Fueled by the thrill of reading a new story for the first time, Peter works creatively with his clients and the PLM team on marketing, branding initiatives and promotions to get great books into the hands of readers. Before joining PLM, he was a story editor at a book-scouting agency working with film clients, and he continues to look for new ways to partner with Hollywood on adaptations and multimedia properties. His clients include New York Times bestsellers Soman Chainani, Lindsay Cummings and Brenda Drake, and Lambda nominee Will Walton. You can learn more about Park Literary at www.parkliterary.com, and you can find Peter online on Twitter (@petejknapp) and Tumblr ( www.petejknapp.com).

How and why did you get into agenting?

My mom is an English professor and my dad is a business owner, and so getting into the business of books was the most natural fit in the world for me. Right out of college, I worked at a scouting agency that consulted on book-to-film adaptations for Hollywood studios. It was an excellent first job because it gave me a bird's-eye-view of the industry; in order to do my job, I had to constantly talk to agents, editors, foreign publishers, and Hollywood development executives. I discovered two important things at that job that led me to agenting: first, agents have an independent, entrepreneurial approach to the work they do that was hugely appealing to me; second, not every book I love makes an obvious studio film, and I desperately wanted a career where I could champion the titles I believed in, rather than being limited to seeking out only titles our film clients would want to make.

When I heard that Theresa Park, the head of Park Literary & Media, was looking for an assistant in 2011, I didn't hesitate: I sent in my resume, interviewed, and very quickly got a job on her desk. Theresa is a remarkable agent and an extremely generous mentor, and under her guidance I discovered my instinct was right: I loved working at an agency, and six years later, I love being an agent.