Powerhouse Agencies

Today's NYT reports on some shuffling taking place in the Big Apple. Not that it has anything to do with literary agents, but the agencies involved are massive and I'm wondering if something might be a'changing.

IMG is a powerhouse agency that reps artists of all sorts. According to the NYT, they are a major dealer in classical musicians, possessed of a coterie of top notch talent. As for their literary agency, I've never been sure that it's still active. A look at the IMG website lists a few deals, but they are old. As for the list of agents, it's down to two, and for the longest time the agents included Lisa Queen, who went off on her own months ago. All that lack of activity leads me to believe that IMG is not a big mover and shaker in literary agenting.

ICM, on the other hand, houses some of the best literary agents around, and their stable of musical talent isn't half bad, either. The latest rumor has ICM selling their classical music division to IMG, although it's all very quiet, as befits an orchestral setting.

IMG was bought up in 2003 by Barrett Wissman, who just happens to be a Texas financier when he's not tinkling the ivories. His wife is a cellist, not an author, so the musical link is quite strong. The news article mentions that Mr. Wissman has established music festivals, part of his creative contribution to the agency he purchased. Nothing in there about BEA or Frankfort Book Fair or anything related to representing authors.

So ICM will unload their classical music division, while IMG seems to be phasing out their literary agenting. It's hard to tell on that last bit, though. Send a query to IMG, snail mail only, with SASE enclosed, and they won't answer you at all if they aren't interested. With that sort of non-response, you can't tell if they're out of business or your novel is not right for their list.

Even though I'm always looking for an agent to query, I'll pass on IMG. If they aren't even going to bother stuffing my SASE with a form rejection, I'll save the postage and use it elsewhere. Like to query someone at ICM.

Technorati tag: ICM Literary, IMG Literary