Shooting The Shit With Special Guest Regina Brooks

It’s Carly’s turn to give CeCe FOMO! Carly is back in the hot seat with special guest Regina Brooks, founder and CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency and President of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA), for a firsthand look at the evolving landscape of literary agenting. Regina provides listeners with a lesson in Canon of Ethics 101 and its impact on authors, the financial realities of being a literary agent, the challenges facing today’s publishing industry and the growing impact of AI. She also answers (in her opinion) why staying informed might be the biggest challenge facing the publishing industry today.

About Regina Brooks:

Ms. Regina Brooks is the founder and CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency in NY, where she has represented and established a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and children's literature.  Her clients have received Newbery, Caldecott, Edgar, Kirkus, NAACP Image and National Book Awards and honors. 

Currently the president of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA), Brooks is also the co-producer of the People of Publishing Conference, former co-producer of the U.S. Book Show, and a founding member of Literary Agents of Change (LAOC) and the Black Book Accelerator. She is a board member of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) and a member of National Book Foundation’s Book Council

Brooks is the author of Writing Great Books for Young Adults: Everything You Need to Know, from Crafting the Idea to Getting Published (Sourcebooks), You Should Really Write a Book: How to Write, Sell, and Market Your Memoir (St. Martin's Press), and Essence Magazine's quick pick children's book, Never Finished, Never Done (Scholastic).

She is also a co-publisher with Open Lens, an imprint of Johnny Temple's (founder of the Brooklyn Book Festival) Akashic Books. She also partnered with poet Jessica Care Moore and was instrumental in relaunching Moore Black Press as an Amistad/HarperCollins poetry imprint.

Brooks has been highlighted in the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, bkreader and the Los Angeles Times. Her awards and honors include Stevie Awards in Business and for Women Entrepreneurs. The National Association of Professional Women named Brooks Woman of the Year, and Writer's Digest Magazine named Serendipity Literary Agency one of the top 25 literary agencies.

Prior to her publishing career, Brooks worked as an aerospace engineer and made history as the first African American woman to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from The Ohio State University, and today she's a pilot and cofounder of Brooklyn Aviation. 

Note: CeCe Lyra is a literary agent at Wendy Sherman Associates. If you’d like to query CeCe, please refer to the submission guidelines at www.wsherman.com. Carly Watters is a literary agent at P.S. Literary Agency, but her work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly on this podcast are solely that of her as a podcast co-host ​and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.

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