Thursday, 22 March 2012

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Agents

Joshua Bilmes is closed to unsolicited queries.
Eddie Schneider is currently accepting queries.
Jessie Cammack is closed to unsolicited queries.

JOSHUA BILMES

Joshua Bilmes is the President of JABberwocky Literary Agency, which he founded in 1994. He has been an agent for over 25 years, having made his professional debut at the Scott Meredith Literary Agency in 1986.

His path to owning his own literary agency started in high school, when he sent monthly letters to the editor of Analog, the leading science fiction magazine, critiquing each issue. These letters so impressed Betsy Mitchell, then the magazine’s associate editor and now the Editor in Chief of Del Rey Books, that she offered Bilmes the chance to do freelance readers reports and other work for her when she joined Baen Books shortly after its inception. Joshua Bilmes and the publishing industry took an immediate liking to one another, and he started at Scott Meredith soon after graduating from the University of Michigan with a BA in History.

While his path to becoming an agent went through the science fiction genre, his interests were and are far broader. In the mystery genre, the Hardy Boys led to the Three Investigators, and from there to Agatha Christie, Perry Mason, the 87th Precinct and John LeCarre. He became a “Variety” junkie during high school, hasn’t missed an issue in 20 years, and still has a fascination with the entertainment business. His college degree in history introduced him to The New Republic, though he now reads The New Yorker. He keeps up on pop culture with Rolling Stone and spends fifteen hours a week reading newspapers. There’s always time for a good movie, and baseball and tennis are often his background music.

It was in fact a debut mystery novel, MARY’S GRAVE by Malcolm McClintick, which became Bilmes’ first sale in the summer of 1986. It was also in the summer of 1986 that he reached out to Elizabeth Moon and discovered the extremely popular “Deed of Paksenarrion” trilogy, helping to launch the career of an award-winning and bestselling author. By the end of the 1980s he had commenced work with Charlaine Harris, Simon Green, Tanya Huff and other mainstays of the JABberwocky list.

But it wasn’t just about building his own list at the Scott Meredith agency. Carl Sagan, Harry Kemelman, P.G. Wodehouse and Ellery Queen, are just a few of the authors Bilmes worked with at Scott Meredith. After Meredith’s passing, Bilmes was promoted to VP and got invaluable managerial experience holding the company together for several months pending the arrival of new ownership.

In 1994, Bilmes struck out on his own to establish JABberwocky Literary Agency, which in recent years has become the world’s leading literary agency for science fiction and fantasy.

Most notable has been the incredible success of Charlaine Harris, and of her Sookie Stackhouse series in particular. It didn’t hurt matters that Alan Ball, previously known for Six Feet Under, did a brilliant job creating True Blood based on the Sookie Stackhouse series, and HBO’s biggest hit since the Sopranos. But the TV show gets people to sample one book. It’s the books themselves that have attracted so much repeat business, helping to establish Charlaine as a #1 bestseller in the US, Britain and Australia and a major author in 35 languages. In 2009, an unprecedented 9 Sookie Stackhouse books appeared simultaneously on the NY Times bestseller lists. By the end of 2010, global sales for Charlaine were approaching 25 million copies.

Brandon Sanderson was headed to greatness even before being selected to complete Robert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” series, which accelerated his rise. Brandon hit #1 on the Times bestseller list with the Wheel of Time collaborations. His own The Way of Kings reached #7 on the Times list, his Mistborn trilogy is one of the top boxed sets in the country usually battling The Lord of the Rings for top honors in fantasy. Brandon is sold in some 25 languages.

As successful as Charlaine Harris and Brandon Sanderson are, Peter V. Brett outsells both in Germany, where he hit #16 on the Der Speigel bestseller list for The Desert Spear to go along with debuts at #9 on the Sunday Times of London list and #35 on the NY Times list. He is sold in close to 20 languages and in some foreign markets is outselling Charlaine Harris and Brandon Sanderson.

And as successful as all three of those authors are, Joshua happily admits to being proudest of representing The Speed of Dark, the Nebula Award winning novel by his long-time client Elizabeth Moon. This is one of those rare sf novels that transcends the genre audience. Starting with its selection by United We Read Kansas City, it has been chosen for multiple other community wide reading programs across the US at locations which include the Ohio State University, Clemson, and the Howard County libraries in suburban Baltimore as well as many private reading groups.

Moon is also a NY Times bestselling author. Other JABberwocky clients to reach the Times list include: John Hemry (aka Jack Campbell) for the “Lost Fleet” military sf series; Simon R. Green for his NIghtside and Secret Histories series; and Tobias Buckell for The Cole Protocol.

Besides True Blood, other media adaptations of work represented by JABberwocky include the TV series “Blood Ties” based on the Blood Books by Tanya Huff and the film “Testosterone” based on the novel by James Robert Baker.

Charlaine Harris, Tobias Buckell, and Elizabeth Moon have all won and/or been finalists for the major awards in their fields like the Hugo, Nebula, Campbell, Agatha and Anthony. Other current clients who’ve been so honored include Adam-Troy Castro, Jeff Gelb, Michael Garrett, Del Howison, Edo van Belkom, Michael Schiefelbein and Scott Mackay. Tim Akers and David Louis Edelman have recently been making a lot of “year’s best” and similar lists.

And since Joshua was reading and loving mysteries even before he was introduced to sf and fantasy, he loves seeing Jeri Westerson’s “Crispin Guest” medieval noir mystery series, which commenced in 2008, nominated multiple times for multiple awards in the mystery genre.

Adding further diversity to the list is a growing list of middle grade and YA fiction spearheaded by JABberwocky VP Eddie Schneider.

The agency is also broadening its scope to include an active republication program for reverted titles by its authors. Under the leadership of Digital Rights Manager Jessie Cammack. Some fifteen titles were available as JABberwocky e-books in early 2011, with that list expected to at least triple by the end of the year.

The success of the agency in recent years does make it more difficult for Joshua to be the primary entry point to JABberwocky for newer authors.

Other relevant links: Bookstore Splog (1/07), Oscar Splog (2/07), Joshua’s Real Blog

I’m excluding work by my own clients here, but…

Favorite fantasy: LITTLE BIG by John Crowley
Favorite sf novel: HYPERION by Dan Simmons
Favorite mystery: THE SECRET OF THE OLD MILL by Franklin W. Dixon, because it was the first

Favorite director: Stanley Kubrick
Favorite movie not directed by Kubrick: Superman, The Movie
Other Favorites: Goodfellas, lots of Tom Cruise, Bull Durham, The Empire Strikes Back
Favorite movie theatre: Loews Astor Plaza (1974-2004) Obituary
Favorite film composer: John Williams

Favorite football team: Michigan Wolverines, and the Pats for as long as Tom Brady is QBing
Favorite NL team: NY Mets
Favorite AL team: Toronto Blue Jays
Current Tennis Players to Watch: Ryan Harrison, Milos Raonic

Favorite Metropolitan Area to Visit Bookstores: was Washington DC, in a post-Borders age nowhere, really, which is hard to get my head around
Borders Visited: 238.  After L.E. Modesitt’s 310ish, this may be 2nd place for most visited by someone who never worked for the company.  All gone now.
Favorite bookstore hang-up: Snooty indies with crappy sf sections

Favorite Song: Hotel California
Favorite Ringtone: What’s a “Ringtone”?

Favorite Groceries: Whole Foods Markets
Favorite Whole Foods: Bellevue, WA, Austin, TX, Venice CA
Favorite College Thing I Can’t Stop Doing: Eating at Uno’s
Favorite Drake’s Cakes: Yodels

EDDIE SCHNEIDER
E-mail queries to: queryeddie [at] awfulagent.com

Eddie Schneider is the VP of JABberwocky Literary Agency, which he joined in 2008. He is actively building his client list (see “What I’m Looking For,” below).

Schneider is an Iowa graduate, where he studied fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction (mentors include Yiyun Li and G.C. Waldrep). He is also a graduate of New York University, with an M.S. in Publishing, and started out in book publishing with a post at Folio Literary Management.

He has also been, at various points in his life, a magazine editor, computer salesman, short-order cook, archery instructor, freelance graphic designer, and ultramarathoner.

What I’m looking for

I am most passionate about literary fiction, sf/fantasy, and narrative non-fiction that involves the sciences, history, and contemporary social issues. I also have a particular interest in young adult and middle grade fiction. More on what I’m looking for in these, and the other genres I enjoy working with, follows.

Fiction

Literary fiction – When I’m not reading a client manuscript or submission, my nose is often in a literary novel. What I go for are novels that have a strong stylistic voice, a palpable narrative (even when they start to experiment, one non-client example being Italo Calvino’s IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER), and that are engaged in areas that expand beyond the middle-class concerns endemic to the literary novel of the last few decades.

Science fiction - I love sf, and some of my favorite novels fall into this category. What I particularly enjoy here are novels in which the characters and writing show the same level of thoughtful attention as the -ologies being explored. Two examples of (non-client) novels that I enjoyed in this vein are Walter M. Miller Jr.’s A CANTICLE FOR LIEBOWITZ and David Mitchell’s CLOUD ATLAS.

I am also very much interested in sf written from non-Western cultural perspectives, as well as sf written for YA and middle grade readers. On the lighter side, if you have a thrilling space opera, send it my way! That’s my favorite kind of popcorn.

Military SF is best directed to Joshua.

Fantasy – With fantasy, my favorite novels have tended to be those that toe both the real world and the fantastic. In any case, I go for stories with intricate, imaginative settings that are internally consistent, address political and social concerns, and have often found myself preferring tight writing to florid. Two examples of (non-client) novels that I particularly enjoyed like this are Octavia Butler’s KINDRED and Ursula K. Le Guin’s LAVINIA.

Fantasy is perhaps the broadest genre of all, so it might help to pinpoint areas of special interest to me.  These include magical realism, urban fantasy, and S&S/epic fantasy set outside of the Northern European milieu from which the genre originated. I’m also very interested in YA and middle grade novels in any of these areas.

Graphic novels - I am interested in graphic novels by either an author/illustrator, or already established author-illustrator team. Here, I prefer realistic subject matter to speculative, though I will certainly consider material with sf/fantasy elements. An example of a (non-client) graphic novel I really liked was David Mazzucchelli’s ASTERIOS POLYP.

I’m also interested in graphic projects that either are, or are influenced by, comic strips and webcomics. Here, what I’m after are projects that are well-written, humorous, and incisive. One non-client book I enjoyed in this vein was Nicholas Gurewitch’s THE TRIAL OF COLONEL SWEETO.

Nonfiction

Science – I have wide-ranging interests here that include the physical, earth, life, medical, and social sciences. Science books most likely to appeal to me tend to deal with specific topics, and sometimes unlikely ones. An example of a (non-client) book in this vein that I enjoyed is Jane Goodall’s THROUGH A WINDOW.

History – I am interested in histories that focus on a single subject, rather than wide-ranging works about a time or place. I particularly enjoy historical biographies, including those where the biography’s subject is an artifact or commodity. An example of a (non-client) book in this vein that I enjoyed is Jack Weatherford’s GENGHIS KHAN AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD.

Narrative nonfiction – Here, I’m interested in memoirs that take on issues that extend beyond those in the author’s own life (two non-client examples I enjoyed being Rory Stewart’s THE PLACES IN BETWEEN and Tom Wolfe’s THE RIGHT STUFF), travel narratives that are socially engaged and possess an individual stamp (one great non-client example being Bill Bryson’s A WALK IN THE WOODS), and in ‘nonfiction novels’ (one non-client example I was disturbed by being Dave Eggers’ ZEITOUN).

Special note:

Since it still needs (and may always need) to be spelled out, please note I will happily consider queries by persons, or featuring protagonists, of any race, color, creed, religion, national citizenship/origin, gender or sexual orientation, disability, age, or physical appearance. Further, I will not attempt to editorially limit the presence of characters in any of the above in order to sell a project, and will support any client who has been discriminated against by a publisher or editor because of such status, in the hopefully unlikely event that this might occur.

A maddeningly non-alphabetical list of favorite, mostly contemporary authors (who aren’t clients):

Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler, Ray Bradbury, David Mitchell, Susanna Clarke, Dave Eggers, Isabel Allende, Kazuo Ishiguro, Michael Chabon, Margaret Atwood, Kurt Vonnegut, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jonah Lehrer, Junot Diaz, Olivia Judson, Mario Vargas Llosa, Kim Stanley Robinson, Harper Lee.

Favorite film: The Seven Samurai
Favorite video game based off of a (non-client) licensed property: Knights of the Old Republic
Favorite video game with highly flawed gameplay: Arcanum
Favorite video game that remixes bombastic classical music: Little King’s Story
Number of countries visited: 9
Splines: Reticulating

JESSIE CAMMACK
no queries (either email or snail mail) for now, please–I promise I’ll re-open soon!

Jessie Cammack is the digital rights manager for JABberwocky. She grew up in Los Angeles, CA, and moved to New York in 2005 to attend Columbia University, where she earned a degree in (mostly 19th century) English literature and (mostly 20th century) American history. While she was in college, she worked at Borders Books (the late Santa Monica store as well as the Columbus Circle store) and at The Overlook Press. She started at JABberwocky in fall 2009, and is actively building her client list.

What I’m looking for

Fantasy
I love the sprawling epics. Robin Hobb is a particular favorite, for her characters who change and deeply imagined worlds. I’m also looking for historical fantasy, YA and middle-grade fantasy, and contemporary fantasy. Examples (none of whom are clients) include, respectively, Susanna Clarke’s wonderful JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL, Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness quartet, and Lev Grossman’s THE MAGICIANS.

Science Fiction
I am a big science fiction geek, but especially enjoy YA and middle-grade science fiction. Lois Lowry’s THE GIVER, Orson Scott Card’s ENDER’S GAME, and all things Madeleine L’Engle but particularly A SWIFTLY TILTING PLANET are (non-client) examples that have really stuck with me–memorable for their lovable characters learning new things in interesting worlds.

Other Fiction
Literary favorites (who are not clients) include Salman Rushdie and Kazuo Ishiguro–writers who invest in both language and plot, and who often write about a world that is not quite our own. Historical fiction is also of interest.


Date: 06/01/2010

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