McCormick & Williams Open for Business

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that Collins McCormick Literary Agency was disbanding. The news at the time was that David McCormick was leaving the firm, that the split was amicable, and that Nina Collins would continue under her own name. The agency was home to authors such as Elizabeth Kostova, Matthew Sharpe, Julie Hecht, Rick Marin, Elizabeth Wurtzel, and others.

On Wednesday, there were numerous published reports that put a whole new spin on this story. Manhattan media, news, and gossip site Gawker reported that an email sent to publishing industry insiders might have come as a bit of a surprise to Collins. The email announced the launch of McCormick & Williams literary agency, led by Mr. McCormick and well-known agent Amy Williams. The agency’s staff is fleshed out by managing partner Leslie Falk, PJ Mark serving as senior agent and foreign rights director, and Gillian Linden as the office assistant. What’s so salacious about that? As Gawker writes “McCormick. Williams. Falk. Mark. Linden. Um, that would be everyone who worked at Collins McCormick. Except for Collins. And her assistant.” Oops. Variety reported on the split and stated there was “tension between the two partners.” Well, yeah, evidently.

Meanwhile, Publishers Marketplace continued its great service to aspiring authors everywhere by reporting that the new agency’s phone number is 212-721-3482. Reports are also that the agency will follow the protocol of first initial, last initial at mccormickwilliams.com for email purposes. Publishers Weekly reported that the agency is temporarily located at 104 West 70th Street in New York for those of you using snail mail. Although I’d recommend that you guys at least let them settle in before bombarding them with submissions.