Though the former CEO of Time Warner Books is still getting his startup agency going (though word on the street is that he’s begun submitting the next novel by James Sheehan to publishers) he’s moving very fast. Galleycat’s already interviewed hire #1, Susanna Einstein, and now Publishers Marketplace and PW Daily report that the next person to join up is Jud Laghi, formerly with ICM.
There Laghi primarily repped non-fiction and pop culture-oriented books by the likes of Jeopardy superchamp Ken Jennings, This American Life contributor Davy Rothbart, Cupcake Brown, and Brendan Mullen. Bloggers numbered among Laghi’s ICM clients too, as he sold Kevin Smokler’s BOOKMARK NOW to Basic Books and John Sellers’ voyage into indie-rock territory to Geoff Kloske at Simon & Schuster. When reached for comment, Kirshbaum said that he expected Laghi to represent primarily non-fiction, but wouldn’t rule out a hot fiction property if it came Laghi’s way.
But most intriguing of all is that Laghi is the agent of record for a collection of essays and stories that sold to Warner back in July, by a reasonably well known TV actor and comic named David Cross. Heard of him? Or perhaps his double? And if the double’s looking for an agent, will Laghi represent him?