Amy Berkower is a literary agent with Writers House Literary Agency. After graduating from the University of California at Santa Cruz, Amy moved back to New York to find a job in publishing. An ad in the NewYork Times led to a gal Friday position at Writers House where she has been working ever since. Amy is now a partner, and President of the company. In 1978, Al Zuckerman, the founder of Writers House, had the insight to ask Amy to start a children’s book department. Recognizing the need for kid friendly books that would appeal to the fast growing paperback original market, Berkower initially focused on series.
Her first sale, an interactive children’s book, grew into a series called CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE consisting of over one hundred titles, and was soon followed by a succession of popular franchises: SWEET VALLEY HIGH, THE BABYSITTERS CLUB, JUNIE B JONES and CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS. Determined to apply what she learned about branding series to the marketing of individual authors, Amy developed a list that includes some of the most respected names (Sharon Creech, Laurie Anderson, Andrew Clements, Jack Gantos) in the business.
Her colleagues have built upon that foundation, growing Writers House’s children’s book department into one of the largest and most successful in the world. Writers House clients include a mix of mega hits ( TWILIGHT and ERAGON) and Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, and National Book Award recipients such as Neil Gaiman, Ingrid Law, Grace Lin, Kadir Nelson, Susan Patron and Robin McKinley. Amy also has a growing list of adult authors including Nora Roberts, Ken Follett, Erica Jong, Ridley Pearson and Barbara Delinsky.