As an editor, I disagree. One doesn't have to be able to write to be a good agent, and having had a few books published doesn't make you a better agent.
Yes I completely agree with this.
Being a literary agent AND a director at a publisher is a huge conflict of interests.
Yes it can be and this is precisely why I have always been completely clear and upfront and public about my activities here. You'll see even on the trade announcement to The Bookseller about my Myrmidon appointment in 2010 it was stated that I would still be representing my agency list.
With so many agents now with their own publishing imprints and using programmes for their clients such as Amazon White Glove the important thing is to be completely open and declare and avoid any conflicts of interest. I only came across one potential conflict of interest during my time at Myrmidon and it didn't arise as I declared it immediately to all parties. In terms of commissioning I was mostly on the non-fiction side whereas as an agent I did, and still do, specialise in commercial fiction.
For the record the Kate Nash Literary Agency, or Kate Nash personally, does not have any publishing imprints or programmes. The Agency was invited to join White Glove but has not had any occasion to use it.
Eleven deals in ten months isn't much, even if they were "multi-book".
This may be your opinion but is not correct. According to Publishers Marketplace the most prolific agents manage something like 40 deals in a year. I am a boutique agent with a small client list and many debut authors and I am not competing in the prolific stakes but I am jolly proud with my sales record. If you consider that authors are unlikely to be writing more than one or two books a year, and so with established authors an agent is not going to be doing more than a deal a year on average, and with debut authors the average would be lower as it is harder to get that first deal.
And many books reach some sort of best seller chart now, as there are so many. I saw someone claiming best-seller status a few weeks ago because their book had reached number ten in a minor subsection of a tiny genre on Amazon. It only stayed there for an hour or two, but that was enough for them to claim their best-seller status.
When I talk about bestsellers I mean bestsellers everyone recognises i.e. in newspaper book charts and The Bookseller. Or overall top 10 or top 100 on Kindle.
What record do you have on foreign and subsidiary rights sales? Do you work with co-agents in other territories?
I work with co-agents for foreign rights.
And how many such deals do you usually make for each of your clients' books? Because based on both my experience, and the opinions of quite a few agents I've talked to, this is so important to building an author's career.
Yes it is. I'm not sure that an average I might come up with is meaningful as I have quite a small client list.
I don't understand this comment.
Right then, let me revise my earlier comment, which is what brought Kate back here:
You have revised this to add new speculative assertions but not taken back your earlier speculative comments about me. You have also added "she founded a writers conference that failed." This is not correct. If you are referring to the Festival of Romantic Fiction this was a literary festival/convention (aimed at readers) and not a writers conference. It was not a failure. In it's four years running it broke even every year and sadly just was not economically sustainable. I don't want to go off topic into the woes of literary festivals but the Festival events were either free entry (sponsored) or with very low prices so that the Festival was accessible to all. I clearly said it was a labour of love project for me as I wanted to bring authors and readers together and this was the primary aim. The money side was only about covering costs. The event was well attended, much enjoyed and never a failure as an event.
I have come on this forum so that any writers thinking of approaching me to be their agent are appraised of the facts of my past career and not idle speculation. If anyone wants a full CV it's on LinkedIn.
When a writer signs up with an agent it should be a marriage. It is a long term relationship. As I said before, I work closely with my clients, represent their interests to their goals and ambitions. I am always open and honest with my dealings with everyone.
These are the facts now that I am established as an agent that should be cutting the mustard:
- that I have had publishers (bona fide proper publishers, I don't work with any other kind) recommend me as an agent to writers
- a now significant sales record
- my record with debuts
- my record taking writers careers to bestseller (proper bestseller, see above) status
I work with every single top UK publisher and I work very hard.
I can also promise that we are innovative and creative in how we work but I am not sharing details here to have my ideas borrowed by other literary agents. 
