Back in early January, I mentioned that agent extraordinaire Jeff Kleinman had banded together with Scott Hoffman and Paige Wheeler to form Folio Literary Management. At the time, the company had only registered the domain name but no website was ready.

Tonight, I was surfing around and noticed that the company’s website is now up and running. It looks like the agents got to keep some of their big-name clients and they’ve also built an informative submission guidelines page. Be sure to check it out and see if Folio is a good fit for your work.

But here’s the thing… and I say this is my best serious-dad-tone, don’t go wasting their time with queries about 1,500 page epics on the magical kingdom of cockroaches under your bathroom sink. Don’t pitch a novel about a demonic yoga instructor who leaves his victims in contorted knots. Especially don’t pitch that novel if it’s not finished. And don’t suggest a novel that is going to prove how The Da Vinci Code “got it all wrong.”

In short, follow the rules, people. Kleinman is one of the good guys. Let’s show our thanks by respecting the company’s submission guidelines.

A couple of outlets reported on two agent moves yesterday. A Publishers Lunch report that was picked up by Mediabistro stated that Bob Shuman has joined the Peter Rubie Literary Agency as an agent. Shuman has previously worked at an editor for several publishers including Kensington, Macmillan, and Morrow.

Mediabistro also reported that Rachel Vater joined Lowenstein-Yost Associates Inc as an literary agent. Vater was previously employed as an assistant agent at the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

GalleyCat reported on Friday about Folio Literary Management, the newest superagency. The new agency is reported to feature three agents: Scott Hoffman (formerly of PMA Lit & Film), Jeff Kleinman (formerly of Graybill & English), and Paige Wheeler (founder of Creative Media Agency). 

Contact information has not yet been announced, nor has anything been said about which of their current clients will follow the agents to the new firm.

But I was glad to see this bit of good news for Jeff Kleinman. You may recall our Slushpile interview with Kleinman. I’ve always found him to be responsive, respectful, approachable, polite, and incredibly caring about literature. In short, he’s one of the good guys.

So congratulations Jeff and best of luck with your new venture.

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.