By Rebecca Lawrence

Welcome to the Booker Albert Biweekly! Join us this week for a pek at some of our backstories here at Booker Albert!

Booker Albert Backstories!

I wanted to write a bit about backstories today—our backstories! We all have different paths that led us agents to Booker Albert, and I wanted us to talk a little bit about what got us into agenting—which seems to me like a fairly niche career. Becoming an agent isn’t exactly common. When writing this week’s newsletter, just for my own curiosity, I went to look at QueryTracker to see how many agents were listed there.

And WOW, now if you will try and imagine the ratio of agents to aspiring authors…
Anyway, becoming a literary agent is a unique path for each person.

☕ Rebecca ☕

It’s me! The short of the matter is I got my first glimpse into this fantastic, competitive industry after querying my first book at 18. As a small child, I loved to tell stories, but I never really discovered writing until my Grandma prompted us grandkids to write a short story with her. I was hooked! After that my grandma and I went to writing conferences together for several years, until finally at 18 I had something to pitch! It was a great experience, but even at that young age I began to realize the mountain I would need to climb to become a successful author. I went on to write four more books (and many other half-completed projects). It wasn’t until college that I decided that instead of pitching agents, I wanted to become one. Over the years, I have discovered that while I enjoy writing, editing and reading are just as enjoyable. But enough about me!

🐕 Jordy 🐕

I loved learning to read in first grade, so I’ve always loved books! My dad and I would read the comics and other articles from the newspaper, and my aunt would read with my cousin and I when I would stay over. I had so much fun participating in Book It! and always exceeded my goal. Since I’ve always loved to read, I’ve always been interested in how books make it to the shelf, which led me to interning with a literary agency. I love working with my authors, and it’s always exciting to walk into a bookstore and see their books on shelves.
 

📔 Andie 📔

For as long as I can remember, I have been obsessed with books. I started reading from a very young age and was always reading way above my grade level. I was the cliche girl who quite literally always had her nose in a book. Sometime in middle school, that turned into my own scribblings of short stories, songs, and poems. It was just for fun, just for me, but I loved it. A few years later that turned into wanting to write my own book and the process began.

I started as an intern at Booker Albert in 2022 and funny enough, it was completely on a whim. I was researching internships for my Master’s program and stumbled upon a posting for a literary agency internship. I did more research and knew it was something I wanted to apply for, but I never thought it would lead me to where I am today. It started as a fun way to earn class credit, and in the end I discovered an entirely new career for myself and a passion for this whole other world I had only known as a “hobby.” I’ve always invested in books I read, and connected with them on a level I didn’t find was shared with my peers. No matter what genre it was, if I was immersed, it became my entire life until I finished the story. Then I would be in a rut for days, weeks even, until I found a new book or series to obsess over.

Now, a little over a year into full-time agenting, I can confirm I have found what I want to do for the rest of my life. My experience at my agency and with my authors has driven me to be more confident in myself and my passion for books; it’s so much more than a hobby. It’s me. It’s my dream, and I am so grateful I get to live it each and every day. It’s led me to write more of my own stories and start my own business for helping authors achieve their publishing goals, whether that’s getting representation or a publishing deal. I’m here for the long run and I look forward to growing, learning, and absorbing this industry as much as I can along the way.

A Fond Farewell and Happy Hello!

💗 Goodbye Helen Lane! 💗

It is somewhat of a changing season here at Booker Albert. This month we are saying goodbye to one of our agents, Helen Lane. While we are sad to see her go, we wish her the best in her career and hope to see her around! At the same time, we are welcoming a new agent!

New Agent Alert!

🖋️ AJ Van Belle (they/them) 🖋️

I've always been surrounded by books and writing. My parents both had huge collections of books that only grew throughout my childhood, and one of my favorite activities was to read the spines of the books in our home library. Years before I was old enough to read some of those books, the array of titles captivated me. I think my desire to tell stories was inborn, and I almost like to think of it as a smart choice on my baby self’s part to be born to parents who were so involved in literature and storytelling themselves. I've been a writer my whole life and have been writing novels for almost 33 years now, but I didn't think of becoming a literary agent as an option that would ever be accessible to me until a little less than 2 years ago.

By the time I started interning at the Booker Albert Agency in 2023, I had been involved in mentorship programs for a couple of years and discovered I love helping a talented fellow writer take their manuscript from good to great—or maybe it's more accurate to say from great to even greater. I'd seen that my mentees were finding representation with awesome agents, and I was also seeing that the relationships we built were mutually rewarding, powerful amplifiers for the mentees’ writing processes. This gave me an inkling that my career path was likely to continue to include discovering new voices and helping to advance authors’ careers.

Having started writing books at a time before most people had access to the internet, and in fact before I had anything other than a dedicated word processor (that had recently replaced my electric typewriter), I know how it feels to walk that road largely alone. I know now what a huge difference it makes to have someone in your corner, how much strength there is in working with someone who believes in you, and by mentoring I learned I could be that person who’s in someone’s corner. Which is why, two summers ago, I sought out the opportunity for a literary agency internship and connected with Jordy. After spending a fantastic 18 months interning at the Booker Albert Agency, I’m now very excited to be moving into agenting myself. I've just signed my first client, an author of subtly beautiful, intricate high fantasy. I’ll be opening to queries for the first time soon, and I’m thrilled and honored to look forward to connecting with new writers and new voices.

Welcome AJ Van Belle! We are excited to add you to the team!

The Spellshop a Spectacular Debut

One of the books that I, Rebecca Lawrence, am currently reading is The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. The opening pages were really captivating, but the real reason I pulled it off the shelf is because of the beautiful cover!

Blurb

Kiela, a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, has spent years hidden away with magical books. But when a revolution destroys the library, she and her sentient spider plant assistant, Caz, flee to Kiela’s childhood home on a remote island. The island is in disrepair, suffering from destructive storms and neglected magic. To make things right, Kiela opens a secret spellshop, though sharing magic with commoners is punishable by death. As she builds a new life in the quirky town, Kiela also starts making jam as a cover for her spellshop, blending magic with homemade treats to win over the island’s residents and rebuild the community she once abandoned.

Finding time to read outside of work is difficult, but I think this book will be worth the effort! In the future, I would love this section to also feature current reads from other agents and authors.

A laugh-out-loud spicy adventure romcom. Perfect for fans of The Lost City, Lyla Sage and Christina Lauren.

A surprise gift is exactly what Adriana Jones needs to improve her vacation, and a bracelet with gems will do the trick. Except once it’s on, she’s faced with two problems:

—The bracelet is actually meant for Andrew Jones—the renowned and utterly gorgeous archaeologist.

—It will not come off, no matter how hard she tries…

Andrew Jones needs this bracelet if he wants to find an ancient lost treasure deep in the jungles of Colombia. And there’s no way he’s letting Adriana’s mistake cost him his career. There’s only one solution: Adriana must accompany him on his quest. Trekking through jungles and crawling through crypts wasn’t on Adriana’s vacation agenda, but an adventure with the very sexy Dr Jones might just be the treasure she’s been seeking…

What to expect:

• Forced Proximity

• Opposites Attract

• Fish out of Water

• Destination romcom

• Slow burn

• Spicy

It sounds super fun! Paperbacks will be available for purchase on May 8th, 2025, and the eBook will be available on May 2nd, 2025.

Instagram: @oliviajacksonbooks  @onemorechapterhc

Stay tuned every other Thursday at 10 AM.

If you have a topic that you think I should write about or you want to write an article for us, email me at [email protected] with your bio and topic. We’re always looking for fresh perspectives.

Of course, authors or industry professionals if you want to write about something email me!

Authors, do you want to submit a book to us?

Check us out at the Booker Albert website.

Happy reading,
Rebecca Lawrence