The Vineyard has a long history of multigenerational family businesses. Allen Farm, Larsen’s Fish Market, Giordano’s Restaurant, and Morning Glory Farm are just a few. Stimola Literary Studio became a recent addition to this tradition when Rosemary Stimola brought her daughter, Adriana, on board in 2015.
Rosemary and Adriana infuse their passion for books into the business, based in West Tisbury. While they represent different genres, they are equally devoted to making a difference in the literary world and serving as strong advocates for their authors, including Islanders Julia Blanter, who wrote “The Martha’s Vineyard Cookbook,” and Kate Feiffer, who wrote and illustrated the upcoming “How to Draw a Dog.”
Neither Rosemary nor Adriana started her career with the goal of becoming a literary agent, or with the idea of working together. But both loved stories from a very young age.
Rosemary says, “Children’s books saved my life. I grew up in an immigrant neighborhood within an immigrant family, and attended a very strict Catholic school. And I was a girl. That was three challenges, and the only salvation I found was in books. I discovered characters who could vanquish giants and ogres with their wits and smarts, without using magic. I found my power in children’s books.”
With a Ph.D. in linguistics, Rosemary began her career as a professor of language and literature at City University of New York, specializing in children’s literature: “I loved teaching, but I did not love academia.” Even though she was tenured, Rosemary took a leap in 1987 and opened A Child’s Story in Teaneck, N.J., which became an awardwinning, nationally recognized independent children’s bookstore. She thrived for eight years: “I thought I would be a children’s bookseller for the rest of my life.” In 1995, Barnes & Noble opened several nearby superstores. With the conglomerate discounting books by 30 percent and Rosemary’s landlord raising the rent, it was time to move on.
“It was a bit of an existential crisis. It was, ‘Who am I now?’” Rosemary recalls. While she was freelancing as an adjunct teacher and editor and working in marketing, an editorial colleague suggested she become an agent.
“My response was, ‘Oh, no. I’ve met them. I don’t like them.’” But the idea stuck, and after some investigation, Rosemary launched Stimola Literary Studio in 1997. “For quite a while, it was just me as the chief cook and bottle washer. Then I reached a point where I was successful enough to think I could use a little help.” Her first hire was Peter Ryan, her son-in-law, and then a director of operations, followed by additional agents, including Adriana.
Not surprisingly, Adriana grew up steeped in stories, first sitting in Rosemary’s classroom and then spending countless hours at the store, which, she says, “was formative in my relationship to books and to book selling.” But Adriana simultaneously had a connection to food and restaurants. Her father and his cousin opened the Stand-by Café in Oak Bluffs, and Adriana spent summers, long weekends, and school breaks hanging out in the kitchen. “I didn’t realize how much it impacted me until later,” she says.
Adriana was drawn to storytelling across media at Emerson College, where she majored in performance and media production, and minored in poetry. (She is currently the poet laureate of West Tisbury.) Early in her career, she worked with Shambhala Publications and Little, Brown in various roles, including as an editorial assistant. With an interest in telling stories about food, she became content manager at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, N.Y., where she produced written and visual content to engage visitors, and worked with Dan Barber’s Blue Hill Restaurant on farmer-chef story collaborations.
Interested in ghostwriting or co-writing cookbooks, Adriana met with an agent who encouraged her to become an agent herself. She took the leap, working independently until she joined Stimola Literary Studio, bringing her interest in adult nonfiction books.
Over time, Adriana’s list has expanded: “All the books I work with are rooted in coping with the human experience through food, wellness, art, creativity, and lifestyle. I hope they nourish in one way or another, connecting people to others through stories.”
Rosemary says about Adriana’s contribution to the studio, “I may be ‘the elder,’ and in many cases have served as a mentor, but I also learn a great deal from Adriana, as she has enriched and expanded the agency, our presence, and our reputation in literary realms.”
Rosemary continues about choosing to locate the studio on Island: “We had a seasonal home here since 1989, and my daughters spent summers here since they were children. Adriana married an Island boy, and after the pandemic, when people were no longer in their offices, and proximity to N.Y. or L.A. was no longer needed as before, we decided to shift home and office here full-time. Both daughters and their families followed, and we now enjoy an extended-family life here with children and grandchildren. Thanks to Zoom and other such apps, geography is not an issue. We travel when we must, and we enjoy our Island life.”
Relationships are vital for everyone working at the studio. “We are a boutique agency,” says Rosemary. “We work as a collective, meeting once a week, so everyone stays connected. This company is about contributing to the body of literature. There’s a shared set of core values, and one of them is the kind of authors and books we want to work with.”
The Stimolas cultivate genuine relationships with their authors. The process of choosing whom to work with begins with the query letter that accompanies a submission. Adriana states, “I want to read a letter where there is an authenticity of self that shines through. If the content is good enough, then there’s usually a conversation. It has to feel like a match, because if our communication styles or expectations are different, it might not be a fit, or at the right time.” Rosemary emphasizes, “You have to feel a certain amount of passion.”
Once an author becomes a client, Adriana explains, “I tell them, ‘I am your usher throughout the entire publishing process,’ which includes content, working on the proposal, making the pitch to publishers, negotiating the terms of the deal, including rights. That’s where people might think it ends. But I’m going through edits with your editor, and discussing design, marketing, and publicity. I’m contextualizing what’s happening, and helping clients look two steps ahead.”
Asked what fuels their passion for the business, Adriana says, “At the studio, it is untold stories, and that every voice has a core value.”
Rosemary adds, “We love it because it’s important, especially now that schools and libraries are having books banned. It makes us fight harder. We’re here to validate the human experience. And if we can make a small impact, then that’s what we do. And the fact that I get to do that with my daughter is very special.”