Vickie Stringer is a leading figure in the hip-hop or "urban fiction" category. A former convict, she self-published her first book in 2001 after receiving dozens of rejections from the publishing establishment. Her books, and others in this genre, are about urban life, with a heavy dose of sex and crime. Many hip-hop novels are sold underground. (I bought one recently directly from an author, Brad Bathgate, who was selling his self-published paperback Pretty Ugly: A Harlem Situation on the subway in NYC.) Increasingly, these books are finding their way into bookstores. Vickie Stringer is now the CEO of Triple Crown Publications, which produces and promotes the work of other urban fiction writers. The publishing industry has taken note of this real market, and has started offering attractive book deals to some of her authors. So Stringer is now a literary agent as well. She was recently profiled by Cheryl Corley on NPR.