Jita Fumich

http://foliolit.com/jita-fumich/

Jita Fumich first began working with Folio in 2006. She has also worked with the editorial department at Berkley Books at Penguin and with Macmillan Publishers at their self-help podcasting website, and is currently the secretary for the AAR’s Digital Rights Committee. She holds a B.A. from New York University and has taken classes at NYU’s Center for Publishing.

Jita can’t think of any better industry to be in than publishing. Her favorite trips as a child were to the bookstore or the library, and she always tried to take home more books than she could carry. She is excited about being part of the magical process of making an author’s idea end up on bookshelves.

As an agent, Jita seeks to work with her authors on all aspects of their career—understanding that being an author today involves more than just writing a great book, and being an agent involves more than just selling one. She considers her job to be in a partnership with the author, working to perfect projects before sending them to editors, advocating for the author throughout the process, and supporting and encouraging the author in promotion before and after publication.

In addition to traditional agenting, Jita is the Digital Liaison at Folio. In this capacity, she utilizes the skills she learned working with digital products at Macmillan to assist all Folio authors seeking to self-publish both backlist and original titles in electronic format. Since navigating the murky and frequently-changing waters of self-publishing can be a hassle for authors who really want to spend their time writing or promoting their careers, Jita handles the multitude of details that go into self-publishing so that authors don’t have to. Her goal is to help the author through the process, from scanning books which have no electronic copy, to assisting the author in writing cover copy, providing pricing aid, working with the author to finalize a commercially-successful cover, and ensuring that the book appears for sale with all major digital retailers. However, she also makes sure that the author maintains control at each stage and firmly ensures that Folio’s goals remain where they have always been—with supporting the career of authors in both the traditional print and digital spheres. Jita and Folio will also work with other agencies in a sub-agenting capacity to achieve the same for their authors’ backlist and original titles.