A Match Made at Paragraph
You've seen the ads for Paragraph's agent roundtables. Maybe you've attended one or two. But did you know that several Paragraph members have signed with agents they met at roundtables - agents who went on to sell their books? Nancy Mauro and Helen Simonson share their success stories here.
Nancy Mauro writes: I met my agent, Jamie Brenner, at a Roundtable just over a year ago. Actually, let me rephrase: I pounced on Jamie at a Roundtable just over a year ago. I liked her style and her approachability. My novel (New World Monkeys) was already finished at the time and I’d just started circulating it around to agents. But (and this is the lovely bit about the Roundtable) here we had before us an agent in real time! I could actually push my manuscript at her and then watch hawk-eyed as she put it in her bag. Not that I’m recommending pushiness. But let’s face it, at a Roundtable, agents become the captive audience. Jamie sold the book at auction to Random House that summer. Its publication date is September 2009.
Helen Simonson says: I'm thrilled to be represented by Julie Barer of Barer Literary. Julie has just sold my first novel, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, to Random House. They tell me it will be published early in 2010. Rights have also been sold in five additional countries including my home country, the UK. I spent a year completing this novel at Paragraph and I could not have finished it writing at home. I depend on those fuzzy grey cubicles for concentration and the busy key-clicking of other members for a healthy sense of urgency. As a struggling, unpublished novelist, I have been very grateful to be part of this community of working writers. Thanks everyone.
Stay tuned for more success stories!
