What is the most important part of being an agent?
Being an agent requires a great deal of patience, tenacity, and vision. When all these three align, then it requires the ability to communicate with a myriad of creative types. The most important part I would say is RELATIONSHIPS. I enjoy agenting because I take pleasure getting to know the diverse people I meet along the way: whether it’s an illustrator, a financial professional, an activist, or a Madame.
How have agents had to adapt to the changes in the market in recent years, including the changes in technology?
Well agents have now started to become mini-publishers. For agents who come to agenting from an editorial background this transition is not as daunting as it is for those who come from other parts of the business. As a mini-publisher you are required to put on your editorial hat.
In the past agents were rather unknown. They were difficult to find and if you didn’t have a friend with an agent, it was difficult to break through. Today agents blog, tweet, instagram etc. Social media has become significant part of the business. In addition, many agencies including my own don’t accept snail mail. We find authors on twitter, we communicate with our authors on social media. I’ve even explored the idea of having virtual online retreats with my authors since they are located all over the world.
Many agencies are now self-publishing clients' work. What do you think of this practice? Would your agency ever consider publishing client work if it can't be placed with a traditional house? What are the advantages and disadvantages to this? Here's the thing, if you’ve worked with an author for months to develop their work, you don’t want all that work to go unrewarded. If the author self-publishes independently, depending on what's in the agency agreement, the agency receives no compensation for the blood sweat and tears. So I believe it makes sense to stay coupled with the project besides self-publishing can be very daunting, especially in regards to getting distribution and find an audience. A savvy agent can help with those components of the business as well.
99% of my business maintains the traditional model of the agent shopping the book to a mainstream publisher. There have been a few instances where I have placed the author with small independent publishers who take the hybrid model, where the author is intimately involved in the development and promotion of their book. The ebook or digital model is definitely something we are developing at my agency.
Many agents are also selling digital rights to the digital publishers that are now on the rise. Is this something that's good for the business and authors? Do you sell these rights? When do agents make the decision to sell these rights to digital publishers?
There are a number of models I’ve explored in the digital space:
1. retaining ebook rights and going directly with the ebook distributors, amazon, kobo, apple, etc 2. working directly with publishers who begin with a digital book and then if sales are warranted or the audience requests, we go to print
3. I'm currently exploring genre fiction for the digital market. Mainstream publishers have approached me about some of my authors' works and asked that they develop books for digital first publishing.
4. I've also been approached about short fiction and essay style projects, similar to the kindle singles approach by mainstream publishers. Publishers want to have the right to publish the entire body of work from an author, so they are willing to publish short works as well.
Overall, I think the digital space is definitely good for business. It gives debut writers a chance to publish and to garner an audience. It gives agents and editors greater access to a marketplace of writers they may not have natural entrée to. It also allows readers to have a bigger say in what gets published.
I’ll admit though that it makes the financial business model a bit more difficult for agents. You end up having to do more volume and as you know with more volume the quality of the work may suffer.
You are an author in your own right. How has being an author informed your work as an agent?
To date I’ve mostly written books on how to write and how to get published.
I wrote the book WRITING GREAT BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULTS because there was no other book on the market at that time that separated children’s from young adult. When I first envisioned the project, “Twilight” and “Hunger Games” didn’t exist. Now there are hundreds of thousands of young adult books and thousands of new authors writing for the genre. It’s very exciting.
I wrote YOU SHOULD REALLY WRITE A BOOK: How to Write, Sell, and Market Your Memoir because I wanted to help people understand how to really sell their stories. Writing and publishing a commercially viable memoir is more than just having an interesting story to tell. The book helps people understand how to get agents and editors excited about your work even if you are a “relatively unknown” author.
I recognize the challenges to getting published, the importance of having representation. I agented my first three books myself. They say a lawyer who represents themselves has a fool for a client. I’ve now come to see that statement holds true for agents who represent their own literary works as well. I understand better the challenges of being creative on call, how research can take three times the amount of time you thought it would, how paramount literary relationships and community are, and most of all how important is it to get out and promote your book and yourself as a writer.
What's the best advice you offer writers?
1. Please be patient. There’s a lot of stop and start during the life cycle of getting a book published. Honor the process and allow each phase of the process its natural rhythm.
2. Don’t take critique as criticism. Revision is key part of the writing process. Don’t let an editor or agents feedback disparage you from realizing your dream of becoming a published author
3. Develop a team. It takes a village to make a book work. (graphic designers, publicists, editors, web developer, photographer, copywriter, etc) Start putting together your team as soon as possible.
Regina Brooks is the founder and president of Serendipity
Literary Agency LLC, based in Brooklyn, New York. Her agency has represented
and established a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult
fiction, nonfiction, and children's literature. Her authors have appeared in
USA TODAY, NY TIMES and the Washington Post as well as on Oprah, ABC, NBC, CBS,
CNN, FOX, MSBNC, TV ONE, BET and a host of others. Writer's Digest
magazine named Serendipity Literary Agency as one of the top 25 literary
agencies in 2004. Formerly,
she held senior editorial positions at John Wiley and Sons (where she was not
only the youngest but also the first African-American editor in their college
division) and McGraw-Hill.
Prior to her
publishing career she worked as an aerospace engineer and made history as the first African American woman to receive a
bachelors of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering from The Ohio State
University. She is a graduate of The
School of the Arts High School in Rochester, NY.
She is the author of Essences Magazine’s quick pick children's
book, NEVER FINISHED NEVER DONE (Scholastic) , WRITING GREAT BOOKS FOR YOUNG
ADULTS (Source Books) the
forthcoming title YOU SHOULD (REALLY) WRITE A BOOK: WRITING, SELLING AND MARKETING YOUR
MEMOIR ( St. Martin’s Press) and
a well received blogger for the Huffington
Post. Brooks is also on the faculty of the Harvard University publishing program and has served as faculty on
the Whidbey Island Writers MFA and Western Connecticut MFA Low residency programs. Brooks is also
on the faculty of the Writer’s Digest University, Harvard University publishing
course, The Discovery Channel’s Media Boot Camp for Doctors, the Whidbey Island
Writers MFA program and teaches annually at more than twenty worldwide
conferences. She has been highlighted in several national and international magazines
and periodicals, including Forbes, Media Bistro, Writers and Poets, Essence
Magazine, Ebony, Jet, Women on Writing, Writers Digest Magazine,
The Writer, and Sister2Sister magazine, Publishers
Weekly, The Network Journal, Rolling
Out, and Ebony Magazine.
She was named 2010 Woman of the Year by The National
Association of Professional Women. A New York Urban League Rising Star
Award winner and a 2004 finalist for the StevieTM Award for Women
Entrepreneurs, Regina Brooks is featured in books such as The Guide to
Literary Agents and the NAACP nominated Down to Business 10
steps for Women Entrepreneurs, and How to Build a Platform. She is also listed in
International Who's Who under the categories of Professional Management,
Technology, Entrepreneurs, and Engineering.
In November 2010, Brooks partnered with Marie Brown, of Marie
Brown and Associates, and Marva Allen of Hue Man Bookstore to launch a new
publishing imprint called Open Lens.
Further, Possibiliteas is the brainchild of literary agent and tea
enthusiast, REGINA BROOKS who believed
that tea—the world’s oldest
performance-enhancing beverage—could have a beneficial effect on her
clients—writers, artists and other creative professionals who were looking for
fuel for their creative fire.
She is a pilot and cofounder of Brooklyn Aviation as well as a member of the Association of
Author Representatives and New York Women in Film and Television.
Ms. Brooks is the founder and co-Executive Director of Y.B.
Literary Foundation, Inc., a not-for-profit organization designed kindle a passion for literature within high school students and an appreciation for the possibilities and opportunities
that reading can provide. www.ybliterary.org
LINKS OF INTEREST
@serendipitylit @teaforcreatives
Sample of Workshops and Talks
Workshops
How to Productize Your Intellectual Property
A book is a product, but so are other types of intellectual property. Do you have a lot of creative ideas? This workshop will help you to figure out how you might be able to turn your creative ideas into products that help to inform, educate and entertain people. When you are finished with this workshop, you'll have even more creative ideas than you had when you entered, and you'll have new ways to turn them into intellectual property products!You should really write a book
Are you planning to write a
book? (Or, you've published one already.) This workshop is designed to help you
become a bestselling author by implementing specific strategies to help you
build your publishing, media and speaking platform. Whether you are already an
author or not, if you have plans to write a book, this workshop will help you
to become a successful author. Today
writers need to know how to succeed in the new media and literary marketplace.
This comprehensive workshop is all about maximizing your work and creating a
writing career. Regina Brooks take participants step-by-step through the
success checklist for the getting-published process. From content-creation to
contract; focusing on both craft and career, you will learn essential secrets to
getting published.
Brand Building and extending your reach.
Are you an expert? Should you
be? Are you ready to move on to bigger venues with larger audiences? Do you
have an important message to share with others? If so, this workshop is for
you. Regina Brooks will focus on
strategies for getting your ideas into the New York Times, Huffington Post
and other prestigious newspapers, how to write for blogs, and strategically
develop your content and contacts. Will include strategies for extending your
brand through social media, and tips on attracting a literary or speaking agent!
Talks
Writing Your Way into Relevancy
Listening to your Muse One whisper at a Time
Writing an Undeniable Book Proposal
Writing Great Books for Children and Young adults
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