Agent Andrew Wylie interviewed by David Marchese on NYT

[Peyton Stafford]

Your thoughts?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/12/magazine/andrew-wylie-interview.html

 

[Eva Ulian]

Your thoughts?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/12/magazine/andrew-wylie-interview.html

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.