Caren Johnson Literary Agency

Vanity Fair has an article about Judith Regan, the ex-publisher of Regan books, a division of HarperCollins. It talks about how wonderfully complex she is and the author does say that he has some connections to her. Hmm. I’ve heard the horror stories about Judith and though I can’t say I’d like to be like her, they were entertaining. I think she forgot the one thing you don’t do when you’re a behind-the-scenes player: you don’t upstage the talent. The writers are the talent. We  (the agents, editors, publishers) are the stage managers. It gets complex if you start mixing roles. Then resentment breeds and suddenly you’re left with a big mess on your hands. Of course, Judith is more than just a publisher so maybe that’s where the trouble began. She was doing too many things and it all backfired.

C.

I’m blogging on the teen lit loop this week so come on over and ask plenty of questions. I’ve had some good ones so far. What are some of my favorite YA/Teen books and why, what I’m looking for in authors and what types of books do I want, were some of the questions. My list included two of my authors novels, Adios to My Old Life, Barbara Caridad Ferrer and Major Crush, Jennifer Echols. I like them, not because I represent them, but because these are genuinely good books. So go read them and let me know what you think.

C.