{"id":888,"date":"2024-06-13T04:08:14","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T04:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/clintonhill\/?p=888"},"modified":"2024-06-13T04:08:14","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T04:08:14","slug":"regina-brooks-reveals-secrets-behind-successful-book-selling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/clintonhill\/regina-brooks-reveals-secrets-behind-successful-book-selling\/","title":{"rendered":"Regina Brooks Reveals Secrets Behind Successful Book Selling"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: C. Zawadi Morris\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Raise your hand if you have at least one interesting story inside of you<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Everyone\u2019s hand raises*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Keep your hand raised if you think it would make a good book!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*90% of hands stay raised*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Almost everyone believes they have a book-worthy story. And the truth is, most people actually do! However, estimates show that only 1% of submitted manuscripts to book publishers ever get a deal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So then, what makes a good book? And who is deciding?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Regina Brooks, a resident of Bedford Stuyvesant and owner of\u00a0Serendipity Literary Agency<\/a>, says it\u2019s not just about being a great writer or having an interesting story. Today, one of the most important considerations by publishers of a winning title is the author\u2019s platform.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“A platform shows you have an audience already interested in your topic, making you the ideal person to write this book,\u201d Brooks explained. And she would know: Serendipity is the largest Black-owned literary agency in the country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Founded in 2000, Serendipity\u2019s success is owed to Brooks and her knack for seeing potential in the unobvious and often obscure. \u201cI named my company \u2018Serendipity\u2019 because it\u2019s about finding valuable things you weren’t looking for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In fact, Brook\u2019s own career journey to finding her true calling is the literal definition of good fortune in accidental discovery!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Initially, Brooks\u2013 who describes herself as \u201cright brain\/left brain\u201d\u2013 aspired to be a Broadway star. In Rochester, NY, where she grew up during the 70s and 80s, she attended The School of the Arts High School, majoring in theater, dance and voice. While still in high school, she made frequent trips to New York City to audition for commercials.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But, Brooks said, \u201cMy mom was like, \u2018Ummm, why don’t you let the arts be your plan B?\u2019 And since I always loved science too, I decided to major in aerospace engineering in college.\u201d Brooks went on to become the first Black woman to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree in aerospace engineering from Ohio State University.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After graduating from college, Brooks worked at National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s\u00a0Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, with plans of becoming an astronaut. A colleague and mentor suggested she specialize further in her field, and so she applied for, and was accepted into, an advanced degree program in aerospace medicine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But the summer before starting school, on a whim, she enrolled in Howard University\u2019s Book Publishing Program, hoping for a little creative arts break. Little did she know, but that whimsical decision would change her entire career trajectory.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unexpectedly, she fell in love with publishing. The idea of spending most of her time reading and learning from a variety of disparate topics while having a hand in shaping the way these stories are told and cultivating the voices that tell them was \u2026 right up her alley!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as I loved aerospace, I wanted to use my whole self. And publishing allowed that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Following a year-long stint working as a sales rep at the publishing company John Wiley &\u00a0Sons in Washington, D.C., Brooks was transferred to their\u00a0New York office where she worked as an acquisitions editor. It was just before the dot-com boom when the race amongst the top computer languages was in motion. The publishing company only had a few computer science books \u201con Pascal and Fortran,\u201d languages, said Brooks. So she added Java and other scripts, building out their catalog of computer science titles, giving the publishing house the competitive edge it needed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Soon, she was also sourcing books for aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. \u201cI would go around the country and talk to all these engineering professors and encourage them to write books,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now in her late 20s and already a juggernaut in the publishing industry, Brooks then partnered with a Harvard professor to create a course at the university for doctors preparing to write books. With her science background, she helped them think about the best ways to frame their content while teaching them the business of publishing. The course was a hit, attracting some of the country\u2019s top doctors who flew into Boston every year for the course.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, just up the street from Brooks\u2019 apartment in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, the Black arts scene was exploding. She attended poetry readings and other cultural events at cafes and watering holes like\u00a0Brooklyn Moon<\/a>\u00a0and Frank\u2019s Lounge on Fulton Street\u2013 places that nursed the early careers of artists, including Mums, Saul Williams and Jessica Care Moore and attracted celebrities like Common, Mos Def and Erykah Badu.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brooks launched Serendipity Literary Agency and began to scout talent from both her science world and Brooklyn\u2019s burgeoning arts scene. Her gift was (and still is) her ability to see a match between the core talents of would-be authors and the evolving interests and needs of book buyers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of African Americans will come to me and immediately want to do a memoir,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cAnd that’s okay. But I might say something back like, \u2018Okay, but aren\u2019t you also into dogs? We don’t have a book yet for African Americans who are into dogs, and that market is very fertile.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She thinks creatively while staying rooted in data. When she hears \u201cI have something interesting or valuable to share,\u201d from hypothesis to proof, she evaluates whether the temperature and acceleration of the subject with an audience will either have gravity, provide oxygen or evaporate like gas.<\/p>\n

\n
\"img_2133\"
Regina Brooks, founder of Serendipity Literary Agency. Photo: C. Zawadi Morris\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

By staying rooted in facts, Brooks acknowledges that books aren\u2019t the first go-to for information. \u201cIf you have an ailment, your first instinct now is to go on Google or Web MD to give you answers,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t get all of your answers there, you may ask a friend. Going to a book is probably like your third or fourth step in that process.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will [first try to] find a way to get information outside of paying the $25-$30 for the book.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, then, are people buying books anymore?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Regina Brooks says, \u201cYes!\u201d But the key to uncovering a best-seller in today\u2019s digital age is in the art of the sell and the science of the market configuration. And Brooks literally lives between both worlds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why she\u2019s been able to grow Serendipity into the largest African-American-owned literary agency in the country, with a roster of award-winning authors in various genres of adult fiction and non-fiction and children\u2019s literature, including Derrick Barnes, Will Packer, Jenny Wang, Dick Gregory, Mia Araujo, Jessica Care Moore and most recently, Bed-Stuy\u2019s very own\u00a0Dr. Robert Gore<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brooks\u2019 accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. She is the newly appointed president of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA); and she sits on the boards of the Literary Agents of Change (LAOC), the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP), Authors Against Book Bans (AABB)\u00a0and the National Book Foundation’s\u00a0Book Council.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI love this job, because I\u2019m super curious and I love learning,\u201d said Brooks. \u201cAnd that’s the beautiful thing about agenting is you’re always working with best-in-class or experts in any given area, because those are the people who want to write books.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a sense, this scientist and literary agent has created a little Broadway of her own\u2013 a platform to allow talent to shine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: C. Zawadi Morris\u00a0 Raise your hand if you have at least one interesting story inside of you.   *Everyone\u2019s hand raises*   Keep your hand raised if you think it would make a good book!   *90% of hands stay raised*   Almost everyone believes they have a book-worthy story. And the truth is, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5757,"featured_media":889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[517,55,516],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-community-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nRegina Brooks Reveals Secrets Behind Successful Book Selling - Clinton Hill News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/clintonhill\/regina-brooks-reveals-secrets-behind-successful-book-selling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Regina Brooks Reveals Secrets Behind Successful Book Selling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: C. 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