Old North, A Literary Agency.

No. Instead, Southern hospitality— the very core of my professional value proposition and how I strive to conduct myself—is all about recognizing the humanity in each individual when he or she first approaches you. More succinctly, it is the benefit of the doubt. At its heart Southern hospitality is the utter absence of pretense, prejudgement and preconception. If you come to our homes, we will we welcome you with opens arms, not question why you are there, nor speculate about your motives. We'll care about you and love you.

Of course, we'll dote on you hand and foot, make sure your plate never goes empty, your glass never dry; we'll say "Yessir" and "No ma'am," even if you're half our age; we'll invite you to go to church with us and stay the night. But those things do not constitute Southern hospitality in and of itself, they are merely the side effects. We do all of those things and more because we respect you until you give us a reason not to.

In the South we don't care what your pedigree is, what kind of shoes you wear, or what brand of watch is on your wrist. Like the principles surrounding the Indian tradition of "namaste," we recognize that humanity and strength resides within every man. Just as Mr. Abbott noted in 1835, still does it stand today that if we see you walking up our steps, we want to learn about you, talk with you on the front porch, know your kids' names, where you're from and how you got here. Why? Because we care about people. And that, folks, is Southern hospitality.

So why does this matter in publishing? To find out read the full blog post here.