“Writers who publish are athletes of the word.“ —Barbara Jones, DeFiore and Company
Every other year, the Writers’ League of Texas brings notable literary agents and book editors to Austin for its Agents & Editors Conference. As we look ahead to the 31st A&E Conference, taking place June 26–28, 2026, we’re happy to share Q&As with some of our visiting agents and editors here.
An Interview with Barbara Jones
Barbara Jones worked as an editor, first in magazines then in books for 30 years, supporting the work of writers such as Jennifer Egan, Elizabeth Gilbert, Ann Hood, Jean Korelitz, Lorrie Moore, ZZ Packer, Ann Patchett, Dan Chaon, Susan Choi, Kelly Corrigan, Chitra Divakaruni, Lauren Groff, Janice Hadlow, and many others. She’s now a literary agent at DeFiore & Company (which recently merged with Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency), representing literary and upmarket fiction as well as an idiosyncratic list of nonfiction. Her clients include Kate Axelrod, Charles Bock, J.J. Duncan, Elizabeth Ferris, Rafael Frumkin, Tali Gumbiner, Tiffany Hanssen, Danielle Lazarin, and The Swans of Harlem.
How would you describe your personal approach to working with an author?
Barbara Jones: Mutual respect. I have ambitions for each writer’s current work and writing career, and I do expect to be listened to—editorially, regarding submission strategy and long term options, and so on. However, I share my thinking as well as all available facts with the author (unless the author doesn’t care to go too far into one field of weeds or another), and in the end, the decisions are the writer’s decisions, obviously, because the work belongs to the writer.
What do you look for in a debut author?
BJ:
- Good writing. For me, strong writing avoids unnecessary repetition of information, is equally generous to each of its characters, and doesn’t call undue attention to itself. All of this is true for nonfiction as well as fiction, by the way.
- A pitch-able book. The writer doesn’t need to know how to pitch it, but I have to be able to articulate what the book is about and why others really should read it.
- A palpable sense in the work that the writer has something they feel passionate about showing to the reader for the reader’s sake.
- Writers who love to read and who are willing to write books that are in conversation with other books as well as with the world.
- Stamina. Writers who publish are athletes of the word. They work hard, accept success as well as defeat with as much grace as possible, then go at it again.
What’s one piece of advice you find yourself giving time and time again?
BJ: Just one? I’m going to cheat and share a few.
- The dramatic tension has to play out across the whole book.
- You’ve got more than one book in here.
- The book is for and, ultimately, about the reader.
- What’s your next book? (Try to be writing your next book before this one is published.)
- While you’re waiting for your edits, start filling out that author questionnaire.
What excites you the most about the publishing industry today?
BJ: In the years just before the pandemic, the flood of previously underrepresented experiences and points of view was thrilling; there seemed almost a renaissance of storytelling. Contemporary writers were reading each other with curiosity and enthusiasm, books were talking to each other, writers were playing with form (and not to show off but for the sake of what they needed to share). The English language was becoming enriched at great speed; old stories seemed new again and new stories were making their timelessness known. More recently, what’s been extremely heartening is the way readers are turning to fiction for companionship—for fun and solace and inspiration and reassurance in times of trouble: the essentialness of storytelling is exerting itself. Which is, in itself, reassuring.
Tell us about a recent book/project that you worked on that excited you and you want everyone to know about?
BJ: Just one? I’m truly excited about everything I work on. At the moment, I’m perhaps most excited about a debut novel I sold recently that hasn’t been announced yet. I felt like my hands were on fire while I was first reading this manuscript. I truly can’t tell you about the book yet, but I can tell you that the author’s name is Tali Gumbiner. She has an MFA from NYU and is a creative director in the advertising business. As part of her day job, she was co-creator of the iconic Fearless Girl statue on Wall Street. Although she is a woman, she is indeed a fearless girl. It’s going to be at least a year before you can read this debut novel, but it will be worth the wait.
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Thanks, Barbara!
Click here for more information on the 2026 Agents & Editors Conference, a weekend-long event in Austin, TX (June 26-28) that focuses on the craft of writing, the business of publishing, and building a literary community.
