PW recently reported that Michael Stearns left Firebrand to start his own agency.
I’ve been noodling around the Upstart Crow site and I encourage you to check it out, too.
But the thing I find so interesting about the Upstart Crow site is how different it is from the Firebrand site. Michael said in the PW piece that he and Nadia “had different ideas about how the ideal literary agency should be run.” Stearns wants an agency that is “more author-focused, editorially minded, artisanal….” So it’s no surprise to find that the two sites differ in personality.
First the names. Firebrands set the world on fire. Upstart crows are successful, too, in fact they run over top of the staid traditionalists. But there’s a sense of humor in the upstart crow name, while the firebrand name takes itself more seriously. Upstart crows enjoy art, but, at the same time, they want good stories the common man can enjoy. (I think these things because of the hat tip to Shakespeare). Firebrand…that doesn’t conjure up any literary connotations for me.
Then there are the web sites. One is shiny, one is comfy. One feels like the Internet, and one feels like books. The Firebrand site makes me think of arriving with fanfare–plastic hats and party noisemakers. The Upstart crow site makes me think they want to enjoy the journey and make a grand entrance when they arrive fashionably late.
That’s my take on it, anyway.
So all this thinking about websites, makes me want to rework my blog. I keep looking for the perfect theme and I keep finding ones I like, tweaking them to make them mine, and deciding I don’t like them, after all. Hmmm. But then I’m one of those people who loves to move the furniture every few months, too.
What about you? Are you a furniture mover or are you bori–er–settled and mature?
And what do you think about the new Upstart Crow site? Firebrand Literary has closed down (I don’t know where Ted Malawer and Stacia Decker have gone), but you can still see the homepage template to compare it to the Upstart Crow site, if you’re interested. (Or am I the only geek who likes analyzing web sites?) So what do you think? There’s no right answer about which sites attract you. There’s nothing wrong with colorful blender drinks if you’re a colorful blender drink kind of gal. And there’s nothing wrong with aged brandy, either, if you’re an aged brandy man. It’s a matter of taste.
Do you have a list of the top 10 children’s book literary agents?
Hmmm. Here are the worst agents (not particularly children’s literary agents):
http://www.sfwa.org/beware/twentyworst.html
But I don’t see the top ten anywhere.
Besides, it depend on the criteria you’re using for judging. PW, I think puts out a top agents list every year. I think they judge by who has the most sales. I’m not sure.
But someone who is selling a lot of books may still not be a good fit for you and your book. So…
If you belong to SCBWI you can check out their agents directory. But it might be even better to look at the SCBWI conferences around the country and see which agents are making appearances at those.