TODAY: literary agent Alia Hanna Habib
In 2023, Alia Hanna Habib was included in Vulture’s “Inside Power” issue. Doubleday editor Yaniv Soha told the outlet, “When a submission comes in from her, you stop what you’re doing.” Random House editor Hilary Redmon said, “She’s one of the top-five people I would read anything from immediately.”
As you know if you read my post yesterday, I think a lot about leverage in publishing: who has it and why, and how to get more of it.
Alia represents primarily nonfiction authors (Merve Emre, Clint Smith, Hanif Abdurraqib) and some literary fiction (Dan Kois and Lauren Oyler).
At 1pm EST today, I’ll be asking Alia:
What advice would she give to a writer who wants to turn a Substack newsletter (or a portfolio of TikTok content) into a book?
What makes a good idea for a “project book”? (think A.J. Jacobs or Gretchen Rubin)
What are the various ways history gets threaded into nonfiction narratives, and how does she think about combining memoir with research, reporting, literary analysis, culture writing?
How is selling a literary novel different from selling a nonfiction project? What makes this category challenging, and what does she love about representing fiction?
What makes a submission competitive? What are the ingredients that go into a submission that ends up selling at auction?
Is it possible for a writer to earn a living writing non-fiction books in 2025? How? Who’s living like 1970s-era Joan Didion today?
I will interview Alia for about 30 minutes and then open it up to your questions! This is a rare opportunity to speak directly to a senior literary agent without flying to a conference on an island and booking a hotel room and waiting in line at a microphone in a carpeted ballroom.
If you can’t attend live, there will be a recording available to watch for 7 days.
As a reminder, this is a private, off-the-record conversation, exclusively available to my diamond medallion members. You may not post quotes from the conversation anywhere on the internet, or create content out of my events. Keeping the Chat Room series private allows both me and my guests to speak candidly.