Most readers don’t know about the literary scouts running around the publishing industry–the literary consultants who keep track of the year’s big books and report book deal intelligence to publishers.
Over at Publishing Perspectives retired literary scout Emily Williams reveals how she monitored “the pulse of the book world” for big publishers, dispelling some of the mystery surrounding her former profession. On Wednesday, Publishing Perspectives editor Edward Nawotka will visit the Morning Media Menu to talk about literary scouts and global publishing.
Here’s more from the article: “Good scouting is being perpetually open to the idea that the next big book could come from anywhere at any moment. There are some predictable patterns–the fall blockbuster season, the build-up of interesting projects before book fairs–but most books are scouted through a half-methodical, half-haphazard trolling of each scout’s network, week-in and week-out. This network ideally consists of a number of well placed editors who receive the best submissions in each genre, as well as cordial relations with the agents, who may go so far as to give a friendly scout a heads up if they’re sending out a manuscript they’re excited about.”