I found this quote (about Judith O'Reilly's Wife in the North blook) from Patrick Walsh, Conville & Walsh literary agents, in The Times. "I’ve done other blogs,” said Walsh, “but what’s so refreshing is that it isn’t about sex or celebrity; it’s wry, humorous and honest.” One of the other blogs that he referred to was The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl. "The moment we did the deal" for Belle de Jour's book, said Patrick Walsh, a literary agent who sold Belle's book in Britain, "I got calls from a Portuguese publisher - they were big fans of her blog in Portugal," and wanted the rights.
I became curious about the connection between book agents and blooks. After all that's one of the top ten topics on a writers forum that I belong to - how to get an agent. In fact, there was a huge hoohah there over the weekend.
In my search I found an excellent article (even if it is from 2004!) by
Joshua Kurlantzick, "A New Forum (Blogging) Inspires the Old (Books)."
He starts with the incredible story of Marrit Ingman who had blogged about postpartum depression. Publishers told her that folks would only by upbeat books about mothering. In order to convince the-powers-that-be, Ingman put the question to her blog readers and used some of their comments as pulled quotes in her
proposal!
She and her agent, Jim Hornfischer, sold her memoir, "Inconsolable," to Seal Press in August, she said. "The blog showed publishers she was committed to the subject matter and already had an audience," Mr. Hornfischer said.
Are you keeping count? Hornfischer is Agent #2.
Moving on to Agent #3 ...
All this has begun to stimulate even more interest among editors and agents. For instance, Kate Lee, an assistant at International Creative Management talent agency in New York, has become a kind of one-woman blog boutique, surfing for the best writers online and suggesting they work with her to develop and sell a book.
"Initially, I was just e-mailing," she said, "and I'd get an e-mail from people saying 'so-and-so said I should contact you,' and I became friendly with this circle of blogger pundits."
Ms. Lee now represents Elizabeth Spiers, who founded Gawker.com, the media- and entertainment-oriented blog, and is now writing a satirical novel about Wall Street. Ms. Lee also represents, among others, Glenn Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor and political blogger known as Instapundit.
Remember, if you will, that this article was written in 2004, which in internet terms is ancient history. Imagine what it's like now! What do you think agents are looking for? They're the ones who sell the concept to the publishers. What makes for a good concept?
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