Welcome to the Talbot Fortune Agency
At the Talbot Fortune Agency our authors receive full-service literary representation and long-term career management advice delivered with passion and savvy. Agents John Talbot and Gail Fortune are former book editors with over two decades apiece in commercial book publishing. Likewise our rights director Eileen Laverty licensed audio, first serial, and translation rights for over a decade at top publishing houses before coming to our agency full-time.
Our collective advice is based on years of real-world experience with major publishers and our contacts are excellent. We have taken first-time novelists onto the bestseller lists and we have coached established authors into some of their most meaningful and successful books. Our clients' books are balanced evenly between fiction and nonfiction, and include a wide range of genres. We have represented several New York Times and USA Today bestsellers, a National Book Award Finalist, a National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee, and a New England Book Award winner.
My goal is to ignite a passion for my clients' work, then secure for them the kinds of deals that will sustain successful, long-term careers.
-- John Talbot
Every day I hope to find great new voices, writing that jumps off the page and stories that linger long after I finish reading.
-- Gail Fortune
Working from separate but nearby offices in New York's Westchester County, John and Gail each run a division of the company that reflects their personal vision. We work with aspiring authors as well as established professionals, and encourage all who might be interested in our services to get in touch with us via the contacts page.
Client News
From PW Hot Deals: The Force Is with Dutton
Dutton executive editor Ben Sevier acquired world rights to the first two novels by Brad Taylor, a retired lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Army Infantry and Special Forces. Taylor will draw on his 21-year army career, including eight years with Delta Force, to launch a series built around Special Forces operative Pike Logan, a member of what Dutton calls “a new breed of counterterrorist organization operating outside the bounds of U.S. law.” The first book, One Rough Man, will be published in February 2011. John Talbot of the Talbot Fortune Agency did the deal; film rights are being handled by Steve Fisher of APA.
Congratulations to our 2010 RITA Finalists:
-- Jodi Thomas for Best Historical Romance for THE LONE TEXAN.
-- Betina Krahn for Best Historical Romance for MAKE ME YOURS.
-- Amanda McCabe for Best Romance Novella for “Charlotte and the Wicked Lord” in THE DIAMONDS OF WELBOURNE MANOR.
Zipper Films has renewed their film option/purchase agreement for Tony Walters' BURDEN (St. Martin's Press). Rich Green of CAA brokered the deal.
Atlantic Productions has signed an agreement to produce a documentary based on Ken Sewell and Jerome Preisler's ALL HANDS DOWN: The True Story of the Soviet Attack on USS Scorpion (Simon & Schuster).
Dutch translation rights to Bart Yates' THE BROTHERS BISHOP (Kensington) have been placed with Uitgeverij 't Verschil.