During February, the anonymous YA Whispers Twitter account and the website QueryTracker reported complaints coming from clients of agent Brooks Sherman. Some of that trouble seemed ordinary, the kind of grievances frequently lodged against agents: lack of communication and ghosting. But more serious allegations surfaced, including sexual misconduct. By the time Publishers Weekly reported on the matter, Sherman’s star client, Angie Thomas, along with other high-profile authors, had dropped him as an agent. (Thomas did say she was shocked at the allegations against Sherman, but emphasized that her experience was likely to differ from that of other clients on his list.) That same week, it came to light that Sherman was no longer working under the auspices of the Janklow & Nesbit agency, although Sherman and the agency both say their breakup was unrelated to recent events.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
