Agent Andrew Wylie interviewed by David Marchese on NYT

[Peyton Stafford]

Your thoughts?

When Ruthless Cultural Elitism Is Exactly the Job (Published 2023)

“It tends to be true that the best publishers are people who read books,” says literary kingmaker Andrew Wylie.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Eva Ulian]

Your thoughts?

When Ruthless Cultural Elitism Is Exactly the Job (Published 2023)

“It tends to be true that the best publishers are people who read books,” says literary kingmaker Andrew Wylie.

www.nytimes.com

Hello Peyton, I remember Andrew Wylie when he first started out as an agent in London - we're talking about the last century (80s)- and as a person he was totally different, even approachable, we followed each other on Twitter. I even considered submitting, to his totally empty agency, but within months I noticed he looked for books with strong political connotations and my "Nun's Story" was not going to fit in.

He's a most enigmatic person, I guess he always was, but it's more pronounced now. Certainly, his "elitist" outlook was a winning ticket for him but I can't figure out if what the interviewer is trying to say is that elitist books see the light of day because they are subsidized by the sales from "popular/crap" books or not. However, that cannot be the case because Rushdie, for one, (one of his elite clients), is a best selling author of his own accord and needs no subsidize from other funds. Also, if Wylie makes $750,000 a year is proof enough that his elitist method works.