“To me, literary agents were the gladiators, cheerleaders, and champions of storytellers—and I’ve carried that spirit into every part of my work since.” - Rose Friel Conway
A Lifelong Fascination with Story
Apart from being an avid, lifelong reader, I have always been fascinated by why and how we engage with good stories. And I’m particularly interested by the beloved stories that we adapt, generation by generation, to reflect our current beliefs and norms.
From Classics to Communications
This interest drove me from a high schooler who elected to study Latin and Shakespeare to a college student in English Literature and Communication Studies. It wasn’t until my first internship at Simon & Schuster U.K. that I decided to become a literary agent. To me, they were (and are) the gladiators, cheerleaders, and champions of storytellers and their works in a saturated, scrutinizing market.
Publishing Roots and Global Perspective
I received my Master’s in Publishing from London College of Communication, the oldest printing college in the city, and began working with agencies in New York shortly thereafter.
A Pivot Toward the Author
And if COVID-19 hadn’t turned the world upside down, I would probably be an agent today. However, in 2020, the industry largely decentralized out of necessity and we saw tremendous growth in hybrid and self-publishing successes. Itching to be where the action was, I moved into hybrid publishing, managing approximately 1,500 outbound editorial assignments annually to freelance writers and editors.
The Birth of Foreword Literary Consulting
But big growth has big risk, and when the company faced mass layoffs and controversy in May 2023, the relationships were what remained. The impacted authors leaned on their editorial partners, who were similarly impacted as subcontractors, who leaned on me and our relationship.
Thus, Foreword Literary Consulting was born. Bridging my knowledge of submissions and contract review within traditional publishing, best practices within hybrid publishing, and fair compensation for self-publishing, I began to consult with authors – first-time and established – to make the most of their current books-in-progress and achieve their publishing goals.