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Byrd Leavell

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Byrd Leavell
Born
Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.[1]
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Virginia
OccupationLiterary agent
Known forrepresenting Tiffany Haddish,[2] Justin Halpern, Cat Marnell and "Weird Al" Yankovic[3][4]

Byrd Leavell is a literary agent at United Talent Agency.[5][6] Previously he was known as a named partner at the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency.[7][8]

Career

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Leavell graduated from the University of Virginia and the Radcliffe Publishing Program.[3][9] In 2012, he partnered with Scott Waxman to form the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency.[8]

As a partner at the Waxman Leavell agency, he has overseen multiple New York Times bestsellers including #1 bestselling books Shit My Dad Says by Justin Halpern.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Leavell also represents Rob Elliott, whose LOL series has sold more than 2.5 million copies.[17] He also represented the anonymous Dutch novel Diary of an Oxygen Thief.[18][19] Leavell also represents Cat Marnell, a former Lucky, XoJane and Vice blogger.[20]

In September 2017 he began his employment at UTA.[5] One of the first clients Leavell represented at UTA was comedian and actor Tiffany Haddish.[2] Haddish's memoir, The Last Black Unicorn, was a debut New York Times bestseller, spending each of its first six weeks in print on the list and, as of January 2018, reaching #5 overall.[2][21][22][23]

Selected clients

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According to Publishers Weekly.[3][9]

References

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  1. ^ Alanna Stack, Byrd Leavell III The New York Times. June 22, 2016
  2. ^ a b c Gallery Books to Publish Tiffany Haddish. Simon & Schuster. January 25, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Profile: Byrd Leavell". Publishers Weekly.
  4. ^ Haskell, Will This 23-year-old ditched her blog and started writing her memoir on Instagram — now 300,000 people are reading it Business Insider. June 22, 2016
  5. ^ a b "People, Etc. - Publishers Lunch". Publishers Lunch. 2017-09-20. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  6. ^ People Round-Up, Early October 2017. Publishing Trends. January 25, 2018.
  7. ^ Newman, Andrew Adam (March 1, 2007). "Authors Find Their Voice, and Audience, in Podcasts". The New York Times.
  8. ^ a b "Waxman, Leavell Form New Agency". Publishers Weekly. May 30, 2012.
  9. ^ a b "UTA Literary Agent Byrd Leavell On Publishing Industry Trends". WritingRoutines.com.
  10. ^ Deahl, Rachel Tucker Max Is Back—With Dating Advice Publishers Weekly. June 24, 2016
  11. ^ Witt, Emily (December 13, 2011). "Sh*t My Agent Sells: The Art of Turning Instafads Into Tome-blrs". The New York Observer.
  12. ^ "Best sellers: Paperback Nonfiction". The New York Times. November 8, 2009.
  13. ^ "Best Sellers: Hardcover Nonfiction". The New York Times. June 11, 2010.
  14. ^ Kleeman, Sophie This 23-Year-Old Is Writing Her Fairy Tale Memoir Entirely on Instagram Mic. June 22, 2016
  15. ^ Dishman, Lydia (November 16, 2009). "Will Tweet for a Book Deal". Fast Company.
  16. ^ Sambuchino, Sam (October 16, 2009). "Agent Advice: Byrd Leavell of Waxman Literary Agency". Writer's Digest.
  17. ^ Lodge, Need a Laugh? Rob Elliott and HarperCollins Have You Covered Publishers Weekly. June 22, 2016
  18. ^ Unknown "Oxygen Thief" author becomes self-published success CBS News. June 22, 2016
  19. ^ Fleming, Jr., Mike ‘Diary Of An Oxygen Thief’ Sells To S&S Imprint Gallery After Gotham Group Buys Screen Rights Deadline. June 22, 2016
  20. ^ Hoby, Hermoine (October 6, 2012). "Cat Marnell interview: shooting star". Guardian.
  21. ^ Greene, David. Tiffany Haddish: 'I Know What I'm Supposed To Do Here On This Earth'. NPR. January 25, 2018.
  22. ^ Gardner, Chris. Groupon Books Superfan Tiffany Haddish for Super Bowl Ad. Hollywood Reporter. January 25, 2018.
  23. ^ Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction. New York Times. January 25, 2018.
  24. ^ EXCLUSIVE: How Comedian Daniel O'Brien Turned One Joke Into A Major Book Deal Forbes. June 22, 2016
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