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Page Two, a literary agency with a twist, celebrates its first anniversary. Run by publishing veterans (and MPub alumni) Jesse Finkelstein and Trena White,  represents authors seeking traditional publishing contracts but also atypical authors who are looking for innovative paths to publishing.

Jesse and Trena have 30 years of combined experience in the book publishing industry, and they worked together on the management team at D&M Publishers Inc., which at the time was Canada's leading independent book publisher. Their personal career paths have instilled in them a commitment to high-quality editing, design and production, areas where the traditional publishing industry has excelled, and they bring that professionalism to all their projects.

Regarding Page Two's origin says Trena, "we wanted to offer authors options and support them in publishing successfully and professionally regardless of which model they chose to publish under—whether traditional or self-publishing or some hybrid of the two. We felt deeply engaged by publishing innovation and wanted to create a new kind of publishing business model. The premise was that we wanted to be ultra-nimble, so we built a business that can be flexible as publishing continues to evolve."

The focused, yet nimble, nature of Page Two is apparent when looking at their strategic publishing projects over the first year. Jesse and Trena act as traditional literary agents, brokering book deals between authors and publishers. They do consulting to self-publishers on everything from their book concept to distribution options and sales and marketing strategy, and often clients also hire them to assemble a team to produce their self-published books or, in the case of organizations, to help establish their publishing programs.

There's nothing self about self-publishing and there's little tradition in the way that authors traditionally publish these days. Trena and Jesse must draw on their diverse experience in all aspects of book publishing—editing, licensing, sales and contracts—to service their clients' needs. The two provided the following example from the past year:

"Two of our authors had Globe and Mail bestsellers, and two, Michael Pond and Maureen Palmer, were on the B.C. bestseller list for about two months for their book, The Couch of Willingness. Two of those books were hybrid deals that we set up: the authors chose to self-publish and we brokered trade distribution deals for them with publishers. It’s that kind of arrangement that best highlights the creative ways we serve our clients. We’ve also been busy doing outreach to independent booksellers for the Association of Canadian Publishers and helping the Association of Book Publishers of B.C. with an ebook marketing project. And we just hired a talented project manager, Carra Simpson, who is also a graduate of the MPub program. Maybe our biggest success is that we’ve been really busy. There’s definitely a demand for our services."

When asked what the year ahead brings, Jesse said, "we’re very excited to have just landed a contract with a US organization helping them establish a publishing program. We will be doing much more of this type of work â€” helping non-publishing organizations produce and monetize books."

And somewhere in between their packed schedules and the end of the year, the team at Page Two plans to celebrate their first anniversary with a party to show their appreciation to the many people who have supported and worked with them over the last year. For the immediate ringing in of a new business year, this busy duo (now trio) will just have time for a toast over cocktails.

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