PANEL | Moderator: Anna Knutson Geller | Panelists: Michael Carr, Susan Golomb, Sam Hiyate, Rita Rosenkranz
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In this panel, seasoned literary agents will discuss all the ways they have seen the publishing industry change since they got into the business, and will speculate on coming trends and tendencies, including the rise of audiobooks, the use of AI, new publishing models, and the shifting landscape of book promotion.
Anna Knutson Geller has over twenty years of experience in the publishing industry, ranging from editor to literary scout to rights director to agent. In 2016, she founded Write View, a literary agency with a focus on practical nonfiction, spirituality, and inspirational memoir.
Anna began her publishing career in Paris, working as an assistant at the literary agency Agence Michelle Lapautre and as a junior editor at Editions Plon. In 2008 she moved to New York to join Maria B. Campbell Associates, where she scouted books for international publishers as well as for Warner Bros. As Director of Foreign and Subsidiary Rights at The Book Group, she negotiated translation, film, and audio deals on behalf of bestselling authors such as Joshua Ferris, Paula McLain, Madeline Miller, Celeste Ng, and Kevin Wilson. She has been on the faculty of the Columbia Publishing Course since 2011.
It’s said that everyone is the hero of his or her own story. The same could be said of antagonists. Often, the antagonist wants the same thing as the protagonist and, with a shift in storytelling, the antagonist could be the point-of-view character. Knowing this can help us write effective opposition to the protagonist, and create villains who are strong enough to stand up to the hero and who will stick with our readers long after the last page has been turned.
We’ll also discuss the role of well-written allies as a way of supporting and giving opposition to our protagonists.
Susan Golomb has been an agent of literary fiction and non-fiction for over 30 years. She founded the Susan Golomb Literary Agency in 1988 with Jonathan Franzen as her first client and joined Writers House in 2015. Her other authors include award winners and bestsellers such as William T. Vollmann, Rachel Kushner, Danielle Trussoni, Imbolo Mbue, Noah Hawley, Nell Zink, Glen David Gold, Janelle Brown, Thomas Mullen, Charles Graeber, Harry Dent, Yvon Chouinard, Angie Kim, Stephen Markley, Wayetu Moore, Lexi Freiman, Mira T. Lee, and more.
Sam Hiyate is keen to discover new voices and help writers prepare their work for market and build lasting careers. In his past two decades with The Rights Factory, he has seen hundreds of book deals turn into such bestsellers as More, the memoir by Molly Roden Winter; This One Summer, the graphic novel by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki; Ditch the Diet by Oonagh Duncan; The Myth of Capitalism by Jonathan Tepper and Denise Hearn; Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close; and The Adult by Bronwyn Fischer. Host of the podcast Agent Provocateur, Hiyate regularly appears at writers conferences and also teaches publishing (Toronto Metropolitan University) and creative writing (University of Toronto).
Before coming to The Rights Factory, Hiyate ran the literary division of The Lavin Agency, building a client list and completing his first deals. He was editor and publisher for the small press, Gutter Press, from 1993 to 2002, and worked at the literary magazines Blood & Aphorisms and The Quarterly in the 90s.
A well established agent who began her career as an editor at major publishing houses, Rita Rosenkranz represents almost exclusively adult nonfiction titles. Her wide-ranging list includes health, history, parenting, music, self-help and how-to, popular science, business, biography, sports, popular reference, cooking, writing, humor, memoir, spirituality, illustrated books, and general interest titles. She represents both first-time and seasoned authors. Rosenkranz works with major publishing houses as well as regional publishers that handle niche markets. Representative titles include A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra) by Barbara Oakley; The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning and Life by Julie Bogart; Writing that Gets Noticed by Estelle Erasmus; and Feel, Heal & Let that Sh*t Go by Rachel Kaplan. Rosenkranz is a member of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA), The Authors Guild, and Women’s Media Group.
