The Future of Agents Do you think all the recent technological advances in publishing are sounding the death knell for the literary agent? Agents used to be the gatekeepers in the classical publishing model, deciding who gets through and who remains in obscurity, but that barrier seems full of holes now. If literary agents are to remain part of the publishing process, how will they need to adapt?
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Special Guests:
Joe McKinney has been a patrol officer for the San Antonio Police Department, a homicide detective, a disaster mitigation specialist, a patrol commander, and a successful novelist. His books include the four part Dead World series, Quarantined, Inheritance, Lost Girl of the Lake, Crooked House and Dodging Bullets. His short fiction has been collected in The Red Empire and Other Stories and Dating in Dead World and Other Stories. In 2011, McKinney received the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel. For more information go to http://joemckinney.wordpress.com.
Doug Grad spent 22 years as an editor with Pocket Books, Ballantine, New American Library and ReganBooks/HarperCollins. He edited numerous bestsellers in fiction and nonfiction, including the historical novelists Jeff Shaara and John Jakes. He left the corporate side to become a literary agent in 2008, and has sold books to publishers big and small—mysteries, horror, sports, business, true crime, military, music, history, memoir and humor. In 2011, Doug formed an ebook company, Antenna Books, publishing both frontlist and backlist titles.
Richard Curtis, president of Richard Curtis Associates, Inc., is a leading New York literary agent; founder of E-Reads, an electronic book publisher; and a well-known author advocate. He is also the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction including several books about the publishing industry. His interest in emerging media and technology has enabled him to help authors anticipate trends in publishing and multimedia. He has lectured extensively and conducted panels and seminars devoted to raising consciousness in the author and agent community about the future of communications. He was president of the Association of Authors’ Representatives. His popular blog about publishing appears regularly on http://curtisagency.com/blog/.
Robert L. Fleck has spent most of his adult life in the publishing business. In 1990 he joined AE Press and Midnight Zoo Magazine, rising to become the managing editor. After two years there, he became the personal assistant to author and editor Janet Berliner-Gluckman. Between 1992 and 2004 he worked with Janet on novels and anthologies, including work with illusionist David Copperfield, and authors Kevin J. Anderson, Peter Beagle, Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman, Jack Kirby, Joyce Carol Oates, F. Paul Wilson, and many others. In 2004, following Janet’s extended hospital stay and the retirement of her prior literary agent, Robert Fleck reopened the agenting side of Professional Media Services, where he represented Janet as well as many other writers with whom he’d developed relationships over the years as well as exciting new authors. Following the passing of Janet Berliner-Gluckman in 2012, Bob reformed the agency as The Fleck Agency.
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