Book Lover and Literary Agent
ALICE SPEILBURG
by Jessica Ferguson
A
lice Speilburg of The Speilburg Literary Agency
is fun—she enjoys hiking with her husband and
almost three-year-old son. She’s adventurous—
she plays the violin in a community orchestra and cooks
Indian food. She loves a challenge—she can kick up to a
handstand. Not bad traits for a literary agent. Too, Alice
loves her involvement in the writing and publishing world
and still believes in the power of the agent.
“We’re preparing our clients’ work for publication,
putting it in front of the right people, making sure they get
a fair deal, and making sure they have a clear understanding
of how their decisions might affect their career. Maintaining
that career guidance role, of course, requires that agents
have a keen sense of how the industry is changing.”
Alice started as an assistant to a VP and Publisher
at John Wiley & Sons. She had a hand in the editorial
aspect of all the manuscripts published in their nonfiction
department, but she also assisted in making sure the
department was performing well. While the editorial
process was (and still is) one of her favorite parts of the job,
she realized that she wanted to have access to every piece
of the publishing process, not just the manuscripts.
“What shifted me toward agenting specifically was
the sense of disappointment (that all editors feel) when
a project I fell in love with and wanted to acquire didn’t
pass through the sales meeting. I wanted to continue
working with the author to find the right publisher, but of
course, that was her agent’s job. I did a few informational
interviews with literary agents, and then worked at Howard
Morhaim Literary for a while before launching my own
agency.”
Alice created her agency in 2012 and receives as many
as ten queries a day. She tries to answer them all, and
understands the fear and trepidation a writer experiences
when visualizing unknown people reading their work. Rest
assured, if you meet Alice at a conference, she’ll make you
feel as comfortable as possible. If your story interests her,
she’ll Google you.
“Oh, absolutely. Partly, I’m looking for practical
platform information — will we need to launch/
redesign a website before shopping the manuscript, is
there anything important I should know that the author
neglected to include in her bio (like a previous publication,
a background in the subject matter, a connection to a
well-known author in the same genre)? One submission I
loved recently revealed that the author lived just 20 miles
from me, so I was able to suggest that we meet for coffee
instead of the usual phone call. But I’m also looking
for a sense of what kind of person this author might be,
what her other interests are, whether we’ll be able to
connect on something besides the book. When I offer
representation, it’s a relationship I hope will last many
years, and it’s always preferable when we actually like
each other!”
Everyone agrees, including Alice, that self-publishing
is a lot of work if you actually want to sell books.
“It’s true that authors have to do a lot of marketing to
their audience, whether traditionally published or self-
published, but publishers contribute a huge sales force
going to bookstores across the nation on your behalf;
they have design experts in place to make sure that your
cover looks professional and fits in with bestselling books
in your category; production experts who know how
to make the formatting just so and pick the perfect font
and coordinate with the printer for a beautiful finished
product; they have marketing experts who have been
selling books for years, who develop the brand around
each title and help authors pinpoint the right way to
approach potential readers. To self-publish, you must be
all of these things, or rather, hire all of these people. And
even then, it’s going to be nearly impossible to get into
physical bookstores. The market is very crowded, making
it more difficult for any particular title to be noticed, no
matter which path it took to publication.”
From her little desk in the back of her house, Alice
offers these words of wisdom: “Always be aware of
your readers. Read new releases within your category to
maintain an awareness of what other books your audience
is reading. Write clever structures and twists to keep
them on their toes. Share the inside details with them
when your book is published, connect with them online
or at readings, sign their published copies. Other authors
are your support system, and you need that community
to make it through your publishing career, but readers
provide your livelihood. Be grateful for their attention.
They have the power to grant you immortality.” n
Southern Writers 7