Pitching An Agent: Laura Langlie

This agent wants literary fiction she can believe in

By Rachel Kramer Bussel - March 20, 2012

Number of agents: One
Number of clients: 35
Notable clients: Meg Cabot, Mignon F. Ballard, Sarah Dooley, Thomas Maltman, Cheryl L. Reed and Meg Tilly
Amount of unsolicited material accepted: 5 percent
Fiction vs. nonfiction: 75 percent fiction, 25 percent nonfiction

Background: Langlie comes to agenting with a lifelong passion for publishing; as a youngster, she asked for a subscription to Publishers Weekly one Christmas. "There's nothing like a new book, especially one I agented," said Langlie, who worked at Zebra Books (now Kensington) and Carroll & Graf in production and editorial positions, respectively, before moving to literary agency Kidde, Hoyt & Picard in 1995. After six years there, she started her own agency in 2001.

While Langlie is a one-woman firm, she has co-agents for dramatic rights (Bill Contardi), UK rights (Annette Green Authors' Agency), Japanese rights (Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc.), German rights (Thomas Schlück Agency), and retains The Marsh Agency, Ltd. in London for rights in all other territories.

Her determination sets her apart from other agents. "I'm very persistent," Langlie said. "It took me four years to sell one book, a biography of a ballet dancer. I'm not alone in that, but I'm quite dogged. I don't give up because [once I take on a book], I do believe in the book and that somehow I'm going to find someone else who does."...