Episode 9: Janet Kobobel Grant and Wendy Lawton, Books & Such Literary Management
Janet Kobobel Grant, Founder and President of Books & Such Literary Management, along with Wendy Lawton, Vice President of Books & Such, share valuable information about publishing, the importance of community for writers, and they answer specific questions about the platform numbers publishers seek. This episode is a mini-masterclass in publishing!
Janet Kobobel Grant had two goals as a grade-schooler: to read all the books in the library and to write a novel each summer. Her dream was to win the Pulitzer Prize. Well, she never did read all those books, she seldom completed her summer writing project, and she certainly never won a Pulitzer Prize. But those unusual aspirations were indicative of her love of books.
She personally knows the pressures, uncertainties, and joys of writing because she’s written the following books: But Can She Type? with InterVarsity; Where Is God When I Need Him Most? with NavPress; Growing in Prayer; Experiencing God’s Presence; Every Child Needs a Praying Mom (with Fern Nichols and a Silver Medallion winner); The Breast Cancer Care Book (with Sally M. Knox, M.D. and a Retailers Choice finalist); and collaborated on several Women of Faith books (all with Zondervan).
But she understands the inside scoop on publishing as well, having helped to launch Here’s Life Publisher, managed her own imprint with Zondervan, and served as managing editor of books for Focus on the Family. Working in these capacities provided her with a strong publishing network, experience in negotiating contracts, and comprehension of each production stage a book must move through, from acquisition to printed matter.
Her desire to help authors create the most marketable, carefully-crafted manuscripts and to see those authors succeed in their careers was probably born in the library she frequented as a child. And while her long-ago goals weren’t met, her love of books has endured.
Janet acquires adult fiction & nonfiction books.
Connect with Janet Kobobel Grant
Wendy Lawton feels equally comfortable at a computer, a writer’s conference or with a cool lump of clay in her hand. She’s been an artist, a writer and a literary agent. In her first career, as a sculptor and designer of porcelain dolls, she amassed more than 300 original editions. Lawton dolls were nominated for more than seventy industry awards, winning the coveted DOTY nine times, the Dolls Award of Excellence three times and receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.
“Running a collectible business provided the perfect foundation for being a literary agent,” she says. “I’ve spent years developing product, analyzing market trends, and being involved in every aspect of the product supply chain.” And she believes that product development is the perfect parallel to book development. “Speaking as an author, I know we cringe to admit it, but creating books is largely about creating product.”
Wendy joined Books & Such in 2005 and was named vice president of the firm in 2011. She represents a number of successful, best-selling authors. She enjoys helping her clients to develop their ideas and chart their careers. She’s adept at working with authors to discover the core of their writing style, leading to a brand recognition for each author in the marketplace of books.
No stranger to the literary market, she has served on the faculty of several major writers conferences and has written eight books in her young adult Daughters of the Faith series. These books were followed by a series of four teen books and a nonfiction adult book. She won the 1999 Writer of the Year Award at the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. She also won the famous Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for the intentional worst first line of a novel in the Children’s Literature category. In 2004 she received an honorary doctorate from Wilmington University, Delaware. American Christian Fiction Writers named her Agent of the Year in 2007.
Wendy acquires adult fiction & nonfiction books.
Connect with Wendy Lawton
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Ginny L. Yttrup, in addition to hosting the Words With Writers podcast, is a bestsellling, award-winning novelist, and a writing coach and developmental editor at Words For Writers.
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Janet Grant & Wendy Lawton, Books & Such Literary Management