What to look for in an agent (This week in books)

This week! Books!

First up, a little housekeeping note that I’m going to take a blog break next week for our nation’s birthday and my own. I’ll be answering emails though so feel free to reach out for editing. The blog will return with fresh content on July 6.

Now then. The latest books organization to become embroiled in controversy is International Thriller Writers, which faced criticism over its response to the Black Lives Matter movement and its handling of a harassment complaint at a conference. Most of its board resigned so that a new board could be formed.

Bestselling author Victoria Schwab also shared some of her own experiences with male authors at conferences. Ugh.

The book industry lost one of its loveliest people as literary agent Felicity Bryan passed away. I will never forget her kindness when I visited her office in Oxford.

You may feel as if you are currently living in a Don DeLillo novel, but things are going to get extra meta because he has a new novel coming out in October.

Barnes & Noble laid off most of its book buyers as they plan to move to a more centralized approach with just a small handful of buyers.

In agent advice news, Quressa Robinson has a list of things to consider about working with an agent as your career evolves.

And Rafia Zakaria wrote about white allies vs. allies of whiteness with a particular lens on the publishing industry’s reluctance to enact meaningful change.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

1. 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand
2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
3. Camino Winds by John Grisham
4. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
5. The Summer House by James Patterson and Brendan DuBois

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
2. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
3. So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
4. Countdown 1945 by Chris Wallace with Mitch Weiss
5. The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

Young adult hardcover:

1. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
2. Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
3. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
4. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
5. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Middle grade hardcover:

1. The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate
2. Little Leaders by Vashti Harrison
3. Wonder by R.J Palacio
4. Little Legends by Vashti Harrison
5. The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids

This week on the blog

Don’t forget that you can nominate your first page and query for a free critique on the blog:

• Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
• Nominate Your Query for a Critique on the Blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

• A year of living uncomfortably

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Twitter
• Follow my page on Facebook
• Join the Facebook Group
• Check out the Bransforums

Comment! of! the! week! goes to John T. Shea, with a reminder that we all face a choice in where we devote our eyeballs:

“And others are multi-billionaires siting atop one of the tech companies that are rapaciously eating up what’s left of our economy and raking in billions more.”

An interesting and provocative thought, Nathan! As I type this on my Apple computer and follow you and others on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram etc. I remind myself that I still have a choice in that matter, and that there was a time before I ever patronised any of those big tech companies. WE make those multi-billionaires rich and richer, directly and indirectly, by using and contributing to their services to such an extent that we may be tempted to believe that theirs are the only public, common spaces open to us. We work hard to keep those multi-billionaires atop their fortunes, sometimes even tearing each other apart in online gladiatorial bouts on Twitter, in particular.

I have already set limits to my (Anti?)Social Media, which is mostly links to comments I make here and on other blogs and websites. I rarely comment directly on Twitter or Instagram, and just sometimes on Facebook. That much takes more than enough of my time and effort.

And finally, the head of National Book Awards, Lisa Lucas, had one of the most incredible exchanges I’ve ever seen on Twitter. She tweeted on Father’s Day that it was hard to listen to her dad’s songs since he passed away, but that “Never Knew Love Like This Before” was her favorite. Her mom revealed that her dad wrote it for Lisa when she was born.

Have a great weekend!

Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!

For my best advice, check out my guide to writing a novel (now available in audio) and my guide to publishing a book.

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Art: New York City sunset. Photo by me.