Stephen Barbara scored his first deal at Foundry Literary + Media, connecting a college friend with Gerry Howard at Doubleday after an auction.

Barbara secured the deal for debut novelist Sam Munson and his book, The November Criminals. According to Publishers Marketplace, Munson wrote the book as a response to an admissions application question from the University of Chicago. As GalleyCat reported, Barbara was the former contracts director at Donald Maass Literary Agency before moving to Foundry.

From the report: "[It is] a novel composed for the University of Chicago's board of admissions, answering the application essay question: "What are your best and worst qualities?", using the story of the protagonist's dramatic senior year in high school to reveal that he has no good qualities at all." UPDATE: The NY Observer reports the book sold for "a sum close to $100,000."