The joy of the needle (this is not a drug reference)

As a quick update to the Needle awards--I can now announce that both winners of the Needle Awards, Brian Agincourt Massey and Mike Vogel, have officially landed agent representation for their novels.

Now we await the book deals.

Congratulations to both!

Liza Dawson Associates Explodes (in a good way)

In the if-you-need-an-agent department, we here at the Mouth wanted to tip you off to the fact that Liza Dawson Associates (a literary agency, for those of you not in the know) has hired not one, but three new agents.

Here is the official juice, courtesy of Publishers Marketplace:

Literary agency Liza Dawson Associates has hired author, small press publisher, and former journalist Karen E. Quinones Miller, representing nonfiction and commercial fiction. Havis Dawson, formerly an editor-in-chief of business magazines at VNU, has joined the agency to focus on business, political, and self-help books, along with commercial fiction. Anna Olswanger, coordinator of the Jewish Children's Book Writers’ Conference at the 92nd Street Y and a children's book author, will represents book for both adults and young readers, with a particular interest in Judaica.

So what are you waiting for? I'm sure Liza and her crew would like nothing more than several thousand new queries to go through!

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You know who else would love (*choke*) a cavalcade of queries? Molly Friedrich! She, currently with the Aaron Priest Literary Agency, is setting up her own shop in July--and bringing Paul Cirone with her. Giddy-up! (The least you can do is actually wait until July.)
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And--God give me strength--it's the return of treasure on Monday for my first selection of 2006. Here we go again!

Lightning strikes!

Okay, that makes no sense, but I wanted to use it anyway. The lightning I am referring to is Lightning Source, the chief company used for printing POD titles.

Lightning Source (and Amazon) won an appeal regarding the patent of the technology used to print books the way they do. How does this affect you? It doesn't. It just means nothing is going to change (for better or for worse) in the world of POD.
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Elsewhere in POD-dyLand, several (three) authors who either won or were nominated for a Needle Award now have one (or more!) offers of representation from various wise agents (I'm not counting the two authors that already had representation before the awards.) More details to come as things get finalized.

Also, Publishers Marketplace reports that David Reid's SUFFER IN SILENCE just got the movie rights snatched up:

David Reid's SUFFER IN SILENCE, about a young officer's struggle to survive the world's toughest military training, optioned to John and Paul Buckholts at Our Thing Productions, in a good deal. Publishing rights are available.

Also, Carol Hoenig's WITHOUT GRACE has been nominated for Book of the Year for the annual ForeWord Magazine Book Awards.

See? I'm not the only one who thinks these books are exceptional!

Why isn't PublishAmerica doing what iUniverse is doing?

Judy Klein of Kleinworks has officially been hired by iUniverse to sell subsidiary and foreign rights for their Star titles. Why do I say officially? Because she has already sold such rights for a bunch of iUniverse titles, including TORPEDO by Jeff Edwards (including audio rights!), VLAD DRACULA by Michael Augustyn and Mark Alan Morris's THE GHOST NEXT DOOR, as well as others.

The significance? As far as I know, iUniverse is the first and only POD publisher (non-small press) to proactively try to sell subsidiary (movie, audio, etc.) and foreign rights for their authors--and that includes PublishAmerica, which as a traditional publisher (geez, what's with all the lightning outside?!) they should be doing already.

From iUniverse's press release:
Klein's primary role will be working on subsidiary rights deals for authors in the iUniverse Star Program. The Star Program bridges the gap between promising new authors and traditional publishing by identifying new talent and nurturing them on a path to greater success. [Sort of like what we do here at POD-dy Mouth, except we're free and carry no responsibility] In order to be eligible for the program, each title is evaluated based on editorial quality and market potential.

As for Ms. Klein's resume?
Klein spent 12 years with prestigious publishing house Farrar, Straus & Giroux. During her tenure, she served as vice president, director of subsidiary rights, director of paperback publishing and director of audio books. Klein is also the former editor-in-chief of the Literary Guild Book Club and the Booksonline Book Clubs.

In other words, she's no hack.