Press Release: JillEllyn Riley and Peter Steinberg Partner to Form Arc & Type
December 5, 2013 - JillEllyn Riley, former Editorial Director of Miramax Books and VP Editorial Director of Fourth Story Media, and Peter Steinberg, President of literary agency The Steinberg Agency, Inc., announced today the formation of Arc & Type, a division of The Steinberg Agency, Inc. devoted to the creation of in-house content for a wide range of fiction and non-fiction book projects.
Arc & Type will work with publishers and tap other creative avenues to conceptualize successful commercially- and critically-driven books, attach appropriate writers, and bring the projects to the market. UK-based United Agents will handle British Commonwealth and translation rights for the new company.
JillEllyn Riley has a wealth of hands-on experience in both adult and young adult publishing. Most recently, she has been writing and editing books, as well as cultivating stories for other authors. She was V.P. Editorial Director at Fourth Story Media, creating and developing the innovative transmedia phenomenon The Amanda Project, which included a mystery book series and a Webby Award-winning creative writing website for girls. As Editorial Director of Miramax Books, she worked with Arianna Huffington, Queen Noor, Madeleine Albright, Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer, Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan, both Kristin Gore and Karenna Gore Schiff, Adam Gopnik, and Jonathan Stroud, among numerous other authors and celebrities. Prior to working at Miramax, she spent seven years at the independent publisher Four Walls Eight Windows, as Senior Editor. JillEllyn Riley has also been a script editor and curator. Riley says, "The best books tell great stories. Through Arc & Type, Peter and I have the privilege of crafting stories we want to read & hear & see in the world."
Peter Steinberg will continue his role as literary agent and President of The Steinberg Agency, while helping to oversee Arc & Type. He has been an agent for seventeen years and opened The Steinberg Agency in 2007. His clients have written many bestselling books and have been nominated for/awarded the Edgar Award, the Pulitzer Prize, The Story Prize, The Paris Review Discovery Prize, the PEN/Faulkner Prize for Fiction, and the National Book Award. A number of of his client's books have been adapted into feature films including Towelhead, I Love You Phillip Morris and the upcoming A Slight Trick of the Mind, to be directed by Bill Condon. Steinberg says, "JillEllyn and I have been friends through the publishing business for a long time and have already been working together informally. It felt like the right time to make it formal through Arc & Type. Through this new partnership, the power of storytelling will be harnessed to work across all media, including film and television. The name is a play on 'archetype' and the company will tap into stories that are inherently universal and broadly appealing."
