The Friedrich Agency

What The Friedrich Agency does

The Friedrich Agency is a privately held boutique literary agency based in the Flatiron district of New York City, founded in 2006 by Molly Friedrich after nearly three decades at The Aaron Priest Literary Agency. The firm represents a deliberately selective list of novelists and non-fiction authors, providing comprehensive rights brokerage across print publishing, foreign/translation, film and television, audio, serial, and merchandising rights. Its roster includes multiple critically and commercially celebrated authors, including Elizabeth Strout, Karen Joy Fowler, Ruth Ozeki, Terry McMillan, and Sally Field, with major literary prize credentials (Booker Prize longlist, Women's Prize for Fiction, PEN/Faulkner Award, PEN Award for Creative Nonfiction).

The agency operates a commission-based revenue model, earning standard literary agency percentages on book deals and subsidiary rights sales negotiated with publishers on behalf of its author clients. GTM motion is sales-led through a query submission process (via Query Manager and direct email) and inbound publisher interest for existing clients. The firm maintains a curated global distribution network of 20+ foreign rights co-agents covering major publishing territories across Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, and partners with LA-based co-agents for film and television rights sales. Audio rights are handled in-house by agent Marin Takikawa.

The agency is staffed by four literary agents (Molly Friedrich, Lucy Carson, Heather Carr, Marin Takikawa) plus support staff including a Foreign Rights Director (Hannah Brattesani) and an intern coordinator. Ownership is private with a family component, as founder Molly Friedrich's daughter Lucy Carson joined the agency in 2008. The firm is privately held with no institutional investment, operates as a single New York-based entity, and has remained a boutique operation since founding without recorded expansion in agent count over the past decade.

Name

The Friedrich Agency

Legal name

The Friedrich Agency

Website

https://friedrichagency.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Friedrich Agency is a privately held, New York-based boutique literary agency founded in 2006 by Molly Friedrich. The firm represents a selective roster of critically and commercially celebrated novelists and non-fiction authors, brokering print publishing, foreign, film/TV, audio, serial, and merchandising rights on a commission basis.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Literary Agency Services

NAICS

Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (7115)

akta.pro primary industry

Rights, ISBN & Publishing Administration Services (Identifiers, Metadata, Royalties) (MPAJAJAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Author Service Marketplaces & Aggregators (Vetting, Bundled Services) (MPAJAJAB)

Keywords

• Literary agency services
• Author representation
• Publishing rights brokerage
• Foreign rights licensing
• Film television rights

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Commission on Book Deals: The agency earns commissions on book deals negotiated with publishers on behalf of their author clients. This includes print publishing rights representation.
2. Subsidiary Rights: The agency handles and earns commissions from subsidiary rights including foreign rights, audio rights, film and television rights, and other subsidiary rights for their represented authors.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Friedrich Agency is a New York-based literary agency that represents novelists and non-fiction authors, negotiating and licensing print publishing rights with publishers and managing subsidiary rights including foreign/translation rights, film and television rights, audio rights, serial rights, and merchandising rights. The agency operates through four literary agents who provide hands-on career development and selective manuscript evaluation, with new clients acquired via a query submission process.

Product overview

The Friedrich Agency is a literary agency offering comprehensive representation services for novelists and authors of non-fiction. Founded in 2006 by Molly Friedrich, the agency provides print publishing rights representation, foreign/translation rights, film and television rights (via co-agents), audio rights, serial rights, and merchandising rights. The agency operates through a selective submission process using Query Manager and direct email, with four literary agents handling author representation and career development across multiple rights categories.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Print Publishing Rights Representation

Quantifiable outcome

• Women's Prize for Fiction 2022 winner (Ruth Ozeki)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

20 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Amelie CherlincoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Arab territories
• EEARA (Tatjana Zoldnere & Kristine Shatrovska)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Ukraine & Georgia
• The Riff Agency (Laura Riff and Joao Paolo Riff)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Brazil
• Grayhawk (Gray Tan)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia
• Eliane Benisti Agency (Eliane Benisti)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for France
• The Meller Agency (Niclas Schmoll)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Germany
• Katai & Bolza (Eszter Szasz)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Hungary
• The Israeli Association of Book Publishers (Beverley Levit)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Israel
• The Italian Literary Agency (Elisa Beretta)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Italy
• Tuttle Mori (Ken Mori, Misa Morikawa & Asaka Kawachi)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Japan
• Eric Yang Agency (Sam Yang)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Korea
• Graal (Tomasz Berenzinski)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Poland
• Liz Van Lear AgencycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Russia
• Sebes & Bisseling (Willem Bisseling & Fatiha Panjwani)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Scandinavia & Holland
• The Foreign Office (Teresa Vilarrubla, Julia Garrigos & Amaiur Fernandez)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Spain & Portugal
• AnatoliaLit (Amy Marie Spangler & Ozlem Oztemel)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Turkey
• Abner SteincoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for UK
• Prava i Prevodi (Tamara Vukicevic & Nada Popovic)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForeign rights co-agent for Former Yugoslavia (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia), Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, Greece, Slovak Republic
• LA-Based Co-Agents for Film/TV RightscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnership with LA-based co-agents who specialize in literary adaptations for screen and stage for dramatic/film/TV rights sales
• Neon LiteraryminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-hosted party with Neon Literary at AWP conference

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Aevitas Creative Management: Boutique agency offering literary representation plus broader rights management, with similar prestige-tier author roster and global foreign rights network.
• The Book Group: Independent literary agency with comparable scope of rights representation and a similarly selective author roster focused on literary fiction and serious nonfiction.
• Folio Literary Management: Boutique literary agency with overlapping author pool and full rights representation across print, foreign, film/TV, and audio—directly comparable in business model.
• InkWell Management: Boutique literary agency with similar full-service rights representation (foreign, film/TV, audio) for literary fiction and nonfiction authors, operating with comparable selective-list positioning.
• Sterling Lord Literistic: Long-established boutique literary agency representing novelists and nonfiction authors; comparable in scale, rights-management scope, and emphasis on author career development.
• The Gernert Company: Independent literary agency representing literary fiction and nonfiction authors with full-service subsidiary rights representation; comparable in size and selective positioning.
• The Aaron Priest Literary Agency: Long-established New York literary agency where founder Molly Friedrich worked for nearly 30 years; directly comparable in service model and prestige-tier author representation, including a shared lineage.
• The Wylie Agency: Boutique New York literary agency representing critically acclaimed novelists and nonfiction authors across print, translation, film/TV, and audio rights—directly comparable in service model, author prestige tier, and selective list approach.

Broad incumbents

• United Talent Agency (UTA) - Literary Division: Major talent agency with a literary division representing authors alongside entertainment clients, offering overlapping rights management at greater scale and cross-media integration.
• Creative Artists Agency (CAA) - Literary: Mega-talent agency whose literary division represents novelists and nonfiction authors with bundled film/TV and publishing rights—larger-scale competitor with overlapping capabilities.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-friedrich-agency

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Friedrich Agency