by Gina Damasco
“These gems have life in them; their colors speak, say what words fail of.” -George Eliot.
Regina Brooks: A Modern Prospector of Great Literary Gems
Guided by her vision of bringing great books to light and sharing them with the world over the last twenty years, Regina Brooks built the largest African American owned literary agency in the country, Serendipity Literary Agency. Serendipity has established a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult fiction, non-fiction, and children’s literature, and she and her team work tirelessly to help clients build successful literary careers. A board member of the Association of Author Representatives, and a member of New York Women in Film and Television, the list of Regina’s accomplishments is long and impressive (just check out her bio), including being named Woman of the Year by The National Association of Professional Women, a New York Urban League Rising Star Award winner, and winner of the StevieTM Award for Women Entrepreneurs.
Not only has Regina helped unearth valuable projects through her long term development and the cultivation of lasting relationships with authors and illustrators, she is also expanding the field of publishing and readership. Regina helped launch a new publishing imprint with Johnny Temple’s Akashic Books called Open Lens, and is the founder and co-Executive Director of Y.B. Literary Foundation, Inc., a not-for-profit organization designed to kindle a passion for literature within high school students and an appreciation for the possibilities and opportunities that reading can provide.
Both figuratively and literally, Regina has soared to great heights, as she is a pilot and co-founder of Brooklyn Aviation. Before founding Serendipity Literary Agency, Regina worked in senior editorial positions at the well-known publishing houses McGraw-Hill and John Wiley and Sons, where she learned the core features of what it truly takes to make a books salable. In Regina’s video series, “Books By The Numbers” [insert hyperlink here], she shares valuable knowledge and answers frequently asked publishing questions from a numerical perspective, thanks to the benefit of her unique mathematical acumen as a former aerospace engineer.
Cultivating the Skill of Prospecting Future Gems
“A precious idea is never arbitrarily unearthed. It spurts forth from effort and creativity, finally uncovered as brilliance. Serendipity Literary Agency pushes and uncovers those who love to venture in the quarry of their imagination.” -Regina Brooks
As with every industry, something that catches the eye because of a popular trend – such as a typically regarded niche market of new and fresh voices – can instantly become the most precious commodity to publishers. These voices, often coming from diverse and traditionally marginalized groups, however, don’t just emerge during a trend. Regina has always been a champion for the diverse voices that simply couldn’t find any other way past the gatekeepers of the publishing marketplace. “Serendipity Literary Agency has always embraced authors and creators of culturally significant books from authors of color, as well as works that resonate with communities of color and their collective lived experiences irrespective of whether it’s on the tails of a trend. Rather, I dig deep to unearth projects that will give readers the emotional experience they are seeking, and help them polish them so their value will sparkle as brightly for the publishers as they do for readers.”
The remarkable thing about Regina is that, often times, despite the never ending supply of pitches and proposals that she and all agents in the industry receive, the projects she has taken on don’t necessarily arrive perfectly polished. In an industry that works on commission, for a successful Literary Agency owner, philanthropist, and entrepreneur juggling more concurrent activities than I can list in one blog post, it is remarkable that she is best known for her generosity of time and attention to the growth and development of diamonds in the rough. Time is, quite literally money, and the value each author and illustrator Regina works with gets from their representation by Serendipity Literary Agency is simply incomparable.
That time she invests comes with a 360-degree perspective of the publishing industry, as an editor at a publishing house, and agent, an author, and as a publisher partner in an imprint specifically focused on offering diverse voices an opportunity that wasn’t available through other industry gatekeepers. “My experience in book publishing has given me a unique perspective, and appreciation, for the interconnectedness of the various aspects of the publishing world otherwise compartmentalized within publishing industry ecosystem. Knowing not only what publishers want, but how that wish list connects with the readers’ expectations when it comes to establishing an emotional connecting with that material, gives me a greater depth of understanding that I can share with authors when polishing their work.”
Regina has authored several publishing craft books to share the precious knowledge she’s gathered over the past two decades. Her first title now in its second edition, Writing Great Books for Young Adults: Everything You Need to Know, from Crafting the Idea to Landing a Publishing Deal (Sourcebooks, 2009), provided a beacon to many authors seeking to break out in a new and popular genre. “Dovetailing my experience in the market with the specific needs of the YA genre, I came up with a roadmap to help aspiring YA authors identify the elements that would make a YA manuscript stand out and be salable to publishers.” It has been characterized as an MFA for YA literature in one book. Drawing on skills she gained from her background in textbook editing, Regina crafted a technically informative yet easily readable comprehensive guide that anticipates and addresses a critical market need.
For Regina, the knowledge of what book consumers want and how to get it to them is one essential part of identifying what “gems” are. Her second nonfiction book, You Should Really Write a Book: How to Write, Sell, and Market Your Memoir (St. Martin’s Press, 2012), was inspired by the substantial number of pitches in a popular genre (memoir) that she has heard as a conference speaker. To prepare for writing that book, Regina and her coauthor Breanda L. Richardson read over 400 memoirs and sifted them all down to guide authors and their agents on how to polish their work into the most salable project possible: “incredible writing, a strong hook, and a platform.”
Not unlike what she has done with authors who pitch to Serendipity with exceptional ideas that have weaknesses in content, structure, or with the book proposal, Regina and her team roll up their sleeves and get to the challenging but rewarding work of unearthing the gems from hidden depths by showing authors what and how to focus on, and then giving them the tools to do it.
Identifying and Appraising Hidden Potential
A diamond, a cubic zirconia, and cut glass may all find themselves in someone’s engagement ring, and with the same cut and ring setting, there’s a chance they may all look somewhat similar. However, we all know there is a vast difference between them, and no one gets a diamond ring hoping it was either of the two other options, least of all glass. Forged over time and the right conditions, the brilliance of precious jewels like diamonds are prized because of their rarity and unmistakably sharp sparkle, not unlike many great books. From what I’ve learned about unearthing “gems” during my time working with Regina Brooks and Serendipity Literary Agency, I’ve crafted my own version of the diamond appraisal “Four C’s” criteria (carat, clarity, color, and cut) for appraising unearthed “gems” in the publishing industry.
The Four C’s of Unearthing Gems
- Craft. At the end of the day, a flawless gem must be a work of great writing. The hallmarks of this include a manuscript that reflects attention to strong voice and tone in the narration, unique and developed characters, believable dialogue and good pacing, well-placed and overarching thematic elements, excellent grammar and vocabulary choice, lyrical elements appropriate to the genre and target audience, and a good story structure and plot points. At Serendipity Literary Agency, we have several agents with strong editorial backgrounds who are especially helpful to new authors, non-native English speaking authors, and those who have incredible personal stories or strong concepts but need a little help with these craft elements.
- Concept. I’ve read a good number of manuscripts, the majority of which detail what an author believes showcase the most interesting moments of their lives. Some, in truth, may have interesting stories that delight and intrigue their friends and family. Maybe even some acquaintances. A salable book, however, must speak to people hundreds, and thousands – and maybe even millions – of miles away from your close circle of loving and kind support. A “gem” is a story that holds great and undeniable intrinsic value on a broad scale, with a sparkle that catches the eye, opens the heart, and speaks to the soul. It is possibly the most valuable aspect of the “gem,” as great editorial agents (and, where more substantive work is needed, hired ghost writers) can help an author craft a concise work from his/her/their strong concept. Perhaps one of the many great skills and talents the agents at Serendipity Literary Agent bring to new and emerging authors is identifying the “diamond in the rough” concept, and patiently helping authors polish it into a stunning work of enduring value. Whether that is by painstakingly sifting through the thousands of submissions Serendipity receives, or by researching and identifying a need in the book consumer market and finding powerful and diverse new voices to fill it, Serendipity’s team of agents work diligently and skillfully to prospect for unearthed gems that deserve the chance to shine.
- Contemporary and Conventional Marketability. Just as a gemstone setting securely holds and enhances its brilliance by best displaying the most exquisite features of its carat, cut, clarity and color, books must have a suitable “platform” to elevate their craft and concept in a way appropriate to their times. From a marketing standpoint, identifying built in social media platforms, appropriate influencer marketing opportunities, any existing target email and content (i.e., YouTube & Podcast) market, SEO, and online name recognition are among the most current ways authors’ books find potential salability. Of course, these can complement indicia of conventional marketability, such as with film, television, radio, direct mail, phone/mobile, and a presence in book clubs and other book consumer forums. Strong, new, and emerging author-oriented literary agencies, such as Serendipity, leverage their knowledge and expertise and any available existing networks as needed for appropriate projects, in order to help position authors and their books for publishers and other related projects.
- Concision. A great gemstone that is too unwieldy in size will do a great disservice to its beauty and value. More is not always more, especially when it comes to showcasing an unearthed, polished, highly prized gem. Editorial agents at Serendipity are adept at cutting a rough gem down and shaping it to create a multi-faceted, brilliant work of depth and substance that is highly saleable.
The Multifaceted Value of Unearthing Gems
“Precious jewel, you glow, you shine, reflecting all the good things in the world. Just look at yourself.” -Maya Angelou
One of the most valuable aspects of Serendipity Literary Agency is how Regina unearths and polishes the talent on her staff to help unearth the precious jewels that are our authors and their projects.
“Literary agents are gatekeepers in the publishing industry, but my view of the role is not just for authors and illustrators. Much of my work, and my passion, is finding and unearthing raw talent as a literary agent, and then polishing them with training and hands on experience. I tend to look beneath the surface, beneath the words on a CV page, and find the true, hidden potential of someone who will thrive in this industry. There is a deep, gratifying sense of accomplishment to see that spark of potential emerge into an advocate for our authors, and a resource to help identify and polish their projects as well.” Regina’s superpower is finding the value in the rough and unpolished by understanding and identifying those intrinsic skills and personality traits that make a great agent. “One can learn the basics of publishing, but the talent and the personality that makes a great agent… that is not teachable. There is a special quality to being the most effective advocate to an author. In order to connect with both the right content and the right aspects of the right people who deal in it, whether writing, editing, publishing, or reading it, there is a special skill that comes from deep within the soul.”
Serendipity Junior Agent Kelly Thomas met Regina at a tea shop in Brooklyn in early 2019. “I had prepared high stakes hedge fund manager interviews countless times before as a recruiter, but even I was nervous to interview with someone of Regina’s caliber.” It wasn’t long after the conversation started that it was clear to Kelly this was her own personal strike of serendipity, as Regina’s personable demeanor made her feel so comfortable, acknowledged, and valued.
After publishing a book of poetry a few years prior, instead of pitching a new project, Kelly sent out countless letters to agencies pitching herself for any position. “I was 40 years old, and I knew that if I was going to have a career in the publishing industry, it was now or never. I knew I had the skills to make a great agent, but it was Regina who was the only one to see it in me.” Kelly brought considerable writing and editorial skill to the work of literary agency, as well as the invaluable networking and sales skills as an executive level recruiter. Yet, when it came to publishing experience, the many agencies to which she had reached out hadn’t given her a second thought – that is, if they had even given her a first.
The story is hardly unique to Kelly, as the industry has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the talent pool of future agents. Kelly was overcome with gratitude and joy when Regina brought her on board and walked Kelly through all aspects of the industry. From attending and scheduling meetings with editors, attending (and then speaking on) panels as an agent, and attending the National Book Awards After Party, Kelly marvels at how Regina invested so much of herself in making Kelly the best agent she could possibly be. Recently, her labors bore sweet fruit with the sale of two books of which Kelly is incredibly proud, including the story of the first black NASCAR driver, Bill Lester.
Agents like Regina are often called “gatekeepers” of the publishing industry, and for good reason. Not only do they help authors get through this locked gate by having access to the editors who buy the books, they also have the information and experience to know how to present those books in the best, most salable way. Kelly, and all of the agents, trainees, and interns at Serendipity, learn so much from Regina’s mentorship. Whether training on how to optimally tailor pitch letters and submissions lists for individual editors at the respective publishing houses, or how to research and draft the kinds of book proposals that best help match editors with the kinds of authors and projects they’re seeking, Regina’s multifaceted approach is always individualized to each person’s skills set and interest area.
Unlocking gates for talented agents, authors, and illustrators whom she meets as mere diamonds in the rough, Regina teaches those she takes under her wing the true value of diamonds in the rough that might otherwise be overlooked, to polish them to shine their brightest. Regina’s work not only builds a legacy of unearthed voices that only a keen prospector of intrinsic value could spot, but also a legacy of agents who enter an industry bringing the mindset that, sometimes, if you dig just a little beneath the surface, you’ll find a priceless gem you may never have expected. Hidden gems given their chance to shine can change hearts and minds. At Serendipity, Regina does this work, one gem at a time.
Gina Damasco (she/her) is an Editorial Agent in Training at Serendipity Literary Agent. She has a Digital Marketing Mini-MBA from Rutgers Business School, a JD from Rutgers Law School (where she served as an editor on her law journal), and her Bachelors in English Literature from New York University.