Giving Thanks

It's one of my favorite holidays—Thanksgiving here in the U.S.—so don't expect anyone to respond to your emails this afternoon, tomorrow, or Friday. We'll be cooking, eating, and shopping, all in that order.

I think it's fair to start by saying what a crazy year it's been. So much turmoil, so much drama, so many people turning on each other, and yet, so much excitement, so many opportunities, and such a great time to be in publishing if you're allowed to stop and catch your breath.

When I sit down to my lentil roulade, gluten-free stuffing, and bottle of red wine (I'll share, I promise), I am so grateful to see how much I have to be thankful for. There's no doubt that at the top of that list are the family and friends who will be joining my feast this year, as well as those who have seats at other tables. I am thankful for the BookEnds team and the successes each of them are having in building their own client bases and in the sales they've made. I'm thankful for the huge number of successes BookEnds and our clients have had this year. At last count I believe we had six books hit the New York Times bestseller list and a large handful of others hit various other lists. We've made a record number of deals this year for both debut authors as well as brand-name authors and we've added close to twenty new clients to our roster.

I fear that too often I get caught in the daily minutia of life and sucked in by the bad news, forgetting to take time to rejoice in the good. Well, this weekend, for the entire weekend, I'm going to do nothing but rejoice in all that has been good this year, all I have to look forward to, and all that I have to be thankful for.

And at my table on Thursday I'm going to raise my glass in a special toast to all of those who have joined me over the years to build an agency I'm truly proud of; I'm going to toast my fellow agents at BookEnds who have been my right hand, my left, and sometimes my brain; I'm going to toast the editors we've worked with who have the same passion we do for books, especially our books; and most especially I'm going to toast the clients old and new who have climbed on to this ride with us, challenged us, and brought us books we love and are proud of.

Skol!

Happy Thanksgiving.


Jessica