The Agent: Personalities, Politics, and Publishing - Hardcover

Klebanoff, Arthur

3.2

5 ratings by Goodreads

9781587991042: The Agent: Personalities, Politics, and Publishing

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1587991047 ISBN 13: 9781587991042

Publisher: Texere, 2002

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Arthur Klebanoff is one of the world�'s most powerful literary agents and has the record to prove it. Among his authors are Michael Bloomberg, Danielle Steel, Bill Bradley, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Patrick Moynihan, Linda Goodman, Rupert Murdoch, and the Pope. Many have generated more than $1 billion in retail sales. In this memoir of his professional life, Klebanoff recounts all the �'lessons learned�' and the fascinating people who has met on the way to his recent acquisition of the famous Scott Meredith Literary Agency. He is also CEO of Rosetta Books, the leading electronic publisher of quality backlist books. In The Agent, Klebanoff also includes his vision of the future of book publishing to which he will no doubt leave a lasting legacy.

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About the Author:

Arthur M. Klebanoff has handled books with more than $1 Billion in retail sales since forming his own agency in 1983. Since 1993, he has been owner and president of the fifty-year-old Scott Meredith Literary Agency.

A co-founder of Morton L. Janklow Associates, Inc. and partner in the law firm Janklow, Traum and Klebanoff, he worked over a ten year period on over thirty seven-figure book deals, most involving commerical fictiion. Arthur previously led the publishing division of International Management Group. His innovative approaches have attracted as clients leading leatherbound publishers, art print publishers, libraries and museums and health organizations. Arthur is also the CEO of Rosetta Books, the leading electronic publisher of quality backlist books focused exclusively on the electronic medium. The author resides in New York City.

From Publishers Weekly:

Following Korda, Epstein, Schiffrin and Curtis, writer's agent Klebanoff presents his autobiography in this compact, slightly wandering and at times tedious volume. The owner of the Scott Meredith Literary Agency has worked in publishing since the late 1970s, before that working as a White House aide. He's done business with Lynn Nesbit, Richard Nixon, Bernard and Marvin Kalb, Bill Bradley, Sidney Sheldon, David McCullough and countless other interesting people, and his anecdotes of working with these folk are usually as interesting. Going for hype, Klebanoff begins with his recent involvement in Rosetta Books, an electronic publisher that made headlines earlier this year when it went to court with Random House over copyright issues and won. His account of that litigation will appeal to those aradently curious about copyright law, but will turn off readers seeking a homey chronicle of old-school publishing (like Epstein's, for example). Unlike other publishing execs turned authors, Klebanoff doesn't present an industry overview, instead commenting indirectly on its current status and future. Throughout, he scatters old-pro adages like "always read the market first" and "not all offers work even if the deal is elegant." Klebanoff is certainly qualified to talk about politics, licensing, author branding and the like, but his yarns lack coherence and are merely tidbits about publishing and its trials. Still, as he accurately states in the preface, "This is not `how to be a literary agent,' nor is it a publishing memoir. It is a story of transitions and challenges." In that, he succeeds. (Jan. 21)e-book, which is surprising, given Klebanoff's ties to e-publishing.

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