The Dede Cummings Agency & Associates

We love Shannon, her book, the work she is doing and we are contributing to the film, Afgan Cycles, a documentary film about the Afghan Women’s National Cycling Team! Here is a quote that sums up the book which Dede sold to Daniela Rapp at St. Martin’s Press.

“Shannon makes Afghanistan come alive on a personal level that no news story can ever replicate. I biked with her up mountains, hung out with her colleagues, visited schools, and constantly connected with real people, both local and foreign. The most passionate pages take place in women’s prisons, where the women are jailed for ‘adultery’…because they were raped. The most poignant, heart-pumping pages are when Shannon shares her own deepest darkest secret. This book is a winner….and so is Shannon.” —Rita Golden Gelman, author of Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World

Dr. Kimberly Allison diagnoses breast cancer for a living. But as a 33-year-old healthy new mother, she never expected to be looking at her own malignant cells under the microscope. Red Sunshine is a memoir about her sudden journey from physician to patient and her attempt to make the most of this terrifying and unexpected ordeal. An uplifting story of survival, Dr Allison shares all the intimate details of her emotional journey with both humor and honesty.

In this riveting, honest, and often humorous memoir, Preemie chronicles the journey of one tiny baby’s tenacious struggle to hold on to life and the mother who ultimately grew with her. I love this book, and Kasey is my agency’s second author! To learn more about Kasey and to read her blog, visit www.kaseymathews.com.

David’s Inferno combines intensely personal reminiscences of a two-year nervous breakdown with contemporary insights on how major depression manifests, is diagnosed, and treated—by David Blistein with a Foreword by Ken Burns.

A Woman of Science: An Extraordinary Journey of Love, Discovery, and the Sex Life of Mushrooms

Dr. Cardy Raper bas a memoir that we love here at the agency. She wrote it at age 88!!! Cardy just started a new blog. She is amazing! Cardy initially self published her book with us, and then Dede sold it to Andrew Flach at Hatherleigh Press.

A parenting book by Krissy Pozatek: Sold to Josh Bartok of Wisdom Publications, out in 2014. Because we cannot control the whole world, cushion our child’s every step, and remove every obstacle from his or her path, we need to give our children the internal resources to surmount their own barriers. Krissy’s new book is a must for parents, young and old!

Magnificent Obesity: One Woman’s Journey towards Hope and Healing

Sold to Hatherleigh Press, distributed in partnership,with Random House. Martha Moravec’s book, Magnificent Obesity, was featured in Biographile, a newsletter from Random House that showcases their latest memoirs and biographies. We are so proud of this courageous woman!

DCDesign continues to make beautiful books (our recent Jane Mead design is an award winner) and publicize fabulous authors, like Tim Weed’s new book, Will Poole’s Island, which was featured at the Nantucket Book Festival, and Tim will also be reading at the Burlington Book Festival and the Brattleboro Literary Festival.

MORE PUBLISHING NEWS!

A head’s up that one of our agency author’s, Bob Litwin, has a new book “LiveThe Best Story of Your Life: A World Champion’s Guide to Lasting Change” that will be published today by Hatherleigh Press and distributed in partnership with Random House. Bob Litwin is an 18-time US National Champion, formerly ranked #1 in the world in senior tennis and is in the Eastern Hall of Fame. Bob has been coaching highly influential people both on the court and in the office for years. If you are looking to change absolutely anything in your life, this book can help you do it instantaneously.  This tool is faster and more effective than therapy and it’s simple, we’ve been using it our whole lives without even realizing it.

We also have a hot-new book out there in the museum/erotic product design world called OBJECTS OF DESIRE: A Showcase of Modern Erotic Products and the Creative Minds Behind Them by creators Rita Catinella Orrell and Jason Scuderi. Dede was the literary agent for this book that had interest from MOMA, Princeton Architectural Press and many others, eventually sold to Schiffer Publishing with a splashy launch party at Babeland in Soho/NYC.

Author Rita Catinella Orrell is an award-winning design journalist based in New Jersey. She curates the product design blogs designythings.com and architects-toybox.com. Designer Jason Scuderi is an award-winning designer, art director, and illustrator based in Brooklyn, New York. His work can be seen at jasonscuderi.com.

We are proud of the sale for style maven and one of the up and coming books in the field—Desha’s Peacock’s first book, Sweet Spot Style: The Style You Crave on a Budget You Can Afford. We sold Desha’s book to Skyhorse last year, and it is already in its second printing! Congrats to Desha, and grab a book and transform your home, apartment, all on a budget!

And we are thrilled to have made a two-book deal with Skyhorse editor, Abigail Gehring, for Katina Makris, author of Out of the Woods: Healing Lyme Disease Body, Mind & Spirit! Out in 2015!

DCdesign Agency also packages books for authors wishing to self-publish. One such author’s self-published book, Dr. A’s Habits of Health, has sold over 500,000 copies!

One of our newest published authors is Alyssa Holmes, a Vermont native and herbalist whose book (with Dede) is called The Medicinal Gardening Handbook. It was published by Skyhorse in May, 2014. Alyssa was approached by Dede to write this book, and her knowledge and work in the field is phenomenal! Plus, she and Dede are next door neighbors!

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Many of the upcoming writers and authors here are a tight knit group and a number of us write in the fabulous writing salon (and retreats) of book shaman, and author of The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me, Suzanne Kingsbury!

Thank you for reading our page, and please come back and check for updates. Submissions can be emailed to us at dcdesignteamvt@gmail.com. It usually takes 6-10 weeks to get through the manuscript. We only take on work we absolutely feel passionate about; otherwise we can’t represent a writer the best way possible. We also like to drink double tall lattes, IPA’s, margaritas, hike, walk, run, cycle, spin, and laugh a lot!

NEW ASSOCIATE AGENT SPOTLIGHT!
Desmond Peeples is a writer and performance artist born and based in Vermont. He is the founding editor of the arts magazine Mount Island, an editorial assistant at Green Writers Press, and a graduate of Goddard College. His tastes are eclectic, but he loves a well-developed quirk. He is interested in representing literary fiction, speculative fiction, unusual sci-fi/fantasy and magical realism/slipstream, historical fiction, provocative YA and children’s lit, writing with strong queer themes, nonfiction with social justice themes, graphic novels, and uniquely-voiced poetry collections. He is very unlikely to represent romance novels, self-help books, sports-themed writing, or anything that seems to lack a sense of critical consciousness.

Please submit a query and a sample chapter pasted right into the email. We prefer electronic submissions and thank you for supporting our work and the amazing authors we represent! 

The Dede Cummings Agency & Associates

Dede Cummings, literary agent, author, publishing + designer
Home Office located in West Brattleboro, Vermont 05301 | 802-380-1121
dcdesignteamvt@gmail.com