. Dominick Abel Literary Agency. Dominick Abel, 146 West 82nd Street #1B, New York NY 10024; 212-877-0710; Fax: 212-595-3133. Sold rights to the next three novels from Ian Rankin to Little, Brown. Sold rights to The Irish Sports Pages: A Milan Jacovich Mystery by Les Roberts to St. Martin's Minotaur. Sold rights to Heather Lowell's two novels to Avon/Morrow. Sold rights to Peter Robinson's novel Close to Home to Morrow. Sold rights to Elizabeth Peters's mystery Children of the Storm to Morrow. Stephanie Abou. Formerly with Joy Harris Literary Agency. Not sure where she is now. A specialist in first novels. Sold rights to Amy Hassinger's first novel Nina to Putnam. Sold rights to Jenna Blum's first novel Those Who Saved Us to Harcourt Brace. Sold rights to Lisa Wixon's first novel Dirty Blonde and Half Cuban to Rayo. About Words Agency, Susan L. Graham, 885 Woodstock Road #430-323, Roswell GA 30075. Email: [email protected]. Web: http://www.aboutwords.org. Abrams Artists Agency, Maura Titlebaum, Agent, 275 Seventh Avenue, 26th Floor, New York NY 10001; 646-486-4600. Handles film and screenplay rights. Sold rights to Amy Henry's What It Takes: Speak Up, Step Up, Move Up to St. Martin's. Acacia House, Bill Hanna, Agent. Sold rights to Stephen Brown's Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentleman Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail to Thomas Dunne. A.C.E.R. Agencia Literaria, Amor de Dios, 1, Madrid 28104, Spain; 34-91-369-20- 61; Fax: 34-91-369-20-52. Email: [email protected]. Sells Spanish and Portuguese rights. Acme Talent & Literary Agency, Mickey Freiberg, Literary Department, 4727 Wilshire Boulevard #333, Los Angeles CA 90010; 323-9564-2263. Also sells film and TV rights. Sold rights to Marion “Suge” Knight's autobiography to Riverhead. Adams Literary, Tracey Adams, 295 Greenwich Street #260, New York NY 10007; 212-786-9140; Fax: 212-786-9170. Email: [email protected]. Web: http://www.adamsliterary.com. Children's agent formerly with McIntosh & Otis. Formed her own shop in the spring of 2004. Sold rights to Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson's young adult first novel The Parallel Universe of Liars to Roaring Brook. Sold rights to Adrienne Vrettos's Skin and Sight young adult novels to Margaret McElderry Books. Sold rights to Jeremy Strong's middle grade novel to Harper. Sold rights to Coleen Paratore's middle grade novel to Simon & Schuster Children's. Adams Literary, Karen Riskin, 295 Greenwich Street #260, New York NY 10007; 212-786-9140; Fax: 212-786-9170. Email: [email protected]. Web: http://www.adamsliterary.com. Sold rights to Amy Goldman Koss's Poison Ivy young adult novel to Roaring Brook Press. Sold rights to Amy Goldman Koss's young adult novel about a young girl's year-long battle with cancer to Deborah Brodie Books. Adams Literary, Josh Adams, 295 Greenwich Street #260, New York NY 10007; 212-786-9140; Fax: 212-786-9170. Email: [email protected]. Web: http://www.adamsliterary.com. Adler & Robin Books, Bill Adler, 3000 Connecticut Avenue NW #317, Washington DC 20008; 202-986-9275; Fax: 202-986-9485. Email: [email protected]. Focus on health, fitness, pop culture, self-help, and more. Sold rights to Jorge Ramos's No Borders: A Journalist's Search for Home to Rayo/HarperCollins. Agence Hoffman, Ursula Bender, Bechsteinstrasse 2, Munich 80804, Germany 80804; 49-89-308-4807; Fax: 49-89-308-2108. Email: [email protected]. Web: http://www.agencehoffman.de. Handles German language rights. Agence Hoffman, Anoukh Foerg, Bechsteinstrasse 2, Munich 80804, Germany 80804; 49-89-3084807; Fax: 49-89-3082108. Email: [email protected]. Web: http://www.agencehoffman.de. Handles German language rights. Agence Hoffman, Paris, France; 33-143-26-56-94; Fax: 33-143-26-34-07. Sells French language rights. Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells SA, Gloria Gutiérrez, Diagonal, 580, Barcelona 08021 Spain; 34-93-200-89-33; Fax: 34-93-200-70-41. Email: ag- [email protected]. Sells rights in Spain, Portugal, and South America. Agencia Literario Cardenoso, Juan Guell, 74-76 atico 2, Barcelona 28 Spain; 330- 34-16. Sells rights in Spain. Agenzia Letteraria, Susanna Zevi, via Appiani 19, 20121 Milano, Italy; 39-02-657- 08-63; Fax: 39-02-657-09-15.