Best excuse EVER not just 2012

A pal of mine  is on vacation someplace I'd never heard of. Her boss casually mentions to me that "her work e-mail has locked her out of remote access."

Even if she wanted to work, she can't. Literally can NOT.

So I googled the name of the place where she is:

And then, just to add salt to the wound, I get an email from her PRIVATE non-work email with a photo:

And yes, that low moaning sound you hear is me keening with envy.


 All I can hope for is that her return trip pilot turns out to be named Otto.

I may have said no but...

Prowling around the interwebz this morning I came across this tidbit from that Amazing Agent The Suzenator:

On top of my wishlist:
More adult manuscripts. I could go for a good contemporary romance (and I'll even look at new adult contemporary romances). Or women's fiction! Or magical realism. Anything really. I'd love to find another great adult project.

Suzie hangs her hat at New Leaf Literary Saloon. Give her a holler if you've got something AMAZING.

Separated at birth?

New Leaf Literary is AWESOME!

Joanna Volpe and her New Leaf Team is simply drenched in Awesome Sauce.

Here's the latest reason why

2012

When you see 2012 in a query you think it's the year.

Not the number of printed pages.

Ben Leroy is Lex Luthor

Yes it's true. Aren't you glad you read this blog to find out all the good publishing news?

Ben Leroy hates superman.  (Small s.)

He says it more cogently over on his blog post at Dead Guy: "If your protagonist is conveniently shiny and skilled" he's boring.

There's some other good stuff here too. Take a look.  Then scuff up your hero, and put him in some genuine hot water, and accessorize him with a sidekick who isn't called "honey."

Never before revealed footage of FPLM agent at lunch

I'm forwarding all queries for "fictional novels" to

my dear friend and colleague Katharine Sands

She's assured me she knows exactly how to respond.

as usual, Jessica says it better

I should just post an arrow on this blog and point toward BookEndsLLC and say "yea, what she said."

It's true today for sure.


Seeking An Agent is Not Seeking A Job

I plan to steal that analogy and use it so often people will think I invented it.
Not for nothing am I well read in crime fiction!

"not for me"

The amazing and awesome agent Suzie Townsend has some wise words  on why she no longer offers feedback on requested manuscripts. Read it here.

I was stunned at her query stats for 2010.  She requested and read a LOT.
Suzie is, in fact, alot of awesome.

  

image ruthlessly lifted from 

Hyperbole and A Half, one of my favorite blogs.

Wait, we're supposed to leave that FOR Santa!

My new sales strategy!

Find great client at QueryShark.

Finagle the incredibly talented Suzie Townsend into selling his book.

Go on vacation to a nice sunny beach.











     So far ... so good!

To wit, yesterday's Publisher's Marketplace deal announcements:

"Dan Krokos's debut FALSE MEMORY, featuring a girl with no memory who discovers she's a genetically altered weapon of mass destruction and must uncover the truth of her identity in order to save her city, to Catherine Onder at Disney-Hyperion, in a significant deal, at auction, in a three-book deal, by Suzie Townsend at FinePrint Literary Management on behalf of Janet Reid at FinePrint Literary Management (World English)."

Yea, I'm thankful!

I'm thankful for a lot of things.  I'm profoundly grateful I have a job I love with people I admire and respect (and who make me howl with laughter often!)  I live in a city I love and never want to leave.

I hope you love your life as much as I love mine.

Today, here's a lovely article about one of the people I'm so glad to work with: the incredible talented Suzie Townsend. 

Couldn't be prouder!

Two years ago a quiet young woman turned up in our summer intern group.  Once we got her talking, she was hilarious and fun.  Then she showed us her brilliant taste and incredible work ethic.  By the time summer was over, while we were glad she got a job we wept when she left.  Fortunately, she liked us too and came back to visit often.

Thus it was with great pride and affection I read in Publishers Marketplace:

Jaime Reed's debut SOUL IMPULSE, about a 17-year-old girl who discovers her co-worker at the local bookstore is a Cambion, the offspring of an incubus and human, who must feed off of other girls' souls to survive - and while trying to protect herself, she falls for him, to Selena James at Dafina, in a three-book deal, by !!!Kathleen Ortiz!!! at Lowenstein Associates (World). 






There's really only one thing to say: Yayyyyyy!!

Mild-mannered dog walker by night...

By day, she's the fiercest typo-fighting, auction-running, splendiferous agent ever!

And wouldn't you know it, she's on Guide to Literary Agents blog today as well.

Suzie Townsend's first year!

do you need Personal Demons? yes you DO

And you have a chance to win an ARC of PERSONAL DEMONS by the ferociously talented Lisa Desrochers, agented by the fiercely talented Suzie Townsend.

All you have to do is enter the writing contest. It's only 100 words! Are you demon enough to try?


(Contest ends at midnight June 30 so get going!)

Oh, the places you'll go!...when your boots are made for..

writing!

(in case you don't know,
that's amazing Joanna Stampfel Volpe on the left
and her client Kody Keplinger on the right.)

BEA Day 2-the moments you live for

Today was the BEA day we'd all been looking forward to. When I say "we" I mean everyone at FinePrint, and everyone at Nancy Coffey Literary, and everyone in the Joanna Stampfel-Volpe fan club.

Today was the YA Editors Buzz panel and we'd known for some time that the very smart editors over at Little,Brown had chosen Kody Keplinger's debut novel The DUFF as the book they wanted to buzz.

Remember Kody Keplinger?


As is our strategy for panels we expect to be SRO we went early and staked out seats. Kick Ass and Take Names Agent Suzie Townsend, I'd Be Lost Without Her godsend Meredith, our new intern Zach and I were in the sixth row. Lurking behind us were (the Ever Slithery) Barbara Poelle and Holly Root accompanied by Sophie Littlefield. The row ahead of us had very very VIP personages. In other words, we were fan club not to be denied.

The panel proceeded apace. Many fine books were mentioned. Suzie and Meredith made periodic dashes to the back of the room to secure galleys.

Then, the moment arrived. Cindy Eagan, Editorial Director of Little, Brown's Poppy imprint rose to talk about The Duff.

She gave an eloquent and enticing presentation.

At the close of her talk she said "When JD Salinger died, I, like many of you I'm sure, re-read The Catcher in the Rye. I was struck again by how that wry, angry voice seemed to be that of an entire generation.

"When I read The Duff, I had that same reaction: an angry yet so funny voice that seems to speak for an entire generation."

Dear Reader, I wept.

For Kody, yes. To have your debut novel compared to Catcher in the Rye is beyond words.

But honestly, my tears were for Joanna Stampfel Volpe, Kody's amazing and talented agent.

Joanna used to be my intern, and I remember her early days well. She was funny, and smart, and I knew instantly she was someone I wanted to work with.

She demonstrated a keen eye for good books (Gary Corby has her to thank for fishing him out of the queries) immediately.

Soon she was a valued member of our FinePrint team. When she moved up and on to be an agent in her own right at Nancy Coffey Literary, we teased her about abandoning us (although she remained here in Suite 500) but we cheered her advancing career.

She was soon signing clients and making deals. Auctions. Big ass deals. And all the while, her delightful charm never wavered. Not through the tough moments and keen disappointments that are the woof and warp of daily literary life, particularly in a year when it seemed publishing was going to the dogs.

Joanna enlivens our suite in a way that is irreplaceable.

So, when Cindy Eagan said what she did about Kody's book, I wept. My heart was bursting with joy, and pride, and delight.

I can count on one fin the number of times I've wept at BEA: one.



These are the moments you live for. The moments when you realize that a book can arrive in the slush ; be spotted by a talented agent; bought by a prescient editor; supported by an enthusiastic and eloquent publisher; and then be in the hands of readers who may very well find The Duff is a book that changed their lives.

This is the best job in the world.
I'm surrounded by colleagues of extraordinary talent and grace.

Today I remembered why I love my job.

You thought I was kidding??

(this is the lobby of Suzie's apartment building AFTER I discovered her crime!)

There once was a book thief named Suzie,
and the crime she pulled off was a doozie,
The arc she purloined,
was not hers but moin,
And I'll have my revenge come this Tuesday.