Category Archives: about us

December 09, 2016   Lauren   about us, Lauren  
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How do you say…?

A conversation this week reminded me that I’ve been meaning to put together a little pronunciation resource for the trickier agent names here at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. Some of our names I think people have a pretty firm grasp on—I don’t think I’ve ever heard a mispronunciation of Amy Bishop or Erin Young, for fairly obvious reasons—but others I hear wrong more often than I hear them right. Mine included.  And frankly, I don’t blame anyone. In an age where you see names written far more often than you hear them spoken, it can be shocking to discover how long you’ve been saying something very, very wrong.

As someone who has been known to hit up google for confirmation and then have an awkward little practice session before picking up the phone, I always appreciate a name pronunciation resource. So, how about a little help?

Jane Dystel = emphasize diss (not dice); conveniently the same as “distal” which has a pronunciation guide here: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/distal

Miriam Goderich = god not go; rich not rick

Michael Bourret = bour like burr; ret like retribution, don’t Frenchify it

Lauren Abramo = A like arrive not agent, bra like the clothing

Jessica Papin = puh-PAN, like Chopin

Sharon Pelletier = pell-uh-teer, rhymes with Mouseketeer

Mike Hoogland = who-glend

Kemi Faderin = Keh-me Fah-day-rin

Is trying to figure out how to pronounce any other DGB names keeping you up at night?

August 15, 2016   Jane   about us, Jane, persistence, why we are agents  
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How what we do is like golf

As many of you know, I am constantly trying to improve my golf game.  Each summer I spend hours on Saturdays and Sundays on the driving range, in lessons, and on the golf course practicing and playing.  This summer I started working with a new golf pro to completely change and improve my swing; it was a radical step that involved studying videos of my swing (something I’d never done before) and learning how to make adjustments based on the replays, but, in the end, after many hours of working on it  and lots of frustration, I am happy to report that I’m seeing some significant improvement.Golfing

Like golf, our agenting takes continual practice, both in choosing the projects we will represent and establishing a strategy to sell those projects.  As in golf, we find that we learn from our failures as much or more than from our successes and we are constantly tweaking our game—finding different publishers and editors to whom to submit and different approaches to developing the books we are representing.

This can be a very frustrating process, but as with golf, with enough “practice” we often succeed.

In fact, this summer I have done deals with at least three publishers who are entirely new to me.  After agenting for so many years, I still get a kick out of establishing relationships with new publishers and editors—it’s a very inspiring and exciting part of our business.

Changing things up every once in a while is something I love to do, both in golf and in life.  Do you have a hobby or sport you pursue that gives you perspective on your writing?

August 18, 2015   Amy Bishop   about us, Amy, interns  
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New Girl On the Floor

Hello DGLM blog readers!

I’m thrilled to be adding my voice to the other members of the DGLM team, and many thanks to Jane for the lovely introduction last week.

Naturally, since starting I’ve been thinking about my journey to DGLM and literary agencies in general. I knew about literary agencies from a fairly early age, since I had written a (truly terrible) fantasy novel from the ages of twelve to fifteen and had the courage/naiveté of the young to send it around to various agencies. It didn’t get picked up, in case you were wondering. Probably for the best.

However, as I was entering my junior year of college and starting to think about possible career options, it didn’t even occur to me that a literary agency might be the place I would fit. Thanks to a SUNY Geneseo alum, I got in touch with a woman who used to work at Curtis Brown, Ltd., and she helpfully answered my questions and suggested I look not only at publishing houses but at agencies. I seized upon that immediately—all the different facets of being a literary agent (see Lauren’s post here for more details on that) fascinated me. It sounded like a job that would provide me with new twists and turns regularly. And so I sat down with a good old fashioned Google search and one of my professor’s 2014 Guide to Literary Agents and started calling/emailing everyone.

One thing led to another, and it doesn’t seem like too long ago that I was chatting (rather nervously) with Mike on the phone during an interview for my summer 2014 internship with DGLM. After that, I pretty much just stuck around—dropping in over the winter when I was in NYC, assisting Stacey this summer, and miraculously, they asked me to stay.

In terms of what I love to read: I’m always eager to pick up historical fiction, young adult (especially with strong female characters), and smart work of all kinds from minority and women writers.

Needless to say, I’m pretty gleeful to be here as an administrative assistant and am looking forward to getting to know more of the DGLM community and hopefully offering new perspectives and ideas to the conversation!

August 05, 2015   Jane   about us, agents, Amy, changes at DGLM, interns, Jane, What's New at DGLM  
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A new member of our team

Amy BishopIt is always exciting for me to welcome new members to our team; inevitably they bring fresh perspective, energy, and creative ideas.

I am delighted to welcome Amy Bishop as our new administrative assistant. She joins Miriam, Michael, Jim, Stacey, Lauren, Jessica, John, Eric, Mike, Rachel, Sharon, Erin and, of course, me.

Amy is a graduate (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from the State University of New York at Geneseo and was an intern at DGLM during the summer of 2014.  We very much enjoyed having her with us then and so when this job opened up, she was a natural choice to add to our staff.

I hope everyone will join me in welcoming Amy Bishop.

July 29, 2015   Miriam   about us, book ideas, fun, great books, inspiration, Miriam  
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The book made me do it!

I walked out at lunch time on this scorching, humid day in New York City, and immediately felt like I was in a tropical jungle—only this was the concrete kind.  As I tried to get my errands done quickly so I could scurry back to the relative coolness of my portable air conditioner (my office windows are of a vintage that makes standard units impossible to install)Air Conditioner, I found myself thinking of literary jungle settings—Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Lily King’s Euphoria, Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things, etc.  In part, this had to do with the sliced mango stand I ran across on the corner of Broadway and 14th Street…but I digress.

Back in the office, while eating my chilled pea and mint soup, I happened upon this piece in Galleycat about Riverhead soliciting essays for a collection about “how Elizabeth Gilbert’s famous memoir [Eat Pray Love] served as inspiration for readers to go on life-changing adventures” and, having just been thinking about her recent novel, I had one of those moments where I felt the universe was trying to tell me something.

I decided that what it was telling me was not to pack up my bags and head for the Amazon (where Jane will be in a month or so, btw), but that I should do a blog post about what books have inspired us to do things.  For instance, reading Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak in high school made me want to learn Russian in the worst way.  And, so I took three years of this beautiful, complicated language while in college (I remember nothing, in case you’re wondering).

It’s a great exercise, in my opinion, to consider how books have influenced our actions.  For those of us who are obsessed with literary works, it’s an exercise that can turn up some fascinating (and maybe disturbing) insights into our psyches.  So, have books influenced actions for you?  If so, what books…and what actions?

June 10, 2015   Jane   about us, holidays, What's New at DGLM  
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Holiday cards—our annual dilemma

 

It’s early June and while most of you are thinking barbecues and lots of fun outdoor activities, we at DGLM are having our annual debate about holiday cards.

holidaycard 2Every one of us has, in the past, personally signed each and every card.  At one time when there were many fewer cards to send (and fewer of us on staff) this was not so onerous.  We began in mid-October and were done in plenty of time.  These days, however, we have a staff that is significantly larger (13 by my last count) and we send out over 2,500 cards each year.  This necessitates us actually beginning the card ordering and signing process in June.

So, the question becomes what do we do this year?  We could send electronic holiday cards, as many are doing.   We could also send cards with just the name of our company and a seasonal greeting.    We could send cards with each of our names pre-printed on them.  Finally, we could continue to do what we have always done with all of us signing each card individually.

There is our quandary and we need to address it quickly given the timing of the alternative that will take the longest.  We are asking you, our readers, what you think we should do.  If you were us, what would that be?

I look forward to hearing.

March 30, 2015   Jane   about us, agents, changes at DGLM, Jane  
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WE ARE GROWING!

Today I want to welcome two new members to our staff.

I am thrilled to announce that Eric Myers joins us today as an agent after thirteen years at The Spieler Agency.   As you will see in our staff bios page, Eric is a graduate of UCLA and the Sorbonne, Eric entered publishing as a journalist and book author. His books include Screen Deco: A Celebration of High Style in Hollywood, Forties Screen Style: A Celebration of High Pastiche in Hollywood, and Uncle Mame: The Life of Patrick Dennis, all published by St. Martin’s Press. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine and Arts and Leisure sections, as well as Time Out, Variety, Opera News, and Art and Auction.  As an agent, Eric has a strong affinity for Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction, as well as adult non-fiction, especially in the areas of history, biography, psychology, health and wellness, mind/body/spirit, and pop culture. I know that Eric will be a great addition to DGLM.

I am also belatedly welcoming Erin Young who joined DGLM as assistant to Michael Bourret in our West Coast office in Los Angeles, where she is also working toward an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Previously, she worked as an editor at two prestigious literary magazines. Erin received her bachelor’s degree in zoology and loves all things about animals. She is interested in all forms of young adult and middle grade fiction, particularly fantasy, paranormal, and magical realism. In adult fiction, she likes weird literary and intellectual commercial thrillers. In nonfiction, she enjoys memoirs and biographies, sport and science narratives, and just about anything unusually original. I am so pleased that Erin is part of our team.

Please join me in welcoming both of these new members of our family.

March 20, 2015   Lauren   about us, fun, gratitude, Lauren, why we are agents  
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Ten Years

As of tomorrow, I’ll have been at DGLM for ten years.  Since that’s such a pleasingly round number, it feels like a good time to name ten of the best things about the last ten years at DGLM.  In no particular order:

  • We’re not in midtown.  Union Square is pretty much the ideal publishing location.  Between agencies, publishers, and scouts there are enough of us congregated around here, lots of great restaurants, a solid subway hub, and we’re nowhere near Times Square.  If you’re not a New Yorker, this might not resonate for you, but I’ve gotten to spend the last decade below 23rd street, which was more or less my life goal as an NYU student.
  •  I used to work in bookstores.  I have stood in those same places where I used to stock the shelves and read my own name inside books.  I have also made my family members endure this ritual of narcissism pretty much any time we’ve been in a place that sells books.  Given that they’re all book nerds, too, it’s kind of huge.
  •  I spend time on every vacation playing Spot the DGLM Client in foreign bookstores.  About 1/5 of my vacation photos are books I sold in translation.  I have almost no shame.
  • This is an office full of people who actually like each other.  From what I gather from friends, family, and years of sitcom watching, that’s kind of rare.  Our office meetings are usually way more hilarious than office meetings have any right to be. We work collaboratively, and even though we’re pretty ambitious, any internal competition is motivating rather than cutthroat.
  • Okay, so “reading books for a living” is much more the fantasy of agent life than the reality (I’m pretty sure I answer emails for a living, if you want to boil it down to one thing), but I do get to excuse myself from having a budget for books.  Buying books with reckless disregard for personal finance is just the responsible thing to do.
  • bookcasesAnd on a related note, I finally achieved the bookcase wall of my dreams.  (Goal for the next 10 years: rolling ladder.)
  • I get to turn the things I’m most excited about into my job.  If something’s been occupying my attention, there’s a way to publish a book on it.  Whether that’s putting out the call for a novel on the subject or tracking down a writer to cover it, from Serial to soccer, I get to make my passions my work. That’s even better than being able to make your favorite indulgences tax deductible.
  • I’ve learned from some of the best agents in the business.  If there’s anything the DGLM team can’t figure out about publishing between them, I’ve never encountered it.  There is always someone to learn from on every subject.
  • I’ve gone from Jane’s assistant to Subsidiary Rights Director, and I’m empowered to sign up anything I want.  That’s an amount of encouragement, opportunity, and support that I could only have dreamed of the day I shot my resume off to Michael, and I’m so incredibly grateful for it.
  • I work with amazing authors.  Sometimes I get to be the first person to tell an author she’s hit the New York Times bestseller list for the very first time. Someone I once made laugh on the phone is now president of this country.  On my last birthday, I had dinner with an author the week a movie adaptation of his book opened at #1 at the box office.  I tell extremely talented creative people what I think of their work, and they actually listen to me.  On a regular basis, I get to give people news so good it makes them cry.  I get paid to bring the most important tool of entertainment, education, enlightenment, and empathy the world has to offer to as many people as I possibly can.  Was that overly sincere?  I don’t even care.  It’s an extraordinary privilege to help shepherd books into the world.

And for those keeping track, yes, every person that worked at DGLM on my Day 1—Jane, Miriam, Stacey, Michael, & Jim—is still here on Day 3652.  Thanks to them and everyone else on Team DGLM for a fantastic 10 years.  Here’s to 10 more!

February 03, 2015   mhoogland   about us, blog chat, chat, critique, dialogue, feedback, interaction, Mike H, opinion, our blog, our website, suggestions, websites  
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Tell us how we’re doing

A while back (a year, maybe more—my conception of time is shockingly horrible, bordering on nonexistent), Sharon did a blog post asking for feedback from our readers. What we heard was eye-opening to say the least.

snl gif

All of it was informative and very helpful—and I believe it led to a better year in blogging for DGLM and our readers. So I will do so again here. Let’s call it our year-end review.

What do you guys enjoy about our blog? What keeps bringing you back for more? What would you like to see us do differently, do better?

This is your chance for some input. Our readers are important to us, and we want to blog about what you want to read about. So please, don’t hold back. What’s on your mind?

February 02, 2015   Jane   about us, agents, Jane, why we are agents  
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The job of a literary agent

Last week I began thinking about what the technical responsibilities of a literary agent are compared to what we at DGLM do for our clients.  I researched the subject and I also asked our staff what they thought.  The results are interesting and I wanted to share those with you, our readers.

First, I found this definition of the responsibilities of a literary agent online:

Literary agents represent authors in the publishing world. Authors rely on literary agents to manage the business aspect of publishing for them. Agents negotiate contracts regarding publishing rights, advances and royalties. They represent authors to book publishers and other companies that may be interested in publishing an author’s work.

It turns out that this is a good definition but it doesn’t cover nearly all of the things we do for our clients at our agency.

This weekend for example Miriam and I have been working on amending an exciting movie/TV contract for one of our clients who had previously committed to this project without really realizing what she was getting into.  In fact, working with our clients on weekends and after office hours is something we do all the time.

We also do many things that other agencies do not do:

  • We send out  adult and childrens’ book  newsletters three times per year announcing the books we will be selling in the following four months and those we have sold in the previous four months.
  •  We have a digital book program with its own manager whereby we help clients self-publish their work—either new projects or those where the rights have reverted.
  • We have an extensive, informative website which we are constantly updating.
  • We have author social media guides for all kinds of situations.
  • We are very hands on in career management, advising our authors not just in the book space, but also in film/TV, newspapers and periodicals, and in whatever other career category they require our help.

We  also often go above and beyond, by helping clients with legal issues on for other parts of their lives, helping them to get mortgages or refinance their homes, even helping them to get jobs when we are able, and, perhaps more importantly,  providing a constant source of advice and support.

Above all else, and as I have said very recently in this space, we never give up until we really believe we have hit a wall and that it is best for our client to move on to the next project.  What is your experience and your expectations of literary agents?

I am sure I have overlooked some of the things we do that go above and beyond that tight definition of the responsibilities of the agent but this will give you a very good idea of the kind of agency Dystel & Goderich Literary Management is.

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