Michael Stearns

He started in children's books almost 20 years ago, working at Harcourt and HarperCollins in high positions. He's edited Bruce Hale, Jane Yolen, Bruce Coville and many others. He joined Firebrand, a 3-year-old agency which includes Michael and three other agents, who are building their lists.

He feels the recent layoff and changes in the publishing world is something of a market correction. When we first started picture books were huge, and things have shifts to midgrade and YA. The market rebounds and changes, but editors are still buying books.