Drawing on her first career working at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Regina Brooks is bringing the innovative spirit of an engineer to the publishing industry.
“As an engineer, you’re trained to analyze systems, isolate the issues, and innovate solutions,” she says. “What value is a powerful engine if the transmission doesn’t work? Nothing moves. You must consider the entire system. That’s exactly what I’ve been doing in the publishing industry.”
Since joining the Association of American Literary Agents board in 2019, Brooks has played a key role in modernizing the organization by establishing a communications committee and transitioning to a more inclusive membership model. Under her leadership, AALA has grown to 585 members. Now, as president, she is advocating for the hiring of the association’s first executive director and spearheading efforts to expand educational offerings, including formal courses and professional development programs designed to address the evolving needs of literary agents at every stage of their careers.
“Agenting is an apprenticeship business, but AALA should be the go-to organization where agents can feel confident they’re learning best practices and receiving solid training,” Brooks says. “I envision courses covering the fundamentals for emerging agents, leadership for established agents, and new technologies, especially as AI reshapes our industry.”
Brooks is also pursuing a groundbreaking initiative with the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) to address the absence of MFA programs at historically Black colleges and universities. With support from an NEA grant, she will convene HBCU faculty, administrators, and Black writers at the AWP conference next March to strategize about the creation of MFA programs that integrate writing coursework with practical knowledge of the publishing industry.
Brooks’s other initiatives include working with the Black Book Accelerator to improve metadata tagging for diverse titles and increasing the number of Black-owned bookstores that report to Circana BookScan. Also, as cofounder of Literary Agents of Change, she has helped advance programs that have supported 42 literary agents.
“I try to approach my work with the precision of an engineer and the passion of an artist,” Brooks says. “Success is where all parts of the system—authors, agents, publishers, and bookstores—work together, driving both cultural impact and financial growth.”
