Getting ready for BEA

by Stacey

I know it's a little ways away still, but I've been starting to see some marketing materials for this year's BEA, taking place in NYC May 25-27. The website gives a lot of great information about the event, and they recently announced that they are trying to broaden the appeal and turn it into an entire New York Book Week May 24 through May 28. This is very cool, and offers not only authors, publishers, agents and the entire publishing community a chance to come together, but it also gives regular New Yorkers the opportunity to get involved and come out to join in the fun. Many venues are taking part, and people will be able to visit places all over the city for events, including bookstores, the 92nd Street Y, and the NY Public Library. If you'll be in town, take a look at some of the great programs they are planning and put them in your calendar now so you can come out and support the book biz.

California dreaming

As my clients know, and as many of you may have heard, I’m moving to Los Angeles at the end of this month to open up a West Coast office for DGLM. I’m really excited about starting something new, and I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for my clients, the agency and me.

I’ve had a few questions about how this will work, so I’ll try to address those here. First and foremost: I want to be very clear that I will continue to agent my amazing clients, and I remain on the lookout for exceptionally talented new authors. I’m a literary agent, and that’s not going to change.

Though I’ll be living and working in L.A., you can expect to see me in New York. Often. I’ll be back at the end of January for more than a week (I’ll be attending the SCBWI Winter conference to do the roundtables on January 29), meeting with editors, publishers and, of course, authors. There will be several trips like that throughout the year, so you New Yorkers can breathe easy (or not!).

I’ll be working New York hours, at my desk about 9:30 AM – 7 PM Eastern time, and I’ll be at my new phone number, 310-363-0252. That number is already live, so feel free to call me there any time (it’s forwarded to ring me wherever I am). My email remains the same: mbourret@dystel.com. I’ll still be on Twitter, where I’ll try to be more active--computer issues have kept me off a bit that past couple of weeks--and you’ll see me blogging more than before.

Speaking of Twitter, I asked my followers there for questions they wanted answered about the move. Either they’re all comedians or already knew everything, but here are a couple of questions and answers:


Question: Is it true that people sparkle in LA? :)

Answer: I don’t know, but I’ll find out and will let you know.


Question: Could you cover submission guidelines and how to submit, if that's changed?

Answer: Great question! I’m now only accepting email queries. Please do not mail queries to the New York office. (Though all other official mail should still go to the New York office.)


Question: Do you remember driving? I would love to see how that's treating you.

Answer: I actually drive several times a year, and I didn’t grow up in NYC, so driving isn’t going to be new. Getting a car, however, is a very bizarre notion. I’m going to have to bring a friend because I have no clue how it works!


-Michael