Ms. Regina Brooks is the founder and President of Serendipity Literary Agency LLC. Equally at home in the technical world of engineering as in the literary world of writing and editing, Ms. Brooks has over a decade of experience in senior positions at major publishing houses including John Wiley & Sons Inc. and the McGraw-Hill Companies. She is a graduate of the Howard University Publishing Institute in Washington DC. Prior to her publishing career she worked as an aerospace engineer for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, and made history as the first African American woman to receive a Bachelors of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Ohio State University. She is also a graduate of The School of the Arts High School in Rochester, NY.

Brooks is the Co-Executive Director of the Y. B. Literary Foundation, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote the reading of literature as a meaningful, lifelong activity and transformative experience for youth. In 2004, she was a finalist for the Stevie Award for Women Entrepreneurs and was honored as the NY Urban Leagues Rising Star. She is listed in International Who’s Who under the categories of Engineering, Technology, Entrepreneurs, and Professional Management. She has been highlighted in several national and international magazines and periodicals, including Forbes, Media Bistro, Writers and Poets, Essence Magazine, Writers Digest Magazine, The Writer, and Sister2Sister magazine and a host of others. Ms. Brooks is a member of the Association of Author Representatives AAR, has edited over 100 published books, and is the author of Writing Great Books For Young Adults (Sourcebooks) the Essence Magazine 2004 Quick Pick children’s book Never Finished! Never Done!, published by Scholastic Inc. and soon to be published You Really Should Write A Book: How to write, Sell and Market Your Memoir (St. Martin's Press) She has been highlighted in several national and international magazines and periodicals, including Forbes, Media Bistro, Writers and Poets, Publishers Weekly, Essence Magazine, Writers Digest Magazine, The Writer, and Sister2Sister magazine.

 

 

You Should Really Write a Book: How to Write, Sell, and Market Your Memoir
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Regina Brooks and Brenda Lane Richardson

Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (August 21, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312609345
ISBN-13: 978-0312609344

The celebrity memoir may be a mainstay in book publishing (think: Patti Smith, Tina Fey, Greg Allman and Madeleine Albright), but glance at bestseller lists and you’ll also see Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened , Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and Chris Kyle’s American Sniper . These relatively unknowns started out without wealth, power, or fame and still made it to the top. YOU SHOULD REALLY WRITE A BOOK: How to Write, Sell, and Market Your Memoir, explains how and why so many relative unknowns have leveled the playing field and teaches aspiring writers how to strike publishing gold.

YOU SHOULD REALLY WRITE A BOOK examines the building blocks of best sellers and describes the three key measures necessary for aspiring authors to conceptualize, sell and market memoirs. With references to more than 400 books and six memoir categories, it is essential reading for anyone hoping to write a commercially viable personal narrative.
Written by two seasoned publishing professionals; one an award winning literary agent, author, and publisher, the other an acclaimed author and social worker. YOU SHOULD REALLY WRITE A BOOK was created to give relatively unknowns a competitive edge. This handy guide is the first of its kind to combine insider publishing information with at-length discussions on the psychological implications of memoir writing. Readers will learn how to process the complicated emotions that surface during the creation and marketing of their work.

YOU SHOULD REALLY WRITE A BOOK also includes helpful information on:

• Behaviors that can jeopardize an author’s relationships with agents, publishers and readers
• Working with a ghostwriter or co-author
• The history of this fastest growing adult genre (and why that history matters to today’s aspiring memoirists)
• The trend of publishers’ greater reliance on authors generating their own buzz
• How to construct a strong platform, and why it’s important in attracting editors
• The latest social networking, marketing, and promotional trends
• Advice on writing book proposals and query letters

 

Writing Great Books for Young Adults: Everything You Need to Know, from Crafting the Idea to Landing a Publishing Deal
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Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks (September 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1402226616
ISBN-13: 978-1402226618
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches

From a top young adult literary agent, the only guide on how to write for young adults

With an 87 percent increase in the number of titles published in the last two years, the young adult market is one of the healthiest segments in the industry. Despite this, little has been written to help authors hone their craft to truly connect with this audience. Writing Great Books for Young Adults gives writers the advice they need to tap this incredible market.

Topics covered include:

• Listening to the voices of youth
• Meeting your young protagonist
• Developing a writing style
• Constructing plots
• Trying on points of view

Agent Regina Brooks has developed award-winning authors across the YA genre, including a Coretta Scott King winner. She attends more than 20 conferences each year, meeting with authors and teaching.

 

Just For You! Never Finished, Never Done!
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Illustrated by Marjorie Borgella

Reading level: Ages 6 and up
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Teaching Resources (April 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0439568633
ISBN-13: 978-0439568630
Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.4 x 0.1 inches

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up | Series: Just For You
Saturday morning is supposed to be fun! Will the girl in this story ever finish her list of chores?

 

Related Links

Serendipity Literary Agency LLC
http://www.serendipitylit.com/

Regina Brooks on AALBC.com