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Literary agent Frances Black and media relations executive Debra Caruso have announced the formation of E-Lit Books. The epublishing company is focused on helping issue titles by their clients when they are unable to find acceptable homes with major publishers. “We have so many wonderful authors whose manuscripts are not getting attention from the big publishers, but that doesn’t mean they’re not writing great books,” Black says in the announcement. She adds that the inclusion of “media relations, both social and traditional, will be the ‘it’ factor in our delivery system.”

At Henry Holt, Serena Jones has been promoted to senior editor, while Paul Golob moves over as executive editor while continuing to manage the imprint’s relationship with the New York Times. Both Jones and Golob will report to Gillian Blake.

At Harlequin, Tina James has been promoted to executive editor, Love Inspired.

Jessica Regel has joined Foundry Literary+Media as a domestic agent and Foreign Rights Associate for the agency’s children’s list, further growing Foundry’s Books for Young Readers department. She spent the past 11 years as an agent at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.

Shannon Hassan will join Marsal Lyon Literary Agency at the end of August. Previously she was an agent at the Warner Literary Group.

HarperCollins Canada will handle sales and distribution for UK-based children’s publisher Usborne Publishing Ltd.

Rachel Hecht is re-joining Mary Anne Thompson Associates as executive director of Children’s/YA scouting. In addition, the scouting firm has been appointed North American scout for Baltos Lankos in Lithuania, covering the adult market.

CALL FOR ILLUSTRATIONS: Please remember to send in your illustrations for August. It is a great way to get seen and keep your name out there to get noticed. Send them to Kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail.com with August Illustrations in the subject area. Please submit .jpgs at least 500 pixels wide.

For writers who like having a picture prompt may use the above illustration by Randy Gallegoes for inspiration. Randy was featured on illustrator Saturday August 3rd. http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2013/08/03/illustrator-saturday-randy-gallegos/

I do not have the Guest Critiquer confirmed yet to announce, but you can start sending in your first pages for September’s critique.

WRITERS Sending in a First Page: Please attach your double spaced, 12 point font, 23 line first page to an e-mail and send it to kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com. Also cut and paste it into the body of the e-mail. Put “September First Page Critique” or “September First Page Picture Prompt Critique” in the subject line. Make sure you have your name on the submission, a title, and indicate the genre.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: September 19th.

The four chosen and their critiques will be posted on September 27th.

Talk Tomorrow,

Kathy

I was talking with Agent Stephen Barbara at Foundry Literary + Media (Agent of New York Times and international bestseller Lauren Oliver – Before I Fall, Delirium, etc.). If you attended the NJSCBWI Conference, you met both of them. Anyway, he told me about Children’s Agent and Foreign Right’s Director, Rachel Hecht, at his company who is looking to build her client list. I thought I would share her information with all of you.

As a domestic agent, Rachel is seeking children’s projects of all stripes, from picture books through to young adult fiction, as well as select fiction and non-fiction projects for adults that are wonderfully written and completely absorbing. Drawing on her experience at the forefront of children’s scouting, she loves the thrill of the hunt for new talent and enjoys working closely with authors to develop and refine their projects for submission.

“In terms of adult fiction, the strength of the voice and quality of the writing is what is most important to me.  I am seeking literary as well as upmarket/commercial projects, and would love to see projects with crossover potential as well as those that blur the boundaries between genres – especially in the thriller, fantasy, and historical categories (but a polite no thank you to straight genre writing). For nonfiction, I’m interested in memoirs, pop culture, and narrative nonfiction projects with a great hook – stories that I am unable to put down about topics I had no idea I was interested in.”

Before joining Foundry in 2011, Rachel served as the children’s book scout for Mary Anne Thompson Associates, where she provided exclusive insight into the US publishing world for a diverse roster of foreign publishers. A graduate of Kenyon College with a degree in English, she began her career in New York at Condé Nast before moving into book publishing.

Rachel Hecht accepts paper and email submissions. Please send all digital queries for Rachel [email protected]. For more information on submitting your project, please see the Foundry Submissions page.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy