Markus Redmond is an actor, director, screenwriter, and author. Known for his roles on Doogie Howser, MD, NYPD Blue, Murder One, Mad About You, Angel, and Fight Club, he wrote and starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Sharon Stone in the indie film If I Had Known I Was a Genius. He wrote, directed, and starred in the Amazon Prime thriller The 6th Degree, and has multiple screenplays in development. He lives in Los Angeles and Blood Slaves is his first novel. How did you find your agent? Specificity. I had been querying agents repping historical fiction without getting any bites. […]
Authors Lunch
Ask an Expert: Kate McKean, Literary Agent and Author of WRITE THROUGH IT
Kate McKean is a literary agent at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency in Brooklyn, NY, whose clients include Alix E. Harrow, Daniel M. Lavery, and Mattie Lubchansky. She was an adjunct professor at New York University for over a decade and earned her MA in fiction writing at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her work has appeared in Poets & Writers, Electric Literature, Catapult, and elsewhere. She writes the popular Substack newsletter, Agents & Books, at AgentsandBooks.com. When is an author ready to query their work? I think authors are ready to query when, first, they’ve addressed, edited, fixed all […]
Ask an Expert: Literary Agent Tanya McKinnon
Tanya McKinnon is the founder of McKinnon Literary, where she represents serious nonfiction, children’s books, and graphic novels. Several of her clients are New York Times bestsellers, and the prizes her clients have won include the National Book Award, The Pulitzer Prize, The Frederick Douglass Prize, The Whiting Award, The LA Times Award, The MacArthur, and many others. Tanya grew up abroad and in the US, she graduated from Tufts University, and holds an MA in cultural anthropology. What makes a query letter stand out to you? Clarity, voice, and brevity. If a writer can tell me exactly what their […]
Authors Talk: Kristina McMorris
The Girls of Good Fortune (Sourcebooks Landmark, May 20. Editor: Shana Drehs. Agent: Elisabeth Weed.) Kristina McMorris is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of two novellas and eight historical novels, including the million-copy bestseller Sold on a Monday. The recipient of more than 20 national literary awards, she previously hosted weekly TV shows for Warner Bros. and an ABC affiliate, beginning at age nine with an Emmy Award-winning program. Kristina lives near Portland, OR. How did you find your agent? When my previous agent left the industry many years ago, my dear author […]
Authors Talk: Josh Duboff
Early Thirties. (Gallery/Scout Press, March 18. Editor: James Melia. Agent: Elias Altman.) Josh Duboff is a novelist, journalist, and playwright. A former senior writer for Vanity Fair, Duboff has written cover stories on Taylor Swift, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Gigi Hadid, among others, and contributed to The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, GQ, and more. A graduate of Yale University, he lives in New York City. How did you find your agent? I have known my agent for a while! He initially reached out to me after a celebrity profile I wrote while I […]
Ask an Expert: Michael Barrs, VP, Associate Publisher of Little, Brown
Michael Barrs is VP, Associate Publisher of Little, Brown and Company. Prior to joining the group Michael held a variety of senior positions at Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins Publishers over the past twenty years at imprints that include William Morrow, It Books, Dey Street, Hachette Books, and Hachette Go. In addition to his role at HBG, Michael is an Adjunct Professor at the NYU School of Professional Studies. Can you tell us a bit about what an associate publisher does? Great question! The role certainly varies by house and imprint, but I tend to think of the position like […]