Thursday, April 21, 2011

If you were an agent, who would you want to represent?

I met with my agent on my recent trip to the US. We had a great chat about authors and books. It got me thinking about what it might be like to represent a stable of great writers. So, imagine that you’re a literary agent, but you can fill your stable with only ten working wordsmiths. You’ll have the privilege of interacting with them, reading their initial drafts hot off the presses, and selling their work to the world. Your selection doesn’t necessarily have to be your favourite writers, or the ones that might net you the most income, but perhaps the one’s you think might be most interesting or enjoyable to work with. Which ten writers would you want to represent?

Here is my fantasy stable of ten, in no particular order: Joe Lansdale, Duane Swierczynski, Charlie Huston, Dave Zeltserman, Megan Abbott, Adrian McKinty, Arnaldur Indridason, Adrian Hyland, Donna Moore, Carlo Lucarelli

Five Americans, an Australian, an Irish man, a Scot, an Icelander, and an Italian. I reckon there’s a reasonable mix of up-and-coming/experience, geography, crime/humour here, and strong agency identity with a focus around noir, hardboiled and comic crime capers. Blummin’ difficult to pick only ten mind. My reserve ten, left stranded in the wings, are Peter Temple, Philip Kerr, Alan Furst, Jasper Fforde, Daniel Woodrell, Ann Cleeves, Katy Munger, John Connolly, Ian Rankin and Michael Connelly. Heck, this ‘reserve’ team is just as strong as the list above! Maybe I’d have to run two agencies.

4 comments:

Jose Ignacio Escribano said...

Nice picks. I'm only missing Jo Nesbo, Andrea Camilleri, Ernesto Mallo, Ricardo Piglia, Guillermo Orsi, Rob Kitchin, Hakan Nesser, Karin Fossum, Fred Vargas and Deon Meyer. Maybe I should start a third one, though.

Unknown said...

I'd steal a few of yours with honeyed words and big promises and then add Lee Child, James Lee Burke, Don Winslow, George Pelecanos, Denise Mina and Roger Smith

Rob Kitchin said...

Not a day old and authors are being tempted to other agencies! Some interesting suggestions here.

Uriah Robinson said...

My ten:

Rob Kitchin
John Lawton
Andrea Camilleri
Jo Nesbo
Domingo Villar
Liza Marklund
George Pelecanos
Fred Vargas
Claudia Pineiro
Dominique Manotti