ABOUT LILA KARPF AND THIS AGENCY

In total, I have a record of more than forty-five years in publishing --not counting those lean college years working at a bookstore. My twenty-five years in hardcover trade publishing were spent at Doubleday, Knopf, Farrar Straus, E.P.Dutton, Reader's Digest Press (a small trade book division of that giant company) and Stein & Day. In those years I was most deeply involved in contracts, copyright, editorial and was widely known in New York for subsidiary rights and marketing (which for me involved direction of promotion and ad campaigns for authors, and seeing that books were out there where they had to be to make p/r and ads pay off). I was Vice President and member of the board of directors in three of those six houses, and was Director of Subsidiary Rights and Marketing in four. I published some authors of my own, as my other responsibilities allowed. As sub rights and marketing director, I represented the whole list for each publisher, so I worked literally with hundreds of authors, and with a lot of editors.

I was good at what I did then, and am good at it still. I say that, because in my twenty-three years as literary agent, I have found that the job done right always involves some of those skills, and sometimes involves all of those skills. Those earlier decades of publishing experience work well for my clients, for me, and often for publishers. I am also called on by non-clients for consultation on contracts, project development, p/r campaigns, editing issues & etc.

By choice and good fortune,I have remained selective and able to devote time to the clients and the books I represent. My clints include Robert Andrews; Dr. Thomas H. Ainsworth; Dr. Theodore Berry; William Biersach; Joyce Blackburn: Jack Brod; David Franke; Dr. Henry Heimlich; Jane Heimlich; Ray Johnson; Bruce Lee; Margaret Lupo; Malachi Martin; Bernard Meltzer; Robert B. Miller & Stephen E. Heiman; Miller Heiman, Inc.; Eugenia Price; Bonnie Prudden; John Quinn; Harrison Rainie; Carol Rees; Lou Sahadi; Sam Salant; Rosemary Stancil & Lorela Wilkins; Tad Tuleja.

By serious choice,I now represent more non-fiction and almost no fiction. E-mail queries are always welcome, however. But as I do not open e-mail attachments, full proposals or manuscript should be sent in hard copy by mail.

NOTE: I underline the fact that I don't always get to my emails promptly (to say the least!). Also, as of October 27, 2005,I am changing my server from pngusa.net to verizon.net.